Creepy Dirk and Crappy Duck

Duck

Mallard Fillmore has a lot of problems, not the least of which is that Tinsley wouldn't recognize a punchline as it was car-jacking him.

The Glenn Beck rally was on August 28th. Even if you were living under a rock the coverage up to that event was unavoidable. Then after the rally, there was coverage the 29th and 30th (and you could argue that the only reason there even was coverage on the 30th was that the rally was on a Saturday) and then on the 31st there was another little story: the President declared an end to combat missions in Iraq.

Regardless of your political persuasion, Mr Beck's rally was forgotten as the voracious newsbeast moved on to the next controversy.

Tinsley most likely did this strip before the rally was even held, and this is really the only evidence you need to see that he just doesn't get it.

Mallard Fillmore was picked up by the Washington Times, a newspaper that is slightly to the right of Attilla the Hun, during the Clinton Administration. According to Don Markstein's Toonopedia the editor said he provided "a new way of looking at things." In other words, they wanted something to balance out Doonesbury. (Even as Doonesbury spent a good part of the 90s criticizing Clinton for being too conservative, but I digress.)

But take a look at Doonesbury (so I don't have to — I think it peaked in the 80s when Trudeau started doing Quayle as a talking feather.) You won't see Trudeau do anything even close to this. If he does "do" the Beck rally he'll work it into one of his subplots with a reporter, create an equivalent in the Doonesbury-verse, or do something about it being forgotten.

This strip, again regardless of your feelings about Beck and his rally, is just stupid. No one is still waiting at the rally. No one gives a s**t about the rally anymore. Since then we've had the announcement about Iraq and a little story about someone wanting to burn a book or something.

But stay tuned. I'm sure Mallard will have something about that around September 24th.

Here's an example of a non-topical strip that is kicking Tinsley's ass in the timely department.

Doozies, September 14, 2010

You might remember me using the corresponding Lio last week.

Dirk

Sometimes Luann gets kind of scary.

Luann, September 11, 2010

Luann, September 13, 2010

Luann, September 14, 2010


Dirk is just....creepy, and he makes Luann seem very uneven to me. Luann is generally a goofy strip that occasionally gets semi-serious. When this guy is around though, I half-expect something Funky-level to happen.

Pearls Before Swine, September 13, 2010

Pearls was too funny yesterday to not include here.

Brewster Rockit, September 14, 2010

Brewster Rockit has been on a tear. It is my favorite strip right now.

Dog Eat Doug, September 14, 2010

Probably the funniest Garfield strip I've seen in 25 years. Or ever.