The Daily Comics Review: Friday Funnies

by Hal Bent 

Friday is so named because by the end of the week I am much in need of a dash of humor after a long week of work. Sadly, these being newspaper comics, it is usually suppressed by snark. Be that as it may, let's kick of today's Daily Comics Review:

Herb and Jamaal by Stephen Bentley:

I truly detest Herb (and to be fair, I detest Jamaal as well) and not just because of his hideous little mustache poking out the sides of his nose (or are those just aggressive nose hairs?).  This little slice of his horrible life married to Sarah, who knows she cannot compete with Herb's love of Jamaal, is yet another example of a strip that someone, somewhere must have found humorous, but I find myself unable to garner a chuckle. That is, until I realized that what Herb said was not referenced and assumed he was making a comment to her about introducing his best friend and business partner, Jamaal (not in the strip today), into their bedroom. Then, his ham-handed apology at least makes a semblance of sense and has a pinch of bawdy humor to go with it.


Last Kiss by John Lustig:

When in doubt looking for humor, I turn to John Lustig's "Last Kiss". A great sense of humor, classic comic book art, and his uncanny ability to replace the dialogue with something actually funny.  


Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney:

If you can't be funny, have incredible artwork. 

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Insert Caption Here

Bewley by Anthony Blades:

Thank you, Bewley. A little non-consensual kinky vegetable play is the perfect way to start off the week. (Great job catching the sheep's expression in the third panel, by the way).



Andertoons by Mark Anderson:

You have to feel for the cartoonist who has his work go out with errors like this.  I mean, the caption is pretty obvious, but it still stinks to have your work go out to the public like that.  I feel for you, Anderson. I'm showing solidarity by co-opting the error for the title of today's blog.  

Oh, the caption? Pretty easy to figure out: "Let me finish hanging these signs and we can go to the hotel room and get a bag of carrots and put on a sheep costume."



Herb and Jamaal by Stephen Bentley:

Jamaal (?) here is shocked that the musical interlude is from a band that broke up over 40 years ago.  I assume that is the punchline. I mean, that's oldies in my book.  Classic rock has to be under 40 years old.  Iron Butterfly released In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida in 1968, which is 45 years ago.  Of course, I remember Doonesbury doing this same joke in the 80s with the Rolling Stones as elevator music and Mike Doonesbury being conflicted with the fact he was no longer in his prime and aging as the rebellious music of his youth was considered what the old fogies listen to on oldies radio stations.  He did more than make a stupid face in the final panel, too. 


Lio by Mark Tatulli:

I'm almost 40 and I feel the same way putting on pajamas and a robe.  


Pluggers by Gary Brookins:

It's funny because his blood sugar is 450 and he's slipping into unconsciousness. Whoo, those Pluggers know how to bring the aging/medical humor.  A heart attack is following for this overweight dog who married outside his species and is shacking up with an old hen.  Creepy cross-species unions going on all over the comics. Ick.

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Hump Day Comics

Wednesday is hump day.  That means my vacation (and the kids school vacation) is half-over.  Let's see what cartoonists had trouble getting over the hump, and who flew over the hump like a teenager in a Trans Am going 35 miles over the speed limit:

Zack Hill by John Deering:

Wait, I'm confused. Is this guy a Kansas City sports fan or a Cleveland sports fan?  The red shirt on the male adult seems a little Arrowhead red, but the child's orange hair seems a little Cleveland Browns burnt orange.  Being from Boston and a sports fan (BostonSportPage.com is how I post--that's my sports blog page, and I never went and set up a new account log in...ok, I'm rambling) kids these days have no idea what it was like having a run terrible football teams, historically collapsing baseball teams, horrid hockey squads, and basketball teams from best of all-time reduced to rubble, but all at once.  Boston was a laughingstock in sports, and now has turned it around in all four major sports and the fan base is spoiled rotten by their success.  In fact, it'd be better if there was not so much....oh, God, I almost got through it without collapsing in humor.  Fans spoiled by success is great! Why do you think Boston sports fans hated New York and all their success.  Losing sports teams suck. Sorry, Cleveland and Kansas City, I feel your sports-pain and truly hope your fortune improves.


One Big Happy by Rick Detorie:

Besides, I tried giving you two twerps away, but the kidnappers kept giving you back no matter how much we begged them to keep you both.


Lio by Mark Tatulli:

Today's Lio by Mark Tatulli is the greatest comic strip ever!  Do it, Lio! Launch those insufferable Keane  Kompound brats into the stratosphere. Oh crap, where's that insufferable Jeffy one?  Wait, wait, for the love of God, we need all four at once! Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

Herb and Jamaal by Stephen Bentley:

In college, I was all T.S. Eliot all the time. Thesis, articles, reports, anything I had to write, it was dragging old Thomas Stearns Eliot (of the Boston Eliot's) into it. None of this William Carlos Williams or Ezra Pound bologna (like other Liberal Arts major friends of mine who will go unmentioned...<<cough, cough-Gallagher-cough, cough>>...but why is Herb and Jamaal quoting Eliot in reference to his attempted pick-up.  So how far is Jamaal (I think the long, bald head guy is Jamaal) going here.  Just what is his proposition that crossed the line?  Look at him in panel two. It's anal.  Yup, Jamaal went there.  Pretty racy for the funny pages. 

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Herding Cats

Arlo and Janis

Congratulations Arlo!  You've successfully herded a single cat straight to his food dish.

The Barn

Pork Bellies are down?  How can that be?  They're delicious!  I'm sure it's just a temporary blip in an otherwise upward trend.

Betty

And it's hard to feel ridiculous when you're doing what 9 out of 10 people on their lunch breaks do.  The man in the orange shirt isn't looking over at Betty because he is silently judging her; rather, he is jealous of her download speeds and wishes he was watching TV on his phone instead of being stuck a boring conversation with his hipster acquaintance.

The Flying McCoy's

He also gets to have his arms violently ripped from their sockets.

Frazz

I'm not sure why the teacher would be thanking Caulfield for being very rude in class.  Perhaps she is preemptively thanking him for setting up Frazz's witty punchline in panel three.

Herb and Jamaal

Apparently, Herb enjoys being a dick to complete strangers.  Run away Herb!  They may be lost, but I bet they can find their way back to that corner to kick your ass.

Rubes

This comic is funny because it depicts a doctor about to beat a poor apple vendor to death with a baseball bat.  Yes, the physician will be kept away—kept (locked) away for a long, long time.

Ziggy

"I'm the star of this comic strip! Got it?!  If anyone is going to be fat and lazy it's me!"

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Dog Eat Baby

Adam@Home

Damn.  Clayton isn't too fond of his little brother.  "Yeah, you should have held out for something less smelly and drooly."

Boomerangs

"If my daughter grows fangs then perhaps I will give her the love and attention she never got from me growing up."

Dog Eat Doug

Whoa.  Looks like Sophie the Dog has brutally murdered Doug's mom and dad.  Now that the parental figures are out of the way, the strip can finally live up to its name.

Gasoline Alley

Uh...her husband almost died.  Yeah, she should be frantic.  Why does he have to be such a dick about it?

Herb and Jamaal

She's crying because she found Herb's old love letters to Jamaal.

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I Love Meat!

Agnes

"Date Aid?"  So Trout's mom has a visible box of sex toys on her nightstand.  Gross.

Baldo

I guess it breaks Tia Carmen's heart that Baldo is a slob that doesn't bother to throw his trash away.

The Duplex

Is it just me, or does Eno's date exclaim "I love meat" a little too enthusiastically in panel 2?

Herb and Jamaal

"Herb would you hold me close right now?"

"Not now because I just unclogged a doozy in the bathroom toilet.  I've got shit all over me."

"But I've had a hard day; I really need it right now."

"I know, but I really need to go home and shower first."

"Then can you tell me when is the next time I can feel your embrace?"

"Tonight."

Shoe

Um... yeah... not the best thing to tell a costumer that just sat down.  Also, what a very strange thing to ask.  If you're seven years old and writing a report for school about restaurants then maybe that might be an appropriate question.

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Milk Comes From Cows

Baldo

Yes, milk comes from cows. Bwahahahhaha!

Betty

Whoa.  Of all the job loss story lines that have been proliferating through the comics lately, I'd have to say that Betty being laid off by her best friend is the harshest.  I mean, it wasn't even that long ago that Alex was hired by Betty's company.

Herb and Jamaal

I guess according the creators of Herb and Jamaal, wearing "expensive designer logo clothes" means dressing up like Kim Jong Il.

Luann

Luann:  the only comic strip that makes sexual awkwardness a staple.

The Grizzwells

Finally, a clear job description for the daily grind of these two characters: eat, sleep.  Now, what do they do in their time off?

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Well Dead

For more comics and whatnot, visit the Meekrat Entertainment Group.

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