Snark It Up, FuzzBall!

Boy, oh boy, does Mark Trail get a lot of visitors from his fellow panelists! And evidently some are more welcome than others.

Unfortunately, not all are the leggy creatures that Mark is sometimes fortunate to feature in his Sunday panels.  It’s back to the old grind on Monday, when our favorite forest friend continues investigating the Mystery of the Vanishing Wetlands:

Mark’s Monday adventure elicited a lot of excitement at the Comics Curmudgeon, and I guess I was swept along in the torrent of gatory goodness:

This is from a strip called The Better Half.  I don’t read it.  Uncle Lumpy, CC’S resident baby-sitter when Josh goes out of town, mentioned it (it had something to do with humor involving computers), but it was Mooncattie once again who called attention to the “Picasso cat.”

Yep. IT’S A KITTY! How can you go wrong??  It wasn’t *thinking* anything, but it was off-center.  Both of these behaviors are extraordinarily cat-like, which is why I think it works so well.

Mooncattie is an old-timer at Comics Curmudgeon (which means he was there before I was) and has got to be one of the nicest, happiest fellows I’ve ever met (and yes, considering the great, big world, we did meet at the Tucson Mudgeon Meetup in March 2008 — wooo, what fun that was!).  Photos of him at other meetups (and reports from other Mudges) confirm that this is Just the Way He Is.

I think he’s the type of person you just want to have at your party, bar mitzvah, class reunion, etc.  The Spectacular Spider-Brick says it awfully well (as he does most things):

I swear I’ve seen Mooncattie (on the left in the meetup picture) before. I think he came to the Madison ‘Mudgeon Meetup last year, under a different name. In fact, I’m starting to suspect that Mooncattie is CC’s very own Forrest Gump, showing up in the background every time anything of note happens. Where were you, “Mooncattie,” if in fact that is your real nickname, when Aldo Kelrast died? Or when Toby Cameron’s identity was stolen… by a Canadian, I might add? Or should we call you… HaXX0r Yuri?! AHA! Jacque Hughes!

Which of course only makes me toddle over the the Photo Shoppe…

Still not convinced?

This one isn’t even particularly snarky. I do like doofy old Mark Trail (he was sort of the Marlin Perkins of the comic strips — when I was growing up, the paper only carried the Sunday strips, so I was blissfully unaware of the weekday screwy storylines and that he was sort of doofy), and I’ve always liked Rose is Rose (I don’t mind the kids talking strangely, I like Peekaboo, but Clem is a putz and one of these days ought to be deep-sixed by Rose’s Motorcycle Mama alter-ego).
I thought today’s MT was a bit of a snooze-fest (the leaves changing color thing was interesting, but the illustrations just can’t quite capture the actual leaf-turning events back east), and Mark needed to have a friend come over and play…

Who says you have to run a dull, boring medical practice? Face it, with Rex’s one-patient-a-week schedule, there’s a lot of down-time. Nevertheless, Rex and June are experts at making the most of those open hours.

Rex follows up on his hobbies…

…and June adds a little to their upcoming Caribbean Cruise “mad money”!

I love Prince Valiant, although I usually call him Prince Violent (heh. mature.). In the current story arc, Val and Co. are sailing homeward and are somewhere in the open Atlantic Ocean. (I think this was supposed to be a shortcut. Right.) I think they’re marooned in the Sargasso Sea, but I really can’t account for the giant crustacean that Gawain landed on — I guess there’s something to be said for over-fishing to keep the giant wildlife in check.

Usually Gawain’s livery is vert and Or (green and gold), but honest to God, the past few weeks, the color-monkeys have arrayed him in teal and lavender (puke blue-green and pukier light purple), coincidentally the wedding colors for Elizabeth Patterson! I think this is a sign.

astroboy from Comics Curmudgeon wrote a nice little story about Val and Co. happening upon a tribe of repulsive being known as the Foobians, and they make a daring rescue of the Lady Elizabeth. Things happen, blood flows, villains are put down, Gawain gets the girl, not so much because their outfits match, but because Val is already married (and Aleta happens to be on the ship with him).

Epics like this deserve mashups! So in the tradition of Beowulf, The Song of Roland, the Canterbury Tales, and Dial M for Monastery, it’s The Foobarian Campaign!

Oh, hey, more Foobery. I will occasionally write to “Elly’s Coffee Talk” (aka, Coffee Stalk; aka, Coffee Glurge) over at the FBOFW website. It’s generally a hotbed of fannish squeals and wonderment (“you must be peeking in my windows!” “I have a son and a daughter that are EXACTLY Michael and Liz’s age!” “I’m the same age as Liz, and I’m a TEACHER, too!”, and the saddest recent post, from a woman who named her kid Robin, after little Wobin Cwap-pants, because she was “inspired” by him. Makes you beg the question, “Is your Robin retarded, too?”).

Because it’s pretty much a “Write to the Creatrix” shrine, most of my emails are never published (surprise!). However this one was, and appears in the 20 August mail-bag:

“With all the chicken-running-around-with-its-head-cut-off antic preparations (what? the Pattersons didn’t have a Wedding Coordinator friend who would’ve worked for them for free?) and Elizabeth so very busy with her Forever ‘n’ Ever Friends, anyone attending the wedding in a wheelchair would probably be figured to be Grandpa Jim.

“Including FDR or Stephen Hawking.

“Of course, April would notice that “That’s not Grandpa Jim!”, but why should anyone start listening to her now?”

I’m sure someone on the staff got canned for letting this slip by. Yeah, as if LJ gives a rat’s ass as long as her merchandise continues to sell…

How about tragic golfing accidents?

I guess Miss Buxley isn’t a hippie. But she’s an environmentalist and is concerned about the trees. In the original strip (ahem), she’s embracing the tree, telling the General that “It’s a civilian hug.”

Huh?

Okay, this is more crude, but I think it makes a tad more sense. Clean mind, clean body — take your pick.

<rant>You know, if you CAN’T draw, and you think you can write, get a farkin’ collaborator! There’s still the chance you can’t write, either, but at least spare us these embarrassing panels.</rant>

(This is nasty, even without Rex passing judgment…)

Dennis Mitchell’s menacing abilities have eroded severely over the years. Even at his worst, he doesn’t so much menace as irritate or, in some cases, peeve. But then Hogenmogen from CC noticed that just for a few lousy cookies, Dennis has resorted to roughing up sweet old Mrs. Wilson.

Lord knows what’s become of Mr. Wilson.