Everyone Is Familiar With Brutus

January 5, 1967

I love bird names. So many letters just to say "Eastern towhee".

I understand why Brutus is looking at that woman. She's gigantic! She's over six foot tall, she has to be. She's okay, right? Her gargantuan height isn't going to kill her is it? She looks like she's living her best life though.

Hmm. Wilberforce and Hattie must be in different classes this year. Or maybe the teacher dyed her hair black in the last week.

It would've been funny if yesterday's comic was Brutus actually setting up today's strip. "Hey, Pop, can you help me with my homework?" "Sure, what do you need help with?" "What's a gnu?" "Nothing much, what's gnu with you? Hyuk hyuk!" But again, I don't have a successful syndicated comic strip.

Tuesday Quickies

January 4, 1967

Ketchup? On your ice cream? Oh, Apex Doob, you rascal!

Is Brutus reacting to the request for ketchup or is he scared of Mr. Doob? I guess it's just up to the reader.

I think Veeblefester knows the answer to this question. Is Brutus fastidious? We ALL know the answer to that question.

You Know What Grinds My Gears...?

We have officially entered 1967 in our reprints of the daily Born Loser classics. Brutus and his family are not quite yet the stars (although I've been tagging them as such) but all the characters are there--Brutus, Gladys, Wilberforce, Veeblefester (currently called Veeblefetzer), and Mother Gargle. I have noticed that we get a bit more Agnes Dooley (the maid character) and Apex Doob in the coming month which I am incredibly excited for.

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January 3, 1967

Women be shopping, amirite? Look, I understand not wanting to spend money but if you got it, spend it. It's 1967, things are so much cheaper and better quality and very few things have succumbed to the darkness that is capitalism.

I think I've asked this, but was women buying new clothes really a thing that happened a lot back then like pop culture would lead us to believe? I know it was a major plot point on many episodes of I Love Lucy but that's not real life.

There are 7 hours in a school day, you putz. I don't like it when kids complain about going to school. I didn't even like when kids complained when I was a kid. We have to do it, just hold your nose and close your eyes and get through it.

Lookout Point Is Different Than Echo Point, Right?

Apparently the TV series Abbott Elementary made an appearance in Sunday's Sally Forth. A bunch of old comic strip characters also had cameos in Mutts. And I am all for promoting other comics than The Born Loser so enjoy.

In the first (and the throwaway) panel, Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams) and Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) appear. If you don't watch Abbott Elementary you are probably very confused at who those people are.

What kind of newspaper is Frank reading? Dick Tracy, Popeye, Gasoline Alley, and Snoopy still appear in newspapers and, with the exception of Peanuts, all are still being produced. Do any newspapers print reruns of Krazy Kat, Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, or The Kin-Der-Kids?

Maybe he's reading a magazine or old comic book that reprints these comics.

December 31, 1966

Oh, kids and their schoolyard rhymes. Why did Brutus step outside? Clearly some kid is trying to kill Wilberforce with snowballs and Wilberforce is taunting them. It doesn't require you to go out there.

And he couldn't just take the bus back going the opposite direction?

Does Lookout Point have e-scooters? Couldn't Brutus just take an Uber or something?

Sunday Q&A

August 16, 1987

Brutus has a sister?! I wonder if she looks as much like Brutus as his mom does. I like when Brutus has his own family and not just Uncle Ted. They know to stay away and live their own life, unlike Mother Gargle.

Two of these questions are very easy to answer. Lightning is caused by warm air and cold air becoming charged due to the static. The sky is blue because the water droplets in the sky are reflecting the sun. What wouldn't Wilberforce understand about that? As for the other questions, the jury is still out on if the chicken or egg came first but most suggest the egg came first and there are twelve months in a year due to the lunar cycle and to coincide with the seasons. These are all very baseline questions that most of the general population should know. Maybe Brutus was kicked by a horse in his early 20s, I don't know.

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Sit Back. Relax.

December 30, 1966

Goody. Brutus is going to get skloted by...the Pirates of Prospect Avenue...? This is what happens when you take public transportation. Sometimes you have to be punched by the Gruesomes. Not the Flintstone characters but the Canadian garage punk band.

This isn't much of a joke and more of what really happens.

I don't want to talk about sports. Why is this chair so close to the TV?

The Lloyd House

Joseph S. Lloyd was born in 1841 in Maine. In 1863, he married Sarah, who was born in Illinois in 1846 and was his second wife. To this union was born seven children.

In 1870, they settled in Marquette, Kansas until about 1884 when they moved to the Willard/West Union area of Shawnee County where he shared land with his son, Jacob. Joseph died in 1890 at the age of 65. Sarah died in 1904 at the age of 58. Both are buried in McPherson County, Kansas.

Jacob C. Lloyd was born in Iowa on May 21, 1869. He married Carrie Sherretts in 1890 and they had nine children. Jacob was involved in the West Union School, acting as its treasurer, and faithful supporter of the Willard Congregational Church. In 1907, he was fined $27 for "brutally whipping" his 16-year-old daughter, Fannie. The fine was considered very steep. He died of heart failure at the age of 52 on February 28, 1922. He is buried in Valencia Cemetery. Carrie died December 3, 1927 at the age of 54. She is also buried in Valencia Cemetery.

According to the county, this house was built in 1887 and was probably the house that Jacob Lloyd and his family lived in. A newer house was built to the north and is currently occupied so this house has probably been abandoned since the late 90s or early 2000s. The house was demolished some time in 2024.

It Takes More Than Coffee These Days

I don't know. This last 24 hours has been a whirlwind. Not for me, but for a couple of presidents. If you would've told me that 2025 would have us finding out that Donald Trump possibly performed oral sex on President Bill Clinton, I would've cried fake news because neither one really seems like they'd be into that. I guess I underestimated how disgusting men could be. I should know better than to underestimate how disgusting men can be.

December 29, 1966

Like a Brutus in a China shop...

I don't know you would hold your umbrella like that at all. Not just in a place with valuable and fragile things, but everywhere. You're just asking to hit someone or something with it.

I'm not a morning person. I'm not really awake until about 9. I'm usually up at about 6:30.

I can't imagine someone being awake at seven in the morning and reading about all the bullshit about Trump. That would just immediately want me to end the day right there. I don't get online until I get home at 4.

We Interrupt This Repeat Program for a Word From Our Sponsor You've Seen Dozens of Times

December 28, 1966

Splashing people with mud while they are standing on the corner is a far cry from this strip where Veeblefester drives Brutus to work. It's more on brand for Veeblefetzer.

Are both Brutus and Gladys waiting for the bus?

That's how television works. Right? I know I watch very little live TV anymore but shows still get put into reruns and all the commercials are still the same, right?

Is it me or is Chip kind of phoning it in this week?

Tingley

 

December 27, 1966

I'm going out on a limb here, and considering it's still around Christmas time, is that supposed to be mistletoe? Maybe she's trying to grow it out enough so it can strangle Brutus.

Hurricane Hattie knows more than you, teach. She's just going through the motions until she can finally take over the world in ten to twelve years.