Out With the Old...

2024 YEAR IN REVIEW

2024 suuuuucked. Hopefully yours was better. Mine wasn't. And it's not even ending well either. Because of this year, I didn't get around to writing as much as I wanted to. I also didn't read as much as I wanted to. But 2025 will be better for both. Hopefully they let me have books, a Kindle, and my writing stuff in the Trump Camps I will inevitably wind up in.

Here are what I consider my better posts from 2024 in no particular order. The first is Harry Anderson's Sideshow, a look at the 1987 NBC special featuring Night Court's Harry Anderson running a carnival sideshow with several carnival acts and numerous celebrities. Next, The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope features a full week of catching up after a break including a pretty decent classic strip. Going back to the beginning of the year, I began posting classic Born Loser strips starting with the very first one from May 1965, plus Brutus has already decided 2024 is going to suck. Good call, man.

In Diner Dilemma, Brutus is tired of his regular diner but does nothing about it and his life remains unchanged. And finally, in Mother Strange, adults eat some bugs and Mother Gargle is mad...Mean mad!

Feel free to peruse all 258 posts from 2024. Hell, feel free to scroll through all 4,357 posts going back to 2008. Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen. I wrote and posted all of them and I'm fine.

As always, please share posts you enjoy, follow me on social media, and if you would like support me or this site, you can buy me a cup of coffee on Ko-fi.

February 2, 1966

Yeah, it's the arrows' fault.

I don't know what damage he expects to exert on these arrows, but I feel most of the damage will happen to the bow, which is also not at fault.

This guy seems drunk.

Brutus was back at Echo Glen Point back in 2023 for the new year. It was also the day the last Funky Winkerbean was published. Wait. Was losing Funky Winkerbean part of problem? God, I hope not.

I feel Brutus' 2025 will remain exactly the same as every other previous year. The worst things that will happen to him are bad food at the diner, Veeblefester threatening to fire him, and way too many visits from Mother Gargle. We should all be so lucky in 2025.

Get a Room You Two

February 1, 1966

I don't think whatever is in that box is approved for shipment based on United States Postal Service guidelines. Even in 1966.

This is same stuff Chip wrote in the card for his wedding anniversary...

By the way, I've never had a boss that I felt this way about. I wouldn't say they've all been terrible, but none of them provided me guidance. Although to be fair, I am a loner, Dottie. A rebel, and I'm not really mentee material.

Quarterback Quandary

August 10, 1986

I like how weird these Born Loser strips are. Who left that box there? Who wrapped it? It could've been much worse. Brutus could've fallen into the box and disappeared, or a monster could've popped out and eaten him. Not a loser in this strip...

I vaguely know the rules of football but it took a couple reads for me to realize "Oh! It was the fourth down. That's bad."

Brutus should know better to think his team is actually going to win.

I know the holidays are mostly over but can still read Christmas on Marrow-Bone Ridge where Danny Dugen and Genie Magoon attempt to give the citizens of Marrow-Bone Ridge a special Christmas. If you would like to support me or this website, you can buy me a cup of coffee on Ko-fi.

2019-2025

I have to post today's comic first because Chip (or the syndicate) got my ass today! They edited the dates from 2019/2020 to 2024/2025. Although they should've changed the 2019 in yesterday's strip to 2024. You would think someone would've caught that.

A 2020 calendar would've wound up worthless anyway since the calendar ended on December 31st and today is March 1765, 2020.

January 31, 1966

Now, I'm not religious, but if I saw Noah's Ark complete with two of every animal approaching, I would probably start freaking out. I don't want to die in a flood!

What are those animals? Rabbits, mice, giraffes, and capybaras? Hippos?

Half Price Is Way Too Much for a 5-Year-Old Calendar

January 29, 1966

I feel constructing the prison would've already discovered oil. Clearly Harry damaged a pipe or something. Why the person who should be in that guard tower didn't see anything, I can't explain though.

Are they running away from the prison or running back to their cells?

Hmm. Printing reruns from 2019 doesn't really work when the strip comments on what year it is. Buying a 2019 calendar when 2025 is less than a week away makes me worry about Brutus' cognitive abilities. Did he suffer some brain damage when at the mall returning gifts?

Mall Gall

January 28, 1966

There you have it, folks. If you want to get on Satan's good side, give him a good cigar. I'm assuming you could also just set him on fire and rule Hell as your own.

I hope Satan does look like a normal man wearing a Halloween costume.

Not every gift is from Santa, ya knob. Brutus and Gladys are clearly returning the gifts they got from Mother Gargle, the O'Hara's, and the hot chocolate mix set they got (that everyone at the company) got from Veeblefester.

Santa doesn't make the toys. At least, according to Christmas specials. I've never seen Santa do any work except on Christmas. Santa gets all the credit, the elves get the shaft.

"He and his elves--Mastercard and Visa--make our presents in his shop at the North Pole!"

Merry Creditmas

January 27, 1966

So is there some sort of mummy that is now on the loose that's going to eat people? Or is the sarcophagus some sort of portal?

If Gladstone was eaten, I'm impressed by the lack of bones and blood.

"Mastercard and Visa...but...but...the elves. What happened to the elves? Are those the names of the elves?"

Despite all their progress, Discover still can't get name-dropped in a comic strip or even be lumped together with the generic "credit cards".

The Night Before Crimmis

January 26, 1966

I don't know how infrastructure was back in the 1960s but good luck not stepping on a crack while walking on a sidewalk these days.

I love when policemen argue like family and friends. Just kiss already.

I'd rather have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head for a dream than some of the ones I've been having. Hanging out in a laundromat? I haven't stepped foot in a laundromat since 2005.

Everybody Wants a Log

January 25, 1966

I'm not a huge movie person, but did actors die on the set a lot back then? Is this why Russell Crowe wasn't in Gladiator 2? Did Paul Mescal kill him accidentally on set? Has anyone seen Russell Crowe in the last year or so?

Remember 2019? Before the world turned upside down? I had stopped doing Born Loser posts in May of that year but returned because 2020 happened and I was home a lot! So I never got to comment on this one or probably any of the others that we'll see this week. I am disappointed that we won't get an original Christmas strip this year though.

It's an artificial fireplace log, Brutus. It's not really going to burn.

Christmas On Marrow-Bone Ridge

Christmas on Marrow-Bone Ridge premiered December 3, 1962 and lasted for 18 installments. Distributed by Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), the strip was written and drawn by Walt Scott who was the cartoonist for The Little People. The Little People, an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of small people surrounded by normal-sized things. The Little People was a Sunday only strip and lasted from 1952 until Scott's death in 1970. Scott also did work on Captain Easy and did numerous Christmas-themed strips for NEA.

Merry Christmas

&

Happy Holidays

Did They Also Send a Newsletter About Their 2024?

July 27, 1986

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn entered the public domain in 1961(? I'm seeing conflicting dates and I don't care enough to investigate further) so if they are reimaginings, then they are fair game and kudos to nameless author here for getting his money. And if they are just word-for-word copies of the originals then that's really on the publisher, isn't it?

What I don't like is this guy writing Huckleberry Finn in the 1980s. Is he still using n-word Jim? That ain't cool.

I find it hard to believe that Wilberforce doesn't know what a Christmas card is. I'm also a little upset at Gladys' use of "back in the last century". But the last century was 24 years ago. I've spent more years in the 21st Century than I did the 20th. Now I hate this strip even more.

The Berwalds get another mention.

In case you missed it, I have an expanded post on Joseph Bartleson and his family of Tecumseh, Kansas, with the lovely obituary for 11-year-old Sylvia Bartleston included. If you would like to support me or this website, you can buy me a cup of coffee on Ko-fi.

Saturday Quickies

January 24, 1966

He's a witch! BURN HIM!!

Let us hope that he never uses that finger on a person.

Why is an eight-year-old girl buying presents for a grown-ass man anyway?

Worker's Solstice

January 22, 1966

Did they not walk past the attached carriage house? How do you not know that your house is sitting just feet from the edge of a cliff? I mean, I know it's 1966 and you can't just pull up the Internet and look at a satellite view of the house but still...

I'll admit, I do enjoy watching videos of houses falling into the sea: Consequences for human's narcissism and hubris.

Work does suck. I don't like doing it. I'm at least on break for the next two weeks. It's a shame your average office drone doesn't get that luxury.

Coffee Monkey

January 21, 1966

I went back and forth on whether I would be subtle or raunchy with my commentary here and chose: I think I would also prefer being taken away and possibly wooed and railed by that guy and not the knight. Absolutely no offense to that horse, it's amazing, but good knights that you want to rescued by don't ride horses like that. I don't make the rules, they just don't.

I guess Brutus is asking if Ms. Preen wants coffee because she might be in the conference and he's just being nice. He and Ms. Preen never interact outside of this setting so that's the only thing that makes sense. Unless it's something else. What's your game, Brutus?

Take Two of These and Don't Call Here Anymore

January 20, 1966

Wait. That's not a beanstalk. I would just keep sawing that branch off and then just leave that tree alone. I don't need any of the problems that are located at the top of that tree.

One problem I always had with Jack and the Beanstalk is how coincidental it was that the beanstalk grew right where there was a castle in the sky. What are the odds. Are there numerous castles in the sky in this universe?

I'm glad the doctor is taking this seriously. That's what I want to spend this $30 copay on.

I have a laundry list of things to talk about with my doctor when I see her since I am a person of a certain age. I'm sure it'll be great.

Gift of the Magi

January 19, 1966

At least you took out another useless organ and weren't performing open heart surgery. That would be terrible.

The appendectomy is going to be comped, right? I don't feel insurance would cover it since it's a mistake.

Why is Brutus just getting Gladys clothes? I'm not knocking a nice pair of pants or whatever, but where's the imagination? I absolutely suck at buying gifts, but I can be somewhat thoughtful.