If They Can Rerun Comic Strips, I Can Rerun Commentary

It's time once again to check in on my nemesis Captain Kid. What is interesting about Captain Kid is that he looks different in every appearance. Did they just hand off the story to whatever artist was available or was there a regular artist who didn't really know what they were looking for in Captain Kid? We'll probably never know. According to the Digital Comics Museum, Al Liederman did most of the writing and art but I don't know how accurate that is.

This story first appeared in Fawcett Comics' Captain Marvel Adventures #12 (June 1942) and features Captain Kid and his nameless girlfriend at the circus and Captain Kid trying to prove he's better than all these professionals. Here's hoping he dies!

Captain Kid does look like he belongs in the circus. He has the same forearm/leg condition that Popeye has but it has apparently affected his head as well.

This circus just lets anyone perform? Things must not have been as regulated back then.

That even lower-rent Butch Matson seems to love the trapeze artist.

You failed. Miserably. And hilariously.

Your hands slipped? Was it because of or despite of the gloves you wear for some reason?

Horse, you had one job!

Crackshot? Why are you closing your eyes? Don't tell me the loud bang scares the great Captain Kid!

Look at that carny, he's seen some stuff. Or the cocaine at this circus hits differently.

Everybody changes their look in this comic. On every page, Captain Kid looks different.

In fairness, that's a pretty good shot to just shoot the pants and not the underwear or ass itself. I say give him the doll. *squints* On second thought, maybe it's just badly colored. Don't give him the doll.

Are you just going to ignore that elephant wearing glasses?

Captain Kid couldn't even ride a horse but you expect him to subdue a gorilla? You are putting an awful lot of pressure on this mediocre white kid.

And I am not ignoring that of-the-times-but-still-very-wrong racism in the second panel. There's no reason for him to be there except for the idea that "scared Black caricatures are funny". That kind of humor may have worked in the Captain Marvel stories with Steamboat but this is Captain Kid. Nothing's funny.

On second thought, it didn't work and wasn't funny in Captain Marvel either.

Glamourboy's size seems to fluctuate with each panel. When we meet him he's about the size of three Captain Kids but here he can easily wrap his hand around Unnamed Girlfriend.

Captain Kid. Our hero.

I would definitely change that name. Torro Pedo? I understand the name play but Pedo? Really?

I'm going to start calling Captain Kid Mister Kid from now on. Or maybe Dumbass.

What the hell is that? I almost want to call that a racist caricature, too. But of what? Spanish? Italian? Jewish? Romani?

"I'm gonna grow a pair and show that gorilla what-for! But not really."

That ended quickly.

So Glamourboy was just sitting on that, what, petting Unnamed Girlfriend? She should stick with the gorilla, Mister Kid's a dud.

Defense bonds? You can shove your propaganda in a sack, mister. What was the circus doing to try to capture Glamourboy? Nothing? Because it looked like nothing.

What was with the elephant in the glasses?

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panels from Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

I like to imagine that the Christmas gifts Snuffy is purchasing here and wants wrapped are just normal items. A box of baking mix, a box of macaroni and cheese, and a Marie Callendar TV dinner.

Hi and Lois

Your youngest daughter does not take after their older siblings. Trixie's hair comes from Lois, everything else clearly comes from Hi, just like Chip, Dot, and Ditto. And instead of laughing at Trixie's wet nose, get a tissue and clean the damn thing.

panel from Ripley's Believe It Or Not

Fairmount, Indiana to Saline, Michigan is only a three hour drive. I've known people who drove a lot further for a lot less.

The Born Loser

I've already commented on this strip so I'm just going to copy what I had two years ago. City chicken is kind of a poor meal, just throwing meat together and cooking it. Maybe Brutus' aversion to it stems from him growing up so poor that city chicken is all that his mother made. Brutus isn't going back to his city chicken days. He can't. He won't.

If you would like to support my writing or research, you can buy me a cup of coffee on Ko-fi.

Very Late Night

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

Well, if Donald Trump can just make up laws, then so can your local police.

Family Circus

Were they holding an intervention for Kitty Cat? Cats don't respond to them. I've tried.

Mark Trail

AAAH! Where'd you come from?! How'd you get out? Back in the crawlspace with you.

Dennis the Menace

It's never a good thing when an older person breaks a bone. Dennis doesn't care. He will loudly whisper about how you may have hurt yourself to his friends and you'll just stand there and take it.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Those Photos Are Just Drawn On There

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

Well, lookee here. It's singer-songwriter and Nancy cartoonist Guy Gilchrist in today's Barney Google. Guy and Brad Gilchrist took over Nancy back in 1995 then Brad mysteriously vanished. Did Guy do something to Brad or was Brad just a made-up person used by Guy to get two paychecks?*

Mary Worth

No, it's totally a great idea. I love getting matching tattoos with people I've just barely started...dating(?).

Family Circus

"And I'm telling you, Jeffy, I am getting damn tired of saying that extra syllable."

Mark Trail

Here's hoping that Mark Trail will still provide us with the wildlife scenes, conservation guilt-trips, and zoological science that we're going to need in the upcoming four years.

Marvin

I wish this trope would die. I wish this trope would die. I wish this trope would die. I wish this trope would die.




*Don't worry. I'm well aware that Brad Gilchrist is alive, well, and in existence.

How Did Lukey Even Get the Idea?

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

Not like that anyway. Why would Lukey want to do something like braid his beard in the first place? That's not something someone from Appalachia does. Brooklyn, yes. Appalachia, no.

Crankshaft and Funky Winkerbean

I don't care if they are set in the same universe, Batiuk, I do NOT want to see Ed Crankshaft twice in one day.

Baby Blues

Dear parents, you do not need to give me a card or anything else apologizing for how terrible your kids are or might be. You have kids, I'm just going to assume that they will be terrible until they prove me wrong. For the most part, they are good but this is a comic strip and just like a TV show, kids and babies always have to be terrible when out in public even if they normally aren't.

Blasphemous Saturday

The Amazing Spider-Man

"We've been together for years and you still don't know how my spider-sense works? I'm kind of glad I made that deal with Mephisto in the other universe."

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

I thought this was going to be a lecture about how being is promiscuous is wrong and all that garbage and while it starts out that way, Loweezy seems perfectly fine with Lureen's choice. I am too. It's your body, ladies, do what you want with it.

Beetle Bailey

As an even bigger slap to the face, Sarge is praying to the almighty pizza god right there in front of the chaplain.

That Is a Huge Bowl of Peas

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

I may have mentioned this before but I love Thanksgiving. Christmas can honestly suck a bag of nuts because I'd rather get together with family and eat a bunch of food. I don't like buying gifts, I don't necessarily like receiving gifts (I'm strange, I know), but I love cooking and eating food.

Dennis the Menace

The Pilgrims. The Native Americans got diseases.

Rex Morgan, M.D.

And look, Sarah is trying to eat that pie like a duck!

Funky Winkerbean

Tom Batiuk is trying his hand at some historical fiction. The thing with historical fiction is that it has to be believable. This isn't believable.

I Guess History Hasn't Caught Up to Comic Strips

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

2003:
Snuffy: "Didja hear that you can put yer name on a guvmint list and no one kin call you?"
Lukey: "That sounds like a great idear, Snuffy, except for one thing."
Snuffy: "What's that?"
Lukey: "Why would I want to put muh name on a guvmint list?"

Blondie

This guy should get a Twitter. Those kind of jokes go over well on Twitter.

Mother Goose and Grimm

Mary Todd Lincoln was very supportive of her husband. She was an intelligent and caring woman, often raising their children alone while Lincoln was off politicking before becoming president. The Lincolns had four children, two surviving into adulthood and only one outliving Mary Todd. Mary Todd suffered through bouts of depression due to this and especially after witnessing her beloved husband get killed right in front of her. While many people initially thought her psychotic episodes and mania were related to depression and bipolar, many historians now believe that she had a B12 deficiency. What I'm getting at is that Mary Todd was a loving and devoted wife to Abraham and he was ever grateful that she was in his life.

Family Circus

"And the cat's in the cradle

And the silver spoon.

Little boy blue and the man in the moon.

When are you going to be done with laundry, Mommy?

I don't know when

but we'll color together then, Dolly.

We're gonna have a good time then.