Diner Whiner

October 3, 1966

What the hell kind of bird is that? He says they got it at Easter so a chicken? Kind of scrawny and reminds me, for some reason, of the dodo bird in Porky in Wackyland.

The last of the dodos.

Look at Gladys sitting there with her tea. "Them's my boys," she proudly thinks.

Does Brutus think du jour is some kind of flavor and not "of the day"? Was "tomato" not written with the soup du jour? I have a lot of questions for this comic. But I always have questions when Brutus is shown eating at this diner.

"TGIF. Right, Brutus?" "That's right, Uncle Ted! Oh, shit! I forgot to go to work today!"

Now we're eating seafood at the diner? What is it with this place? Is it cheap? Does it have a good atmosphere? Is it literally the only place to eat in this city besides the fancy restaurant and the fast food place?

King of Over the Hill

September 7, 1966

SHOOT 'EM!! Who cares if they are in the shape of heart and spelling MOM, you could probably down two or three of them since they are all clustered together like this!

Uncle Ted, you've been over the hill for years now. Hell, Brutus is over the hill now, too.

I'm more concerned that usually polite baristas are going around calling people of certain ages "old-timer". "Medium hot mocha with cinnamon for the old-timer!" "Large wrinkled middle finger for the whippersnapper, you dick."

And It'll Be Four of the Same Toy

September 2, 1966

How is this being a loser? He's not drowning and he can clearly swim. There better be sharks or piranhas coming or something. This comic is called The Born Loser and I expect to see some loser behavior.

Jesus Christ! Even the cashier is concerned. She can't have Brutus' death at the hand of the four kids' cheeseburger meals she will ring up on her conscious.

It's just lunch (I'm assuming). You don't need a giant meal, just enough to tide you over until dinner. Kids' meal and an apple pie should be fine, Brutus. Are you just eating because you're bored?

Suddenly I See...

August 31, 1966

Everything about Agnes here is great. From the tattoo to leaning on the broom and that cigar dangling between her fingers *chef's kiss*.

*gets new glasses* "Wow! I've never seen so well in my life! *looks in mirror* Oh, god. I'm hideous... *sobs*"

Being rejuvenated is more of a feeling that you don't need good vision for, but whatever Uncle Ted.

Uncle Ted Took Up This Hobby Just to Make This Joke

August 24, 1966

Thornapple is just spelling it how most people say it. We rarely say "information" and slur it together into "infermation". To be honest, I don't know if an 'O' could even fit on that sign.

Ok. Well, so far you are only making a stake. Invite me back over when that stick becomes something worth talking about.

Shouldn't he be whittling over a trash can or something. There's going to be wood pieces all over the chair and floor.

Friday Quickies

August 12, 1966

I think Brutus is going to go bowling anyway.

The best thing about the good old days? When he had rules and law in relation to the government.

Wilberforce Is Really Curious About Old People

August 6, 1966

What does Veeblefetzer do here? He's clearly not the president/CEO/owner like today's Veeblefester, but he has clearly worked his way up the ladder over the last 35 years and he is appreciated by the rest of the office three dying flowers worth. Are those from the parking lot...?

I love Miss Henlayer's hair. Pure. Sixties.

This is a Family Circus joke. I even did a search trying to find a Family Circus that says it. I couldn't find one, but maybe it was in a Sunday strip which are harder to search. Anyway, I'm not saying Wilberforce is better than this, but Chip Sansom should be.

You don't have to be old to wear glasses, Uncle Ted.

Classic TV

July 27, 1966

Man finally goes to therapy and he gets yelled at by the therapist. Luckily, there are plenty of things out there Thornapple can hate and make his entire personality, much to the detriment of his friends, family, country, and soul.

I, and my wife, watch old shows all the time. Seinfeld, Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, Unsolved Mysteries, Matlock, The Office, IT Crowd, Schitt's Creek, and several others. You've seen the state of the world lately? Just let me enjoy 30 minutes in Mayberry before I head off to my 32nd Trump protest.

Such an Awkwardly Written Last Panel

June 24, 1966

There's a simple solution to this. Don't loan things out to your neighbor. They're your neighbor, not a friend. They may act all friendly and polite, but they'll report you to the city if your gutters so much as look at them funny.

Of course they all remember each other. They probably get together for lunch or something every couple weeks. Not to mention the trauma bond they all share.

Hired!

June 11, 1966

We should all start doing this more. Eat bomb boss.

What's with the circles/bubbles? Is he sick? Sleepy? Drunk?

I complain that Brutus should just quit as well, but I understand that quitting your job and finding another one isn't all that easy. You have to fill out applications and then give them your resume, which has everything relevant from the application. Then you have to wait and maybe they will give you an interview, but they aren't required to. Maybe you'll get an interview or maybe you won't. If not, you'll never know why and the company has just essentially wasted about two weeks of your life.

Is This a "How I Met Your Aunt" Situation?

May 19, 1966

Say it with me: "Women, amirite?" This reminds me of a joke I read in one of those men's magazines. "Before their wedding, a bride gave the groom an amazing blowjob. Talking to his best man, the groom goes 'I just got the best blowjob of my life!' Talking to her bridesmaid, the bride goes 'I just gave the last blowjob of my life!'" Marriage, amirite?

I feel a lot of people didn't know it was Husband Appreciation Day yesterday. I didn't see anything about it except for this comic and a MeTV post about who's your favorite classic TV husband. Gladys isn't on board.

January 4, 1987

I like the guy calling Brutus "Madam". I had a guy do one of these for me one time. I'm not buying your stupid vacuum though. The one I have works fine and didn't cost $2,200. Thanks for getting up that stain though. I feel there's a clause that you don't get the vacuum if there's no power, but maybe not. I'd be more concerned about Brutus forgetting to pay the electric bill.

What is Brutus wearing?

This is a dark Born Loser as Uncle Ted admits he really only tells stories so when his brain has been eaten away by old age, his grandchild can remind him of all his good times. Time marches on and Death comes for all.

Is this what we're losing with the new GoComics?  The throwaway panels are missing. I know they don't need to be seen, hence the name 'throwaway', but I'd expect the company who owns/distributes the comic to be able to show the entire comic. This isn't the shrinking newspaper comics page.

Saturday's post was about the Grote Twins. If you would like to support me or this website, you can leave some money in one of my tip jars.

Headline News

December 28, 1986

Brutus, fix your neck and get out of that manhole! You're embarrassing Gladys!

Why are they both walking with their eyes closed? And why is Gladys following a few steps behind Brutus? She's not a loyal Japanese wife.

News has been pretty bad lately. Between the genocide, ripping the wires out of the walls of our government, costs continuing to go up, the detainments, disappearing, and deportations, and numerous constitutional crises, things seem pretty bleak right now. It's good to know that Brutus has a soul, unlike Republicans and about 77 million American voters. You're all terrible, you know that right? I assume you do since you've all been terrible for about 20 years now. And some of you even longer. You just don't care because it's fun to watch other people get hurt.

I find it weird that the drawers of the end tables are facing the reader and that Brutus and Uncle Ted are sharing the same ottoman.

Enjoy the adventures of J.J. Jennings, Chauncey Bigsky III, Ernest McDuff, and more of the employees and tourists of Art and Chip Sansom's early 1980s western comic strip, Dusty Chaps! If you would like to support me or this website, you can do so here.

I'm a Rocker

March 31, 1966

I'm sorry Ugly-Yet-Polite Woman, Brutus only has eyes for the three lovely ladies who would never want him.

No, that's mean. These women could be fond of personality and be fine dating a slightly more unattractive man. Except Jennifer, the one wearing the cloak. She wants handsome and she wants money.

I bet Chip was very proud of this when he thought of it/saw someone say it online.

Raspberries were a band from Cleveland so they probably hold a special place in Chip's heart during their five years (1970-1975) of existence.

It's weird seeing Uncle Ted's hair kind of from the front.

Current Events

March 17, 1966

Marcia has an...interesting look. It's like she's supposed to be pretty but it looks weird because Quincy is just a cartoony ovalish blob. If only her face wasn't 3/4ths hidden...

"Like a comb that's looking for a part"? A poet Quincy is not.

Hey, Uncle Ted, I see you are interested/concerned about pennies but not Elon Musk and a bunch of young adults who barely have hair on their chest and have nicknames like Big Balls having access to the government checkbook, your Social Security, and more than likely your banking information? I'd be contacting my Congresspeople and talking about that, but I feel Uncle Ted is part of the reason we're in this mess.

And, yes, Brutus, I do see they are being discontinued because they cost three times as much to produce. I am reading the article in the newspaper after all.

Times They Are A-Changing...

March 7, 1966

BOI-OI-OI-OI-OING!!

AWHOOOOO-GAAA!!

HOMINA-HOMINA-HOMINA!!

NYUCK-NYUCK-NYUCK!!

♡❤💓💖💝💜🩵💘💕💞🎔♡❣🩷💛💗💖💞💙🩶

If you squeeze the hot dog from the middle, how does it squirt out like that? And why is he holding it like that anyway? He's holding it like a hamburger.

"No, all the books have been banned, because when you really look into them, every book has something someone doesn't like."

Libraries have had computers for decades. My school got a computer for the library in 1989, I think. You could play "Oregon Trail", "Number Munchers", or some word or typing game I can't remember or find online right now. You got 20 minutes every month with a second person to play.

More Like Crappy Meal

February 8, 1966

I don't think we talk enough about how we shoved Native Americans off their land in the eastern United States. Many of the Midwest tribes we talk about were originally east coast tribes. I know we've all heard to joke that the Lenape sold Manhattan Island to the Dutch for $24, but really they sold it for around $1,150. Still not a great deal for the Lenape.

One thing I like is the mean, sneaky-pete looks on the white colonizer's faces. What I don't like is that is implies the sale only happened because a woman said to take it. This is some Adam & Eve Biblical bullshit.

I should look more at kid meals when I just want a little snack. I know a lot of old people who just order kid meals. These old people are definitely onto something.

Although I disagree with the toy. They suck now. Cardboard pieces of crap most of the time.

Mother Fruitcake

August 17, 1986

Is it me or does this not flow like it should? We don't see the man take Brutus' burger so it's like he's still just eating his own. I don't know. It just seems clunky.

Brutus was going to take the fruitcake to the county line and bury it in a shallow grave a few feet off a lonely and isolated road. Thanks, Uncle Ted, you just saved Brutus some gas!

The 2024 Year In Review posted earlier this week. It's not much, but it's honest work. If you would like to support me or this website, you can buy me a cup of coffee over on Ko-fi.

Autumn of His Life

If I had to guess, I would say Wilberforce's biggest fear is getting old. He talks a lot about getting old with both Uncle Ted and Brutus and while he tends to be kind of a jerk about it, I feel Wilberforce's attitude masks his fear.

There's Goes Saturday Night

I stopped posting here back in August because I was going through a lot of stuff at the time. It's been quite a three months for me. Aside from going back to work and helping a friend after the death of her younger brother, my mom got really sick and was in the hospital for almost a month before passing away. For some reason, I just didn't feel like writing or really doing anything. I was able to come to a stopping point for most of what I was writing at the time and haven't started back up. I haven't even been able to do any research. I even went to a cemetery last weekend to see if I could get any inspiration and all I got was a panic attack, which are new fun things I've been getting lately.

I was able to eke out a Harry Anderson post which I enjoyed doing and I still post occasionally on Threads and Bluesky. I was getting excited for Kamala Harris becoming president. It was one thing my Mom regretted not being here for. She really wanted to vote for Harris and keep Trump from the White House. I guess it's good she wasn't here to witness this loss and another Trump administration. I feel better about getting back to writing. I've been working on outlines and slowly getting back into getting some words out. Also, yesterday, I shut down my Twitter. There's no reason to be on it anymore.

I have a few things in the pipeline to post here over the next couple months and a couple of planned posts alongside the usual Born Loser stuff. I hope to have 1966 comics for 2025 and I have a couple of surprises as well. If you wish to support me or this website, you can buy me a cup of coffee over on Ko-fi. You can also just follow me on the aforementioned Threads and Bluesky. Thanks for reading.

You better watch what the next words out of your mouth are, Brutus. As a proud graduate of Catfish Hill Community College (Go Spartans!!), I am very protective of my whiskered swimmers.

I wonder if Chip realizes that game would go well with the Cooking Channel. Catfish (yum!) versus Liver (your mileage may vary).

Uncle Ted's Balls

June 29, 1986

I was going to comment that 70¢ seems like a lot, but it's only 23¢ per minute which seems like a steal. Pay phones rose to a quarter starting in 1984 so 23¢ is a discount. Or this payphone in 1986 was still a dime and Brutus just got royally screwed. Well, joke's on the payphone. The Born Loser is still around while payphone after payphone are removed and tossed in the garbage.

How does this cut costs? It should be "the one who loses the least buys the root beer" because the one that loses the least number of golf balls has lost the least amount of money. The way Uncle Ted phrases it, the person who loses the most balls has to pay to replace his balls (heh-heh-heh!) and pay for the root beer.

They should just steal golf balls from Mr. Anderson.

If you would like to support me or this website, you can buy me a cup of coffee over on Ko-fi.