Channel Changer

Why isn't Seymour Fagin, DDS talking about this girl's cavities with her father? He looks scared of her. Is she a biter?

Is that the dentist? Maybe it's his dental hygienist. So many people look absolutely grotesque in some of these strips.

If Brutus had been paying attention, he would've seen Gladys start to change the channel and could ask "Hey, why are you changing the channel?" Usually there's some way to tell a channel is being changed.

Femurs Are Notoriously Hard to Break

December 13, 1965

Toothaches don't just happen. This dentist has been in pain for a while. "I didn't want to go to the dentist because I know how awful and painful it is. Good lord, how I know!"

Just in case you couldn't infer he was a dentist, there's a dental chair and his DDS diploma in the background of the last panel.

July 22, 2024

A good moat and maybe one of those catapults that launch boiling oil...

I've often wondered if Art and/or Chip chose Mother Gargle's residence as Erie because it's close to Cleveland, because someone they knew lived there, or because it's like "eerie" and Mother Gargle is supposed to be like a witch. Her hair is specifically drawn to resemble a witch's hat.

I don't read my horoscope. I don't put much stock into that kind of thing. Although my signs do explain quite a lot about me when you actually get to know me.

It's probably too much to ask that Brutus have a broken leg on Friday.

No.

August 2, 1965

Hey, I think I saw this guy in a Looney Tunes cartoon. I don't think I've ever been to the dentist or heard someone go to the dentist and there not be at least little pain. Poking, scraping, and tapping your teeth hurts so get over it buddy-boy.

Ah, the extremes of the human body.

Nope, not today. Absolutely not.

February 29, 2008

Bringing back this awful shirt. Wilberforce doesn't know what a damn leap day is but has a basic understanding of the Chinese calendar?

Gladys Doesn't Understand the Plight of Men

January 13, 1974

I want to know more about this doctor and the origins of the end of the house call. This guy was offered his family's drug store but he decided to become a doctor. Was that a good idea? I don't know. I do know I wouldn't use a doctor who had this hairstyle.

House calls declined in the 1960s. Most studies agree it's due to patients ultimately losing the ability to control payments to their doctor along with other factors like doctors valuing their time (even though patients' time is much more valuable and more wasted when visiting a doctor) and improvements in technology and care. I believe it's because of scenarios like this where too many patients called doctors when they didn't need one.

Or the electric razor pulled at one of his hairs. That hurts!

Brutus' Dentist Goes Spelunking

I had a supervisor a long time ago who was grading people on something he was not able or supposed to grade people on. A bunch of people complained and he was told not to grade us on that again. His bosses listened to us because it's easier to believe 10 people are in the right than 1 person. That's why I don't understand why it seems easier to believe that 14 million are "lazy" just because they are unemployed. Only around 80,000 jobs were created for the month of October. That's 80,000 jobs for 14 million people. How many of those jobs are for seasonal help? How many of those jobs actually pay a wage that's conducive to living? How many of those jobs are permanent with no chance of elimination? How many of those jobs are real?

And as for "rich" people being "job creators", why would they create jobs when no one is buying anything because they don't have any money because they are unemployed? Jobs are created when there is a demand for products and services, not because companies are paying less taxes.

Your dentist isn't trying to be funny, your teeth just are that bad.

Veeblefester Memorial Bridge

Who in the hell talks like that in the second panel? "Proposition"? "Difficult to construct"? If Chip was trying to get us thinking we really were talking about a road bridge, he failed by putting that coat on the dentist. The second panel should read something like "A bridge is an expensive procedure to do," but then the joke in the last panel would really work.

But then again, when does the joke in the last panel ever work?

2-For-1 Saturday

Yesterday's strip is in complete contrast to my hatred of Thursday's strip. Brutus is eating at a deli like Dagwood and it doesn't look as sad and depressing. Although what does look kind of odd is the deli-man's tattoo. Notice it's on his arm but below the elbow according to the illustration. So this man had "Ma" tattooed on his forearm instead of his upper arm? That seems a bit odd to me. Maybe his upper arm is already covered in tattoos, we just can't see them because of the shirt.

Today's strip shows off Wilberforce's stupidity yet again. The idiocy Wilberforce showcases doesn't require the smirk Brutus gives us in the final panel but just a slight chuckle and an explanation that Grandma has her own way of cleaning her teeth.

Honestly, should someone who proclaims themself a "born loser" really be going to dentist? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.