You Know You Can Buy Sandwich-Making Stuff That Isn't Peanut Butter and Jelly, Right?

August 22, 1966

Oh, but daddy!! I love him!! At least he's dressed normal and his pants don't seem as high-waisted as father's trousers seem.

Does Brutus not have any other things to make a sandwich with? Are there never any leftovers--which I guess wouldn't matter if Gladys has been gone all week. How come he isn't going to the diner? Is it closed again after yet another failure of health codes?

Gladys can just visit Mother Gargle? Then why does Mother Gargle visit here so often?

Late Monday Quickies

June 10, 1966

This is like one of those Warner Bros. cartoons about life and society. You know the ones, where something is updated to be futuristic or easier but it really just makes it more difficult. Remember that one where you could press a button and have the upstairs come downstairs? Then when you pressed the button again, it's revealed the downstairs is basically obliterated in the process? That always stuck with me.

That's the suit he wore at his wedding?! This marriage was doomed from the start.

Car Trouble

June 3, 1966

Betty, you gotta keep your eyes on Bamm-Bamm. Yes, he's the strongest baby in the world, but the world can be a dark and scary place.

Grocery stores still have loose pieces of vegetables that you can buy. You can use one of those hard-to-open plastic bags, but no one's making you. Just through that lettuce and celery in the cart without care. However, I never see loose loaves of bread.

1989

Gladys, if you're not going to help then get out and I will just push, steer, and stop on my own.

I think I could pull Gladys' hat off.

Is That Desk Just In the Middle of the Room?

March 4, 1966

I find it funny seeing a kid basically scream "I'm nothing but a tax deduction to you!", but let me tell you kids something: $600 a year ($2000 in today's money) is absolutely not enough to justify having a kid. That money covers basically nothing of what it costs to take care of you.

I tried to do some journaling last year. I didn't like it. It didn't make me feel better or like I was figuring something out. It made me feel depressed so I stopped.

If she's not journaling, then what is she writing? Enemies list?

Get the Heart Pumping

February 28, 1966

I'm all for painting NO on the wall, but on your wife? Brutus deserves whatever happens that gives him his headache.

Why is it such a big deal to go to this PTA meeting? Do both parents need to go? If she doesn't want to go without her husband, then maybe she just needs to quit.

I have never seen Brutus at the gym. Does Brutus think the diner he always goes to is a gym? He should go to the doctor and make sure his brain is okay.

And why is he covered in snow?!

Proud Pop and Son

I only have two videos up on YouTube which is probably two more than you would expect. My first video was a playthrough of the TaleSpin Tiger Electronic Handheld Game.

You can read about both the TaleSpin Nintendo game and the Tiger game here, along with watch the video.

Apparently a new TaleSpin series is currently in production (pre-production?) but that was revealed back in 2023 so who knows how far along it is. No one has called me and asked to help out on the series so who knows if it would be any good.

March 2, 1986

I do enjoy the turns of phrases that Art does. I need to remember this one if I ever become a boss and have a subpar employee that I want to vaguely insult but yet not fire.

I do want to slap that Rankin/Bass-looking Frosty the Snowman face off of Brutus in the first two panels.

Being a tea cozy salesman puts a roof over Wilberforce's head and food on the table--that Wilberforce may or may not be allowed to eat.

Look, I'm not especially feeling anything this year so I'm gonna wrap this up and let you enjoy the rest of your Sunday/Father's Day, before I snap and say something I regret. If you would like to support me or this website and help make my 2024 even slightly better, you can buy me a cup of coffee on Ko-fi.

Friday Quickies

September 27, 1965

Who is this guy? Some pervert? If so, Sidney is right to pistol whip him with his slingshot.

Are hamburgers classified as sandwiches at this fine dining establishment?

Jeans Day

May 19, 1965

Maybe Harold Fantod is bouncing away because you are chasing him. He sees this as a game. At least those are pretty small holes and will easily be smoothed out. Should really have a construction sign up or some yellow caution tape.

I want to warn everybody that we are entering a two-part Born Loser strip about Brutus still being able to fit into a pair of jeans he wore when he and Gladys started dating. It's a dumb thing to fight about but it's made weird by the fact that Brutus still owns those jeans(!?) and that he didn't come out wearing the jeans. Anyway, here is part one of "Dating Jeans".

I definitely still have jeans from when I first started dating my wife (2008) and I still have jeans from when I first started dating (2000) since it's clear Brutus and Gladys dated shortly after high school or college. Oh, wait. No, I don't, because that's strange.

Post-Holiday Mental Breakdown

May 18, 1965

Locked in the basement? And he'll stay there?! Possible child abuse and how this type of punishment--leaving a child alone in a locked room with his thoughts--aside, is there a reason you can't just send him to his room?

Alice seems concerned at least.

I've already commented on this strip and I barely wanted to that time. I'm not going to do it again. I can't. I won't.

Ten Weeks? Well, I Need Two More

Are we still in August? And we always complain that February lasts too long despite being the shortest month. At least February doesn't normally have several consecutive 100 degree days. Anyway, there are going to be a couple changes as the (mostly) daily Born Loser posts return. Classic strips will return as well and the post will be posted here and over on Post. I hope to use Post for other writings and some history things as well when I get them written. Be sure to follow me everywhere on social media where I do slightly more than yammer about a comic strip no one actually cares about.

December 17, 1975

Lying about where babies come from is always an eye-rolling trope for me, although I will admit that I always liked when parents claimed they got their kid cheap from Sears or K-Mart. The children were in the catalog at the back after the guns and gun racks.

I've been back at school since the 2nd, the kids have been back since the 8th so pardon me if I don't care about how Wilberforce feels going back on the 28th.

And he gets a three-day weekend right off the bat!

Brutus Should Explain What the Fish Pond Thing Means

I realized while I was driving around yesterday that I posted a weekday comic when it should have been a Sunday comic. Well, he's a double dose of classic Born Loser, if you're into that kind of thing.

Another thing you might be into, is Threads, the new Twitter-killer from Mark Zuckerberg. You can get there from my Instagram in the Elsewhere link at the top of the page.

November 17, 1985

We've done this before. I wouldn't ask that couple in the old comic and I wouldn't ask children either. So really, this is all on this guy.

When I was in high school, we had a student get impaled in the skull with a broom, which of course made the news. Some reporter stopped at Sonic to ask for directions to the high school. My dumbass friends gave him wrong directions. I always felt guilty about that. Of course, I didn't correct them so I guess I'm a dumbass, too.

August 25, 1975

Did Brutus just have a stroke? Well, if he's not dead from the stroke, landing square on his head will kill him.

Oh, crap! I never gave my son the fish pond talk! How will he overcome whatever that helps you overcome?

Wilberforce looks way too enthusiastic about listening to and learning from Brutus. Wilberforce should know better after nine years.

Did He Do a Fortnite Dance In Front of You As Well?

October 13, 1973

Yeah, that doesn't make you lighter, it just puts all the weight on that one foot. And it wouldn't change anything anyway. Your weight is based on how much gravity is pushing down on you.

Nice boxers, though.

It's "bruh" and quit letting things like this get under your skin, adults. Y'all got so upset when the youths started calling you "boomers" that it really stopped being funny. Throwing tantrums just because you don't understand these young people? Come on, people.

And clearly, Brutus forgets about Classic Wilberforce. There are some older strips I haven't posted here yet that show just how big Wilberforce was for his britches. Today's Wilberforce doesn't hold a candle to old Wilberforce.

Why Start Now?

That's cold, Mother Gargle.

Although if you are talking about being a role model for clothes then I would definitely not call Brutus a good one. That green undershirt makes my eye twitch and the red sweater just makes it worse.

Father/Dog Quality Time

Well, doing that is good too. Brutus is still outside getting a little bit of exercise and so is Kewpie. But I guess if you want your husband and dog to die years before their time then so be it.

I can't picture Kewpie catching a fastball but anything can happen off-panel, I guess.

Maturity

Once again, Brutus and Gladys have abandoned Wilberforce. First, it was by "playing hide-and-seek" and here it's sending him to his room to think about what he's done. Maybe he's not in his room because it just looks like an empty room.

Petty Thornapple Association

So...it went about as well as any other PTA meeting?

-O-M-I-N-U-L

Eh. He'll figure it out.

We had an assignment in class a few weeks ago--maybe months by now, all the days just run together--where kids had to use dictionaries to look up the words. They, of course, hated it because they couldn't understand why they needed to use a dictionary when they have phones and Chromebooks right there. The usual responses of "What if you don't have your phone?" "You need to know how to put things in alphabetical order" and "It teaches you research skills" did not quench their hatred of the assignment.

I'm out for the rest of the week. I'll be back on Saturday. Don't get in trouble out there.

Says the Boy Who Used to Have Lord Fauntleroy Curls

I'm not one of those parents that will fight my children's battles for them because they need to learn to figure it out for themselves. But, sure, I'll punch a 9-year-old. I don't care. Punch him right in the nose.

Was Butch's haircut worse than this?

Yes, this was Wilberforce's original hair. No, I don't know why.

That's a Paddlin'

"Oh, you were probably laughing and having too much fun so that's completely understandable...Hey, waitaminute!"

Where else does Wilberforce go? He's always at Hattie's and he has no other friends. I think Gladys is just getting mad because she doesn't get "mom mad" as much as she would like.

What Could He Be Mad About Now?

I think I've noted on here that I think Hattie lives with her father and her mother is out of the picture. Hattie has mentioned her mother on occasion but I think those are older stories but that she does randomly appear every couple years or so.

Why, yes, I do have back stories for all the secondary characters in this comic strip. Why do you ask?