You know what? I don't really want Wilberforce to be hanging around either.

November 11, 1967

Art is subjective so I don't know why Brutus is getting mad and not just ignoring Wilberforce. Acknowledging him just makes him worse.

I don't hate Brutus' painting...

It's Wednesday. Plenty of time to get Mother Gargle out of the house. Y'all know my thoughts on Mother Gargle. This request is reasonable.

What is he talking about? 'Window of opportunity'? What? Where?!

Pluggers, October 21, 2026

This seems like a pretty bleak Pluggers not just because it's yet another reminder that Pluggers are ever closer to death because the schools they went to are either unsafe to be used as schools anymore (damn building codes!) or everybody who lived where they did either moved away or died and the school was no longer needed.

I'm going to look at the upside though. Where I'm from, the school typically stays up and becomes abandoned. Very few are actually turned into anything because it is costly, most large consolidated schools are in rural areas and, again, the buildings are unsafe in some way. So would you rather have an empty field where your school once stood, or a dilapidated abandoned building that overshadows your town?

No, no. Large abandoned buildings are great.

November 7, 1967

Maybe you should get a job, Gladys, and Brutus can stay at home all day and do whatever it is that you do.

At least 1967 Gladys probably does more around the house than 2026 Gladys.

Wait a minute...*scrolls through literally thousands of comics where Brutus is in an office*...Brutus doesn't work in a cubicle!

Maybe being moved to a cubicle Veeblefester uses as a punishment like with whatever Brutus did on Monday.
 

His Name Is Error

November 4, 1967

Really, Brutus? That's what you want your child to learn at school? His dog's name? Which isn't 'Rover' by the way, but Kewpie. You should be glad Wilberforce is learning something and actually retaining information.

By the way, Tokyo was knocked out of the largest city in the world slot by Chongqing, China. Unless you want to include urban area or the entire metropolitan area. If you do that, Tokyo is still the largest city in the world.

Yeah, and AI never makes any mistakes (it gave me the wrong city when I looked up what was now the largest city in the world).

You know, in the time it's taking to have this little meeting, I could be filling out the correct form. Just pointing that out...

That's Quite a First Panel

 

Harry Anderson, star of Night Court, Dave's World, and a TV-movie remake of Harvey as seen on the left here, would've been 74 today. I didn't do any special post or anything but I did find this promotional picture from the aforementioned Harvey with a portrait of Anderson's Elwood Dowd and his mythological rabbit, Harvey.

Here is last year's Harry Anderson post featuring his appearance in the HBO series Tales from the Crypt. But if you like crap, then check out my post on Harry Anderson's first hosting stint on Saturday Night Live back in 1985. He doesn't call women at the gym whores but he does eat a guinea pig.

 

October 31, 1967

"Run up to bed"? It's five in the evening!

Did Brutus ask if something was unethical or dishonest again?

Brutus is doing his Other Mommy pose here. It's not quite the same.

This is honestly what would happen with me. "You and everybody else are exactly the same". Cool, that means that everybody sucks. Great.

Are they having leftovers or is she making a new meal from the leftovers?

 

October 30, 1967

Now this is the kind of stuff I want to see in modern Born Loser. The Veeblefester Corporation is a shady organization that produces a shoddy product and who pollutes our air and water. There is only one man who finds this "unethical...even dishonest" and that man is Brutus Thornapple! So don't expect anything to change.

Because we...ate...it...? I don't know what to tell you, kid.

HR Violation

 

October 28, 1967

Um, just put the box down and get out of the elevator? I don't know how many people Dastardly Throckmorton intends to kill, but I don't think the number is leaving the single digits.

I appreciate Brutus standing up for himself. We're all adults and you need to treat me accordingly. I don't really have anything for this. I like it when Brutus complains about his job and Veeblefester comments on how he's very good at it. I do not like Veeblefester literally abusing an employee. Can't Brutus report Veeblefester to someone?

Lucky, Lucky Guy

 

October 25, 1967

Eat shit, hippie!

Why is this guy crossing in the middle of the street without waiting for the cars to pass? You don't know how traffic works? You couldn't walk probably 50 feet to a crosswalk, buddy?

There goes Arnie again, bragging about his perfect wife!

Brutus hopes that tonight is the night he finally chokes and dies on one of Gladys' leftover-tasting meals.

I can't get over that Arnie's wife is named Althea.

Are They Just Playing With One Ship?

 

October 24, 1967

I remember when children would fight in the vacant lot or somewhere private out of the eyes of adults because they didn't want to get in trouble. Now it has to be in the middle of everything with everybody watching with their phones out.

Anyway, the boy that's not Wilberforce is gonna get beaned by that fence post.

It's Battleship, Gladys! It's clearly Battleship! Do you not know what Battleship looks like? Do you not know how Battleship works? I just...I can't...Gah!

What?

If it's Brutus' break or lunch, he doesn't need to tell Veeblefester

October 20, 1967

Bulldogs aren't tough. They look tough, but you never hear about bulldogs being tough. When you go to a shelter and say "I want a tough dog", they don't normally point you in the direction of the bulldogs.

Kewpie is not only genderqueer/nonbinary, but is also interspecies(?).

I take a short walk at work during lunch. It helps reboot for the afternoon. But I'm in classrooms with up to 160 middle schoolers so I don't know why Brutus needs to clear his head.

A 25-Year Slump

October 19, 1967

I think that scale is more than broken. And probably even more so after Brutus hoisted himself onto it. I would've known it was broken with "in great demand at parties". Nobody's inviting me to parties.

I think Lawrence of Arabia is kind of an outdated reference. What other movies are set in deserts? Mad Max: Fury Road, English Patient? Maybe The Martian? Dune? I don't know. There should be a more contemporary movie for this metaphor.

Early to Rise

October 16, 1967

Is Brutus just late? He doesn't seem drunk or anything. How about Brutus just tell Gladys the truth about what goes on during the Veeblefester Tea Cozy Quarterly Office Party?

It's weird starting a new you on September 28. You should start that stuff on October 1 or January 1 or in 2030.

It looks pretty mid-day for only being 6:30 in the morning!

 

 

 

 

 

I posted the first chapter of Vagabond Girl, the novel I finished a couple years ago, on my Tumblr I haven't used in over ten years. I hope you find it interesting. I plan on posting chapters every Monday and Thursday through October to see if there's any interest.

The View from the Top

August 7, 1988

I don't know if operating a telephone was more complicated now or back then. Why do the Thornapples have a phone, an answering machine, an unlisted number, and an answering service? Seems like a lot of wasted money. The Thornapples, or at least Brutus, really want people to call them.

Hey, Veeblefester, think of how much money you'd save if you had everyone work from home and got rid of the building. I know that's not cool to think about these days as developers, landlords, and Realtors are people too, but overhead can be expensive.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have any overhead, but if you enjoy reading these posts, you can throw some money at the About page.

Dreams of Our Brutus

October 13, 1967

Brutus has worked for Veeblefester for 27 years?!! Brutus absolutely deserves a raise! And look, I am fine with getting praise and accolades for the work that I do, but I also want that praise and accolades to become money.

What kind of nightmares is Brutus having? My wildest nightmares are, like, when I'm falling or something. Or it's some weird work/fun combination making work seems like garbage and fun seem like work.

And I'm just going to say it but I think this is the most depressing thing I've ever seen Brutus say.

My Dinner With Rancid

Back in 2019, I decided to stop commenting on The Born Loser. The reason was wanting to focus on writing and thinking the idea had run its course. On that part, I was correct. Due to a death in the family, I came into dozens of The Born Loser strips from 1977 until 2003 so I made my last "Losers Are Made, Not Born" (as I called this thing at the time) focused on those.

I brought The Born Loser back in November of 2020 because I had too much time on my hands, I was depressed, and I hadn't written anything in about six months and thought this would help. I also didn't use the stupid title as I felt I had moved on from outright attacking the comic and treating it more with respect. It's something I enjoy doing. I hopefully provide some insight, or some chuckles, or just general entertainment. I hope those of you who are regulars enjoy the comics, the commentary, and the other stuff I occasionally do on this site.

If you would like to support me or this website, you can throw some money at the links in my About page.

 

July 31, 1988

I can get behind Shakespeare not being real or Shakespeare just being the person the writing was attributed to while someone else (or numerous someone else's) did the work. But I refuse to believe Queen Elizabeth I was a man. Apparently that myth came about around in the 1800s when Thomas Keble recorded that during renovations, the skeleton of a 9-year-old girl were found in a coffin. This theory was popularized by Dracula novelist Bram Stoker when he claimed the skeleton was Queen Elizabeth and provided an explanation for why the queen never married or had children. The theory goes that Elizabeth died suddenly and, to hide that fact from Henry VIII, a local boy was chosen to pose as the future queen. The "Bisley Boy" scenario has never been taken seriously and has always been a fringe conspiracy. But in 1985, a study was published Queen Elizabeth I: A case of testicular feminization? which posits that Queen Elizabeth was a hermaphrodite. The above comic is from 1988 so it's possible Art got wind of that article at some point and eventually wrote a comic about it. I don't believe that either, but I understand how fun it is to troll people about this stuff.

Mm. I don't care if I am eating dinner with my boss, I don't want to talk about work during my time off. I certainly don't want to talk about my boss to my boss. If I had to do that, I'll just stick to drinking coffee, thank you.

That middle panel is definitely something a normal person says

September 14, 1967

Are...Are the Thornapples trespassing in some bear family's house?

Mm. I didn't know Veeblefester, in addition to being the CEO, was also the person who procures general office supplies.

This Could've Been an Email

September 13, 1967

Not only does Brutus' back hurt, his legs are turning into a wispy mist. That can't be good.

Why "Old Zip Coon"? Why not "Turkey In the Straw"? 😭 

Yeah, it took Veeblefester years. Mainly because Veeblefester's father first ran the company and he didn't pass away until he was 93. "Why did you call me in...Are you counting coins?"

Late Night Friday

September 11, 1967

I'm guessing this guy is just making up a poem about the water because I could not find any poem or anything with these words. I originally thought it was from "water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink" which is from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge, 1834) but it's not.

Was being stranded at sea something that happened a lot in the past?

Is that Brutus' blond co-worker? I'm a little concerned that Brutus didn't realize one of his closest co-workers has not been at work.

Or is this some other blond guy Brutus knows? 

House Hole

Tim Curry

1946 - 2026 

Should we give Death one more chance to take an 80-year-old in hopes that he'll snag the right one? And you just know that with every celebrity death that gets an outpouring of grief, Trump is wandering around the White House saying this:

Ben Chang is just a little less insane.

 

September 8, 1967

*slams fist on desk* Get me the suggestion box!

*slams fist on desk* Get me Grinch in accounting!

*slams fist on desk* Get me the giant check!

*slams fist on desk* Get me Thornapple!

Hmm. This giant check makes the $225 I make every other week seem even smaller...

Brutus and Gladys' life is literally falling apart. Are the walls just crumbling or did Wilberforce die during the final boss fight and he ran out of continues? "I'll just hang this picture here and no one will be the wiser..."

Can We Call Him Morty Miata Now?

Dolly Parton

1946 - 2026

"Love to hear that Dolly Parton sing!" 

September 7, 1967

I'm glad that Wilberforce is ACAB, but maybe save that for when you can get your own consequences.

Yeah, we're worrying about boulevard stops when kids are just flopping around unprotected in the backseat.

Who's "they"? I have a coworker who drives an orange Dodge Charger and if you saw him, you would not think this guy would drive a car like that. I don't think anybody says "you can learn about a person by the type of car they drive to work" and you can't convince me otherwise.

Sometimes Brutus drives. And once, Veeblefester gave him a lift.

Desperate Times, I Guess

July 10, 1988

I'm surprised we've only seen Brutus threaten to quit a couple times. Brutus seems like someone who would threaten to quit every couple weeks or so. Especially these days. But it's hard out there anymore and threatening to quit doesn't work as well as it used to...especially when you suck at your job.

I don't know what Veeblefester expected here. Brutus is a salesman, not an ad guy or marketing person. Tea cozies don't need a flashy ad campaign, they practically sell themselves!