Comic strips from the present, the past, and the future. Plus a couple news items.
St. Pat
With the St. Pat’s holy day arriving soon was it unreasonable for me to expect the Bringing Up Father reprint for today to include a reference to corned beef and hash at Dinty Moore’s? And then I was confused about multi-million dollar lotto winner (or however he got his money) Jiggs asking for a loan.
Maybe I had read too many St. Patrick’s comics before hitting on BUF, such as the following stereotype:
If only I knew someone with an Irish heritage to ask if they are upset about the boozing convention.
Time Passages
I admired the the subtle way DePaul and Weigel showed the passing of time since Christopher Walker had been stranded. Rather than the unimaginative “three months later” they show the skeletons of his compatriots who died in the attack by the Singh Brotherhood and that he is learning to speak the Bandar language.
I was this many years old, after reading Dan Schkade’s Flash Gordon for two and a half years, before realizing that Schkade occasionally reworks panels from the dailies to use in his Sunday recaps. It came about accidentally as a panel from this past week reminded me of a Frank Miller Dark Knight illustration.
Frank Miller, The Dark Knight
Dan Schkade, Flash Gordon
Frank Miller, The Dark Knight
A panel that reappeared today.
Scrolling through the week of dailies I found a few other panels reworked for the Sunday summary:
This is by no means meant to disparage Schkade, it only makes sense really and the only surprise now is that it doesn’t happen for every Sunday page. This is only to comment on my lack of “persistence of vision” and awareness that I hadn’t noticed it earlier.
Another Oddity
Heathcliff usually makes about as much sense to me as does Zippy the Pinhead. But today there was actually a gag that was funny to me and appropriate for the character.
I am, on an ongoing basis, amazed (and more than a little jealous) of foreign (Finnish) cartoonist Samson‘s command of the English language. Today it was the first panel and last tier of Dark Side of the Horse. This also applies to Argentine born Liniers of Macanudo.
Future Funnies
Subscribers to Comics Kingdom (free seven day trial now) got their first look at guest ghost artist Mimi Simon on Rex Morgan, M.D. today. She got a good line going and while obviously not Terry Beatty she keeps a close approximation so regular readers, not us comics fanatics, will not be upset about the change in the look of the strip.
Don’t know why she is not signing the strip. Terry Beatty has made no secret of Mimi being the guest artist from March 22 to April 21, 2026.
Also keep an open for a new MUTTS strip coming up this week.
It’s Just Comic Strip News
Deon Parson via Anderson Herald Bulletin
From Lily Jones at The Herald Bulletin: Anderson cartoonist sees rising success with ‘Rosebuds’ comic (or here).
Cartoonist Dean Parson (aka $upr Dee) and his Rosebuds comic strip were honored with the unveiling of a mural and plaque at his old high school.
“Rosebuds” follows the adventures of three sisters — Rosa, Maria and Maricela — and the ups and downs they face as siblings.
The characters are based on friends and classmates Parson met at Anderson High School: Rosa Rodriguez, Maria Gomez and Maricela Montes.
Principal Pickett in the comic strip is named after Ellen Finney Pickett, one of Parson’s teachers and the current principal at Highland Middle School. The school the three sisters attend in “Rosebuds” is called Anderson High School.
‘Rosebuds’ debuts in THB today
The daily “Rosebuds” strip by Anderson cartoonist Deon Parson debuts in The Herald Bulletin on Page B3 of today’s paper. The Sunday “Rosebuds” strip has been published in the THB Weekend Comics section since the summer of 2024.
Rosebuds began its daily print publication on Friday March 14, 2026 at The (Anderson) Herald Bulletin!
Stars and Stripes weekend comics sections
Rose L. Thayer at Stars and Stripes reports on changes coming to the “independent” military newspaper:
The Pentagon has released a modernization plan for Stars and Stripes that affirms the publication’s independence while expanding Defense Department oversight, introducing new restrictions on content and transitioning away from a print publication. An eight-page memo, dated March 9 and effective immediately, limits the use of wire services, bars comics [emphasis added] and other syndicated features and states that content must be consistent with “good order and discipline,” a phrase borrowed from the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
“This clearly shows that the Pentagon is trying to increase its influence over content decisions at Stars and Stripes,” said Timothy Richardson, program director of journalism and disinformation for PEN America, a nonprofit that protects free expression. “That’s a threat to the First Amendment, certainly, and the independence that the Congress has long guaranteed for the newsroom.”
The memo bars purchased content on the assumption that all service members overseas have online access to all commercially available news on their own. Exceptions for purchased content can be approved by Parnell, according to the memo.
The Pentagon is effectively trying to make Stars and Stripes comport to the new Trump/Hegseth ideology.
Stars and Stripes carries the comic strips Doonesbury, Prickly City, Over the Hedge, and Pearls Before Swine that hardly promote the dogma the new Pentagon promotes. And Beetle Bailey is certainly not the paragon for “Hegseth warriors” to be exposed to.
Below we see a couple images from this weekend’s Stars and Stripes comics section:
