We Now Return To Your Regularly Scheduled Programming
Alright everyone, I'm back whether you like it or not. Thanks a lot to Bill whose strips managed to maintain my unparallelled average readership of twelve readers per day (despite being about twice as funny as my strips). Sorry for all the craziness lately but rest assured I'll be around on a mostly regular schedule for a while...
Today's comic is big, so you have to click the image to read it. This is the only one I made that I actually laughed out loud at when it was done. Maybe that's just because I'm obsessed with Marmaduke.
Cocaine use is on the rise in the States, friends. First it was the new wave/punk revival, now this... the 80s are back!
This is probably my last post... I actually have no idea when Jon comes back. Weird. In any case it's been a fun guest-blogging-week! Now I'll return to not updating my own blog.
I was reading this article, which says that illegal immigrants may be sent home, but their U.S. born kids can stay. What about forcing them to apply for a visa instead? And by that I mean a Visa credit card. It's everywhere you want to be.
Hey, MCV readers. I'm guest blogging all this week while Jon is away in Europe or somewhere like that. With any luck, I'll make sure this blog has zero readers by the end of the week. Will I make a 9/11 joke, will I? Huh, huh? I just might*!
Readers, I have an announcement to make... This Saturday, I will be leaving the country for a week on a beautiful exotic cruise in the Mediterranean Sea. I will be gone for nine days as I sip margaritas by the pool, soak in the sun, view the beautiful scenery, and of course hang out with my grandparents (someone has to pay for all this). Considering the scant updating of last week, however, I am unwilling to let this blog go unattended during this time. To use the internet onboard, however, costs $7.95/min. Therefore, I have decided to do what all self-respecting webcomics do and hire a guest writer for the week! Next week's guest writer will be Bill Benz, whose blog Heads on Sticks and Ventriloquists has been linked from my main page since this blog's inception. In this blog's description, I cite Bill's article about Marmaduke, which I suggest you check out.
Just look at the handsome gent. Bill and I have been following Marmaduke strips together for years. I trust that he will be the best man for the job. I'll make at least one more post before I sign off and Bill will be sure to introduce himself when he starts up. Be sure to send feedback to let us know what you think. -Jon
Alright. That's it. My obnoxiously long Mitch Clem-esque break is over. I made it back home and will continue to update throughout the summer. Be sure to check back on Wednesday for an exciting announcement.
I'm sorry I've been derelict in my posting this week, but as I've mentioned I have had very limited Internet access this week as I've been in a transitory moving phase which will end tomorrow. Stay tuned for several weekend updates and a big announcement to be made next week. -Jon
I took a trip to the closest library to post today's strip as my computer is sitting in my car waiting to go home from school. Never trust your girlfriend to have a computer with a reliable internet connection...
My name is Jon Katz, formerly of Kick The Leftist. And for the last eight years, I have read nearly every Marmaduke comic strip that has been published. I have not done this because I think it is a funny strip. In fact, it is not. For further explanation of this, I suggest you read my close friend Bill Benz's article So Much To See In One Panel. In it, he describes in great detail the long-standing struggle we have had with Marmaduke and his creator, Brad Anderson.
At first, I was satisfied with Bill's dissertation of the beloved Great Dane which has frustrated us for all these years. Then I came across this website, which demonstrates that the popular yet terrible comic strip Garfield is actually funny when you remove Garfield's thought bubbles. Doing this shows what life would actually be like for his owner, Jon. He does not have a witty cat, he has a regular cat. Jon is just insane.
So I got to thinking... what could make Marmaduke funny? Unlike Garfield, Marmaduke does not talk to us (though he can apparently talk to taxi cab drivers enough to tell them where he lives). Then it hit me. What if instead of being written by Brad Anderson, whose only background in comedy lies in the fact that he, too, owns a Great Dane, it was written by Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau, who has incorporated politics into his comic strip since 1970. In other words... what if Marmaduke went political??
What follows, therefore, is my attempt to answer this question. I will continue to read Marmaduke every day and, when applicable, I will update this blog with a new strip re-interpreted with a new tagline. I will preface this blog by acknowledging that I am a liberal, but I promise to be fair and balanced in my dog-based politics. Just like Fox News.
"Marmaduke Can Vote" is an unauthorized parody of the works of Brad Anderson. It is in no way affiliated with Mr. Anderson, the Marmaduke comic strip, or United Features Syndicate. But anyway, hey Brad, now that I have your attention, it's a joke. C'mon dontcha get it?
Hey, feel free to email me and tell me what you think of the strip directly. T M B Jon at gmail dot com. ;P