Althouse: "Since the dawn of time, mankind has wondered: is there any creature more powerful than Marmaduke..."

January 8, 2013

"Since the dawn of time, mankind has wondered: is there any creature more powerful than Marmaduke..."

"... our awful tormentor, who rules over this plane of existence with gore-drenched fangs?"

19 comments:

Emil Blatz said...: I have a friend in Atlanta with a Old English Mastiff that should max out at 225 lbs. He and his wife have placed it on a careful diet to help the dog avoid arthritis, by keeping its maximum weight a shade under 200.; 1/8/13, 9:58 PM
Tibore said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/8/13, 10:19 PM
Tibore said...: Garfield minus Garfield is still funnier.; 1/8/13, 10:21 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Amateur...

"That this was the avowed design of stationing an armed force in this town, is sufficiently known; and we, my fellow-citizens, have seen, we have felt the tragical effects! THE FATAL FIFTH OF MARCH, 1770, CAN NEVER BE FORGOTTEN. The horrors of THAT DREADFUL NIGHT are but too deeply impressed on our hearts. Language is too feeble to paint the emotions of our souls, when our streets were stained with the BLOOD OF OUR BRETHERN; when our ears were wounded by the groans of the dying, and our eyes were tormented with the sight of the mangled bodies of the dead. When our alarmed imagination presented to our view our houses wrapt in flames, our children subjected to the barbarous caprice of the raging soldiery; our beauteous virgins exposed to all the insolence of unbridled passion; our virtuous wives, endeared to us by every tender tie, falling a sacrifice to worse than brutal violence, and perhaps, like the famed Lucretia, distracted with anguish and despair, ending their wretched lives by their own fair hands."

"Or is that my untruth?"

..."has there ever been a reliable narrator, not even on objective matters: One person’s purple is someone else’s violet is someone else’s indigo is someone else’s blue. I have been engaged in telling the truth about my life for most of my life now, and I believe everything I say. The events I describe are precisely as I remember them, and as anyone else who was there recalls. And still, I know: There are other versions."; 1/8/13, 10:21 PM
chuck said...: I thought it was going to be a reference to the Marmaduke of Jack Vance.; 1/8/13, 10:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: Since the dawn of time is a long time. A Tyrannosaurus Rex with feathers might be the most powerful ever seen...like The Atlanta Falcons will be on Sunday.; 1/8/13, 10:32 PM
edutcher said...: I would have suggested Quasy Dog, but that's just me.; 1/8/13, 10:59 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Since the beginning of the formation of life there has roamed a force upon the world so great the very earth trembles as it passes. It smashes forests whenever it insouciantly scratches its butt and blows storms when it sneezes dragon snot all over the place and torrential floods whenever it wees as it walks along without even stopping. But most fiercest of all features is its incredibly bad taste which radiates out at aggressive distances and freezes all living things solid on the spot making them easy pickings, Trannysaurus Rex, King of the queens of the terrible liizards.; 1/8/13, 11:14 PM
Paddy O said...: So, I don't remember if it was you or one of the commenters who first introduced comics curmudgeon around here, but here is where I first was exposed to it, and it is one of the few places online I visit daily ever since.; 1/9/13, 12:02 AM
Paddy O said...: That being said it makes me laugh that you're posting this particular comment as his Marmaduke comments have long been my least favorite part of his commentary.

Why? It just got old quick.; 1/9/13, 12:04 AM
Paddy O said...: Which makes the highlighted post especially ironic since his Judge Parker stuff is very similar in being basically the same joke each time, but it makes me laugh even to this day. I glossed over the Marmaduke and reveled in the Judge Parker comedy in that post. The high and the low of comics curmudgeon, and my low was your high.; 1/9/13, 12:07 AM
Unknown said...: "... our awful tormentor, who rules over this plane of existence with gore-drenched fangs?"

Doesn't this belong on the Algore thread?; 1/9/13, 12:17 AM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/9/13, 12:19 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "That being said it makes me laugh that you're posting this particular comment as his Marmaduke comments have long been my least favorite part of his commentary. Why? It just got old quick."

But that's the point: the endlessness of Marmaduke. Always the same joke, strip after strip, for -- what? -- a century?; 1/9/13, 6:59 AM
Ann Althouse said...: You say it got old... but it never gets old... as far as newspapers are concerned.d; 1/9/13, 6:59 AM
Paddy O said...: That is indeed the point. It's Marmaduking Marmaduke.

That's why it's curious to me on reflection. Why does his Marmaduke stuff annoy me while his Family Circus or Judge Parker stuff still make me laugh?

It's all the same. A curious distinction deep in my psyche causes me to reject the one and value the other (enough to visit each day).

The mind is weird in its preferences. Makes no sense. I'd look deep within but fear I'd find Marmaduke staring back at me.; 1/9/13, 8:08 AM
Marc in Eugene said...: I haven't read the comics in a newspaper in over a year, probably, and Judge Parker and Mary Worth and Apartment 3G still made me laugh. A new year's discovery, Comic Curmudgeon; thanks!; 1/9/13, 8:32 AM
SteveR said...: Never thought Marmaduke was funny and Clifford is way more powerful.; 1/9/13, 8:43 AM
Anonymous said...: Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Marmaduke R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.; 1/9/13, 12:09 PM