History Blog / TheComicsCurmudgeon

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Josh once complained about how most comic strip parents were coded as Baby Boomers even when they were clearly too young for that (generally due to the ongoing march of ComicBookTime). Then a certain ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' strip [[https://joshreads.com/2019/10/crankshaft-got-radicalized-in-a-gardening-subreddit-probably/#zits came across his desk]], depicting Walt's dad as a literal dinosaur because he used to rent movies from the video store as a teenager--which would make him a Gen-X'er or even an older Millenial. Since Josh is himself a Gen-X'er with fond memories of the video-rental age, this made him feel very old indeed.

* BrickJoke: [[http://joshreads.com/?p=107 October 21st, 2004]]: Josh posts an email from "Doc Martian" consisting of "ANDY CAPP!" 10 times in the subject line and 44 in the body. [[http://joshreads.com/?p=27042 April 22nd, 2016]]: In a post titled "This one's for you, Doc Martian, wherever you are", Josh decides "why ''not'' Andy Capp?" and does his first commentary on the comic.

* SnootySports: Golf-related comic strips are a frequent source of SnarkBait from the comics.

* ThinkOfTheChildren: What he says of a ''ComicStrip/HiAndLois'' [[http://joshreads.com/?p=229 strip depicting a heart-shaped candy box as black even in color]], [[UnfortunateImplications implying that the title characters are in an S&M relationship]].

** Leroy and Loretta from the ComicStrip/TheLockhorns are actually elder Millennials. This is more poking fun about ComicBookTime and commending the comic for actually making references to modern phenomena without coming across as cringeworthy.

* TheNoseless: What Josh realises to his horror in regards to [[ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} Jon Arbuckle]], when he and [[ComicStrip/{{Blondie}} Dagwood Bumstead]] [[http://joshreads.com/?p=395 appeared together in the same panel]].

** The ''ComicStrip/{{Pluggers}}'' and ''ComicStrip/SnuffySmith'' comics generally get reviewed with a mildly sneery checklist of pretty much every stereotype off the AcceptableTargets[[invoked]] checklist regarding rural people.

** ComicStrip/MarkTrail is [[UsefulNotes/{{asexuality}} asexual]] and secretly hates Rusty.

* FetishRetardant: In-universe, Josh has noted that he's never turned on by highly sexualized female characters such as June Morgan or Blondie, yet is [[PerverseSexualLust head-over-heels in love with]] Margo [=McGee=]. Part of it is his well documented love of strong, take-charge women.

* PerverseSexualLust: Josh has it for Margo [=McGee=].

** In ''ComicStrip/Apartment3G'', Luann is [[DumbBlonde vapid]], Tommie has the personality of cardboard, and Margo Magee is a memetic psychopath who would just as soon snap someone's neck as acknowledge they exist. Of course, no part of that diminishes Josh's PerverseSexualLust for her.

* AuthorVocabularyCalendar: Frequently uses the word "ratiocination" (definition: "logical and methodical reasoning" or "the process of exact thinking") to describe the mystery/puzzle-solving abilities of [[ComicStrip/SlylockFox Slylock Fox]].

** ''ComicStrip/SlylockFox'' He jokes about the world being a dystopian society where animals evolved and overthrew the human race. Josh managed to pinpoint [[http://joshreads.com/?p=18625 where it all started]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Josh attempts to make one of these jokes about [[https://joshreads.com/2016/12/lotta-bird-metaphors-flying-around-hnn-hq/ December 22nd, 2016 Mary Worth]]:
-->'''Wilbur:''' My '''work''' for the day is '''done.''' Now... (thinks about Iris) on to matters of the '''heart!'''
-->'''Josh:''' Ahh, yes, Wilbur’s finished his writing for the day and now it’s time for him to engage his imagination and indulge in some solo erot[my keyboard, computer, and cable modem simultaneously melt down in a desperate attempt to prevent me from finishing that sentence]
-->'''Josh:''' [I sign in with my phone]Those fingerless gloves he had on in yesterday’s strip should make the whole thing eas[the entire cell network for southern California goes up in flames in an act of species preservation]

** In ''ComicStrip/ApartmentThreeG'', Luann is [[DumbBlonde vapid]], Tommie has the personality of cardboard, and Margo Magee is a memetic psychopath who would just as soon snap someone's neck as acknowledge they exist. Of course, no part of that diminishes Josh's PerverseSexualLust for her.

--> '''Josh:''' In part one of Soap Opera Strips I Haven’t Been Discussing Because They Have Been Boring To Me, ''ComicStrip/ApartmentThreeG''’s interminable Lu Ann vs. Ghost Albert Pinkham Ryder storyline has been boring to me. [...] In part two of Soap Opera Strips I Haven’t Been Discussing Because They Have Been Boring To Me, ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom''’s interminable Old Man Mozz Is A Hostage To Bank Robbers storyline has been boring to me.