History Blog / TheComicsCurmudgeon

* UncannyValley:[[invoked]] [[http://joshreads.com/?p=3871 Whatever on Earth Rusty is]].

A blog started by Josh Fruhlinger in July 2004, under its original title, ''I Read The Comics So You Don't Have To'' (a Boston-area newspaper that featured a similarly-titled column forced the name change). In it, Josh selects several [[NewspaperComics newspaper comic strips]] every day and offers (usually sarcastic) commentary on them.

** Throughout the bizarre ''ComicStrip/GasolineAlley'' plot where Slim plotted to airdrop a meteorite on a local basketball court that was annoying him, Josh played up the connotation of an old man getting insanely angry at black teenagers for all it was worth, always describing the attempt with some variation on "Slim keeping his neighborhood white".

* WriteWhatYouKnow: Josh has written a novel, [[https://www.amazon.com/Enthusiast-Josh-Fruhlinger/dp/1936561352 The Enthusiasts]], about a guerilla marketer who secretly advertises her clients' products by pretending to be a member of niche groups of enthusiasts. One of those groups is dedicated to making fun of a decades-old soap opera comic strip.

* StrictlyFormula / PanderingToTheBase: Invoked and discussed in regards to ''Marvin'', which Josh notes [[FleetingDemographicRule has a built-in, transitory audience of new parents raising babies and toddlers]]; as a direct result, most of the jokes involve some lazy variation of Marvin befouling his diaper and it being smelly, a relatable enough situation only for those who have immediate personal experience with changing a baby. For Josh, though, who doesn't have children and has spent years reading the strip rather than eventually abandoning it, the constant emphasis on Marvin stewing in his own crap -- and malevolently enjoying it -- has become downright horrifying.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: A huge amount of the blog's comedy is found in describing the real world ramifications of a given strip, especially if given dark, gory or sexual undertones.

* TheArtefact: Josh will sometimes point out when long-running strips keep an element that no longer makes sense due to either [[SocietyMarchesOn society]] or [[CharacterizationMarchesOn characterization]] marching on.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Josh is perfectly willing to give credit where it's due.

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

* {{Asexuality}}:
** Josh constantly makes jokes about ''ComicStrip/MarkTrail'' being asexual. It's probably second only to the jokes about Mark solving all his problems by punching people with his "fist of justice."
** By contrast, Josh desperately wishes that the characters in ''ComicStrip/{{Luann}}'' would all develop this, as the [[UnresolvedSexualTension achingly awkward "sexiness"]] of the strip "makes my libido shrivel and die."

*** As well his {{asexuality}}.

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

*** Recently a running-gag is about how incredibly boring the current storyline is (Tommie and Carol talking about nothing for months) and how it seems to never end, while wondering where the heck Margo and Luann are.

* RealityEnsues: A huge amount of the blog's comedy is found in describing the real world ramifications of a given strip, especially if given dark, gory or sexual undertones.

* StrictlyFormula / PanderingToTheBase: Invoked and discussed in regards to ''Marvin'', which Josh notes has a built-in, transitory audience of new parents raising babies and toddlers; as a direct result, most of the jokes involve some lazy variation of Marvin befouling his diaper and it being smelly, a relatable enough situation only for those who have immediate personal experience with changing a baby. For Josh, though, who doesn't have children and has spent years reading the strip rather than eventually abandoning it, the constant emphasis on Marvin stewing in his own crap -- and malevolently enjoying it -- has become downright horrifying.

** [[ComicStrip/RexMorganMD Rex Morgan]] is gay.

** He used this same statement to imply that the writers seem to be well aware of this, suggesting that's why they un-bowlderized Thirsty back into a drunk.

** And then there's ''Herb and Jamaal''. In this case, the joke was about one specific strip from 2007 where, "[a]s noted by several faithful readers," the two leads appeared to be having sex. See [[https://joshreads.com/2007/10/seven-sentences-about-five-cartoons/ here]].

** And then there's ''Herb and Jamaal'', which doesn't even show up in the blog anymore.

* HoYay:[[invoked]] Josh points this out about ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey'' and Sarge.
** As well as Rex Morgan and... [[ReallyGetsAround all other males]].
** And ''Herb and Jamaal''.

** [[http://joshreads.com/?p=3113 Josh speculating on what sort of offscreen rowdiness ''ComicStrip/GilThorp'' characters had gotten up to:]]