Wrinkle-proof ties

Henry is in a shop admiring a display of ties. Above them is a sign proclaiming them to be "wrinkle-proof". Seeing that the sales assistant's back is turned, Henry attempts to test the claim, but the man sees him reaching across the counter and turns to glare at him. Henry walks shame-facedly from the shop.

Henry, 2013-10-31.

The Mitchells' neighbours are arseholes

Dennis the Menace, 2013-10-31.

I guess we're supposed to read this as a sort of poetic justice. Dennis the Menace, terror of the neighbourhood, is denied the treats given to the other, nicer children. There's just one little problem with that. Dennis is not actually a terror at all. Dennis is an absurdly pleasant child. No real child is as thoughtful and accommodating as he is. The title of the comic is entirely ironic at this point.

So what we have here is a comic in which a child is persecuted by his hateful neighbours and bears it with unnatural good grace. He's not even upset. He's just accepted that this is the way it is and if he wants to be treated the same as everyone else then he just has to hide who he is. Is this a metaphor for homophobia or something?

Terrifying costumes

"You're dressing up to hand out candy?" asks Ditto.
"Yeah, what do you think?" says Hi, showing off his cape and fangs.
"I wish you were scarier." says Ditto as Hi quickly removes his fangs and puts on a false moustache.
"Why?" asks Hi.
"If kids are afraid to come to our house we'll have lots of leftover candy!" says Ditto happily.
Neither of them mention Hi's rapid costume change.

Hi and Lois, 2013-10-31.

Snuggie of ennui

The Lockhorns, 2013-10-31.

What I love about this is what it implies about their lives. They've been invited, as a couple, to a costume party. They haven't discussed it with each other since receiving the invitation. Loretta went out and bought the stuff she needed for her costume, brought it home, and didn't mention it to Leroy. He didn't notice when she brought it home, he hasn't seen it in the house. Either that or he saw it and just didn't care. His wife bought a cowboy outfit and he saw it and wasn't even curious.

But it goes the other way too. She hasn't mentioned the party to him. She hasn't talked about her costume. She hasn't asked him about his costume. It hasn't come up in conversation even once.

Now it's the day of the party and she's getting ready, and finally he's remembered. Most people would just try to justify their ordinary clothes as somehow being a costume, but despite everything, Leroy still cares too much to do that, so he desperately searches the house and comes up with a Snuggie. And that's what he's wearing, because going without a costume would just be one step too far and everyone would know that he'd completely given up.

Bus of death!

"Very nice, Mary..." says Andy. "You've got your bus all decked out for Halloween."
Mary's bus has various themed cut-outs stuck to the windows, including a bat, a jack-o'-lantern, a witch and two ghosts.
"I heard that Ed decorated his bus for Halloween too." she says.
At that moment Ed's bus appears, the man himself waving and smiling from the driver's seat. It appears that he has gone to significantly more trouble than Mary though, as he has painted his bus entirely black with a large white skull-and-crossbones on the side. He will probably be reprimanded for this as the bus is not his property and he did not have the authority to make such changes. It's funny because Crankshaft is terrible and it's amusing when bad things happen to him.

Crankshaft, 2013-10-29.