I Wish I Knew the Answer

Abigail "Tommie" Thompson is: the least helpful nurse in the world. Seriously, we still don't know if Margo has had a stroke or blood poisoning or delirium tremens or what. And at this point with the writing, I feel like anything could happen, context clues be damned. (e.g. "It turns out she just has a really bad case of gout!")

Readers, it's time to place your bets. What will Margo's diagnosis be? The winner gets to change the quote on the banner. (Even though "Nurse Dawkins has set me free!" still makes me laugh every time I notice it.)

Pray for Her

Hey guys. Do we have any readers who are medical professionals, or have friends that are medical professionals that could give us a second opinion? I just want to get it confirmed that this is a typical examination for a patient suffering possible dissociative fugue symptoms, or possibly a catatonic state.

• First: insist the patient stands up while you talk to about her in the third person. 
• Next, have a man she doesn't recognize hold her hand and murmur soothing sentiments with the goofiest grin ever, while you go get your stethoscope from the car. 
• In fact, nevermind that, bring the patient to your equipment. 
• Have her stand outside on the sidewalk while you hover around her with your invisible stethoscope, making educated guesses about her pulse and breathing. 
• When the patient inevitably collapses and/or disappears into thin air, freak out dramatically and demand someone else call an ambulance. 
• Now's probably a good time to go back inside. 
• Find the patient's roommate and ask them to locate the patient's hand and hold it while you look on anxiously and think about getting a snack.

Can we all agree this is pretty par for the course?

White as a Sheet

 Thursday September 17, 2015

Friday September 18, 2015

Lu Ann, everyone in this strip is white as a sheet.

I like to imagine that Margo is just sprawled out on the sidewalk/carpet between Lu Ann and Eric, and that every time they move around, they have to step over Margo like she's one of the corpses in Clue the movie.

Frightened

Monday September 14, 2015

Tuesday September 15, 2015

 Wednesday September 16, 2015

I don't really have the heart to rag on this anymore until we start talking about what caused Margo's mental break. It better be a hallucinogenic gas leak in Gabby's apartment, created by Diane Devine, or something equally bizarre. (Although if that's the case, I'm almost certain we'll hear about it second-hand, like the fate of Evan Graham.)

Speaking of the Evan Graham-era... what was the point of Greg Cooper coming back to New York if he wasn't one of the spooky strangers haunting Margo? Is he going to appear again? Yes? No?

I Don't See Anything Familiar!

Thursday September 10, 2015

Friday September 11, 2015

Okay, so just so we're all on the same page, Margo has suffered some stress-related psychotic break with reality, and we're along for the ride, which is why the backgrounds vary wildly from day to day and clothing color has no consistency and Margo's new boss was probably just a figment of her imagination all along.

Sad Day for the Funny Pages

Sad news. Brad Anderson, the creator of Marmaduke, died today. He was 91.

Marmaduke was not one of my favorite comics... it seemed like one big overplayed joke (Marmaduke is big and unruly). But actually, my family and I got huge amount of enjoyment out of watching Brad toil to find variations on that theme for more than 60 years. His labors were Herculean. And he seemed like a genuine guy. Thanks for the laughs, Brad.

I'M OUT!!

I really don't understand the characterization here at all. First of all, it's fine for Eric to care deeply for Margo and want to help her, they were engaged before he disappeared in the Himalayans. He doesn't need to blame it on 5 Years in Tibet changing him. Second, Tim liked Margo! They were practically buds. And now, in her darkest hour, he's just like, nope! Too much work! I'M OUT!! "If you ever need anything" my ass. It's disturbing because Margo is truly mentally troubled at this point, not just being her typical sassy devil-may-care self. Maybe he's just upset because he hasn't gotten his breakfast bowl combo at Diner yet.