It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Spider Returns.
As we look at Muir treat dysfunctional emotional manipulation with a mawkish sentimentality that suggests that this is how family relations should be in his mind, I should note that the homeschooled education that the Compound dwellers insist is so better than the outside world's degenerate offerings has left Mari thinking that the Yucatan is in South America.
It isn't.
It's the Day's Day of Days! Because White Eagle.
As we stare at that supremely awkward strip, I do worry that if this trip does happen, and Muir allows it to happen onscreen, we will get his racist-ass upside down version of Mexico.
There are other things to talk about, but as they really cover the entire Mystery Business(TM) Era, we'll keep them for later. For now, it's time to talk about the swift transition from the Early Period to the Late Period.
Now, the actual division between the two isn't very dramatic. As opposed to some of the Transition Era Periods, which start with a new storyline or plot element flaring up, the change is--within the strip--quiet at first. Damon rings in the New Year gloating about the upcoming death of print media.
Meanwhile, Muir's little strip was beginning its nearly three year run in syndication.
In retrospect, it's quite clear that Muir had always seen DbD as a potential strip for actual publication. He had, in fact, done some work in newspaper comics, producing one of the typical single-panel local Far Side variants of the Nineties and Double-Aughts for a Florida paper. But this wasn't the pathway for anything bigger. Producing the next "Conservative Doonesbury attempt" was. And more importantly, Muir wanted to do this.
Looking at it this way, it's hard not to think that DbD's initial "office comedy" setup was part of making the strip broadly appealing to potential publishers. Aside from this era being something of a peak for the genre in the comics, an office workplace was also a very popular setting for early webcomics, which frequently aimed at being content an office worker could scroll over in their downtime. Muir was likely, in essence, trying to fill the traditional niches.
Now, to be clear I'm not saying the Mystery Business(TM) setting was simply cynical pandering on Muir's part--I've no doubt he imagined he had tons of things to say about office work. (He was of course, simply wrong about this, something we will explore again in time.) But I don't think it was an idea that deeply excited him. It seems pretty clear to me that if he had chosen to set DbD up as the strip he most wanted to write, it would have been very different from the strip he created. Still, from his initial perspective, the plan worked. DbD wound up syndicated. Not widely--it was only in four papers at its peak--but syndicated.
Now, the Late Period would see a lot of dramatic changes within the strip, and many of them seem to have been triggered by multiple factors. Figuring out which ones were most influenced by syndication can be hard. That said, it's very likely that it provided the initial impetus for moving towards a more regular publishing schedule. The Early Period had, as I've noted before, clearly been something of a hobby. Muir took sizable breaks in both 2003 and 2004--indeed, 2004's (caused by family health issues) was an over two-month hiatus that saw him missing the actual Presidential election entirely. That's not something a work trying to be important political commentary does. The Late Period saw him working a more regular schedule, at least until the troubled year of 2007 where it all sort of fell apart. (Again, that's something we'll go into more detail about later.) It would also see the emergence of DbD's Full Sundays, something that would outlast syndication--previously Muir's Sundays were the same size as the weeklies--though that wouldn't happen immediately, and... well, there were some wrinkles that once again, we'll talk about later.
Right after we deal with a bunch of character retcons, and the changing political environment, 'cause oh, boy were things gonna get crazy.
It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Green Archer.
I'm torn between the delight of watching Muir sporadically attack Trump and Company in his latest Purity Spiral, the quiet horror that it's because he's achieved a new level of Actual Nazi, and the sad amusement was that was what it took for him to realize that, no actually Israel's government is kind of awful and a terrible ally.
Complicated feelings for such an awful strip.
It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Deadwood Dick.
...
He pulls this one as Trump tries to set up a slush fund and ban the IRS from looking into his family funds, and oh, yes, has the entire war with Iran going on.
...
Ugh.
It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Terry and the Pirates.
Remember when Muir was screaming that prosecuting people who committed actual crimes was evil and oppressive?
Projecting as usual, the fascist filth.
Of course in the real world, the Trump DoJ has proven useless at doing anything but settling with... yep, Trump. But Muir knows they have to be just... waiting, and soon they'll unleash legal fury against the Democrats and their Evil Conspiracy of Evil.
It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Shadow.
Of course, Zed could only be one inch shorter than a potential son-in-law. Of course.
