I Suppose Everyone Needs A Hobby...

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Perils of Nyoka.

Some people cook to calm an unsteady mind. Others play chess, or listen to calming music. Muir contemplates robot sex.

And also, draws his super creepy but very bad pinup art.

Lousy Nudity, Wishful Thinking And Robot Stuff Will Help Him Forget His Trump-Based Anomie. He Hopes.

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Spy Smasher.

...

Man, this is getting downright sad. His big defense is "Well, it's been a mixed bag."

A Break From The Muslim-Bashing For The All-Important Bad Nudity.

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.

Sometimes, the grubbiness of this fictional universe really hits you.

"Again, All Totally True! It Has To Be! I Want To Believe It!"

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because King of the Texas Rangers.

As we get the usual batshit conspiracies, and being told that the redneck superman is our superior, I feel obligated to note that we haven't seen Muir go this heavy into his evil Muslims in a while. I guess this war is stirring something in him.

"This Is All Totally True! Internet Randos Would Never Lie To Me!"

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Jungle Girl.

Muir has apparently finally worked out that he can publish a cartoon later, and have it show up on the day he would have liked to have it been published originally. I guess crisis can give birth to creativity.

Which is about the only creative thing in this strip, which is the standard Muir awfulness, racism and pushing conspiracy theories.

The Eras of DbD.

 So, seeing as we're still down, I'm going to explain how I sort the strip's eras these days.

From those few months of 2002 it ran until the very end of 2007 was the Mystery Business(tm) Era, where the strip functioned largely as workplace comedy with increasingly heavier doses of politics.

From 2008 until September in 2014 we see the Transition Era, a strange nebulous time where Muir tried to deal with dropping the workplace format, and also with the idea that Democrats can win. He did not do well at either.

Then, in 2014, Zed moves his family to his father's ranch, and the Compound Era starts. Things get very weird over the tail end of Obama's presidency and Trump's entire first term.

Now, the border between the Compound Era and what I see as the Gunpowder Eras can be tough to discern, since the Compound very much remains a thing in that second era. But around 2021, Zed's family start getting neighbors and interacting with the area around them. And by interact, I mean 'dominate'. And things continue to be odd.

So that's my scheme for the strip's eras. And if this silence continues, I'll go into them a bit deeper in the near future.

Nothing But Static.

 Muir has announced how the strip might pause for a few days as he deals with difficulties, which seems as good an excuse as any to talk about what appears to be a growing number of technical problems on his end. We've seen breakdowns, weird postings, and the Yearly Begging Bowl coming out with more mishaps every year.

Won't lie, sometimes I worry that I'll finally finish the epic work of taking care of all this blog's links to strips, only to watch the entire DbD archive vanish into the digital ether. Which usually makes me go outside and touch grass, so to speak.

"The Straits Can Wait! We Need To Bomb Our Own Soil For Daring To Broadcast The Different Opinions I'm Sure Are Unpopular!"

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Adventures of Captain Marvel.

This would have always been a repulsive strip, Muir building on whining about how unfair this all is, man, to go up to indulging in pathetic fantasies of using violence to silence voices he doesn't like. All while making bizarre and facetious arguments that awaken my inner Angry Goose. ('Why did the US need to end slavery, Muir? How exactly did they do it? And why have you consistently shown nostalgia for the rebel slavers they fought to do it?')

But then you add in that he's doing this in the middle of this illegal war, and all this other stuff, and it just looks worse. This is Muir's version of an escape for what's happening. This.

Why Can't People Admit How Put Upon Whites Are?

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Mysterious Doctor Satan.

Muir's essential politics. Whiny, thin-skinned idiotic bigotry that asserts nonsense in a desperate attempt to paint any effort to acknowledge the nation's past as some sort of evil plot, all while imagining this pathetic, witless display is both clever and patriotism.

"Ah, That Thrilling Moment When I Said, 'Hi, Zed, From Design'. Maybe. Is That Still Canon?"

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because King of the Royal Mounted.

I do appreciate the occasional reminder that despite purporting to be the same characters who started out in 2002, we're actually dealing with some alternate universe version of them with similar but not identical backgrounds, where events happened differently than we saw, and may have had a different emphasis on things.

I don't think Muir realizes that, mind you, but that only adds to the unintentional comedy.

I Repeat, The Shoutout To Fans Are Getting WEIRD...

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Adventures of Red Ryder.

...Won't lie, there's something quietly disconcerting in how Zed insists SARCOM is a 'militia', instead of using the term 'state guard'. It's technically correct, but that word has picked up some baggage, and Muir's the sort who sees that baggage as medals of honor.

Muir Feigns Being Thoughtful.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Drums of Fu Manchu.

As Muir tries to shrug his way out of his present mental difficulties, I feel obliged to chime in with this... no, she's not real, Muir. Your pretend wife doesn't actually exist. And neither does the version of you that's a badass ex Special Forces guy that all the ladies want.

Muir Insists The Present Reminds Of Something From The Past He Doesn't Understand.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Zorro's Fighting Legion.

It's always tiresome when Muir launches yet another pseudointellectual explanation of history and strategy, as it's invariably a demonstration that he knows next to nothing about either of those things, and is frequently transparently cribbing from someone else who knows only a little more.

But this time, we have the added wrinkle of Muir trying to make a silk purse out of the pig's ear of Trump's chaos, and we can see the flaw he and his idol share. Muir applauds Trump for ambitions... that are a lessening of the US's power. Because of course, he cannot see power based on mutually beneficial alliances as real. Like most fascists, he mistakes violence and cruelty for power. Thus, like Trump, he stares at the fading regional hegemony of Putin's Russia, and because of its naked thuggery, assumes this is the real deal, and like, an extra-stupid version of Buck Turgidson, says "Man, I wish we had one of those!"

Is There A Space Warp In Their Car That Makes The Front Seat Do... That?

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Dick Tracy's G-Men.

As the interminable car drive continues, Zed goes all in on painting a series of ill-advised moves as foreign policy triumphs, doubtless based on dim-witted spin pieces from the Wingnut Welfare Circuit. Muir can by this because he really does think that bullying and cruelty are signs of power and thus will buy anything telling him what he wants to believe.

"But Let Us Hypothetically Suppose, Wife, That My Right Wing Crackpottery Is Correct, And Your Right Wing Crackpottery Isn't."

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Daredevils of the Red Circle.

This is interesting. I think this is the first genuine political discussion in DbD. Prior to this, such discussions were always illusory, the Straw Liberal/Left Wing punching bag giving what were supposed to be cartoonishly weak arguments to be swatted aside, or on rare occasions, an otherwise right-thinking individual letting sentiment cloud their judgement.

Now, these often didn't work the way Muir intended (at least, not to anyone outside the bubble), because Muir possesses very warped perspectives on matters, and is a sloppy debater and writer to boot. Frequently, what he'd imagine would be a weak argument was a good one phrased badly, and what he thought was common sense was horrifying bigoted sociopathy. But it was still obvious that this was supposed to be a sham argument, that in Muir's head, it was all as scripted as a pro-wrestling match.

This is different. Muir seems to be genuinely unsure of where he stands on this, and so has given different stances to Sam and Zed, the first time in a while they've acted as genuine characters. Hell, as opposed to previous occasions of Sam suddenly showing shock at some comment from Zed, the arguments actually follow based on past character traits. On those prior times, it was obvious Muir was just working on the old standby of the female character clearly being the more sentimental one, and so Sam objected to something she'd been fine about previously and would go back to being fine about afterwards. Here, this is honestly organic. It's the first time Muir's shown actual growth as an artist in... well, ever.

Which it makes quietly hilarious that the two viewpoints they're hashing out Sam's rehashed Nazi bullshit, and Zed's desperate looking for esoteric victory in this mess of administration. The essential awful always shines through in this strip.

Astonishing How Every Savior Of The Cause Turns Out To Be A Dirty Traitor, Eh?

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Lone Ranger Rides Again.

And Muir once again indulges in this bathetic whining, insisting that the only reason electing an incompetent, clownishly corrupt narcissist hasn't worked out is some evil conspiracy, and insisting that his people don't really control things, and also, all his opponents are pedophiles.

All of which is a bit much in the present circumstances.

An Awkward Attempt At A Segue.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Hawk of the Wilderness.

It's hard not to think that at least part of this weird, quasi-pivot is that Muir's feeling a little hot under the collar from Peanut Gallery pushback for going full Nazi.

"You're All Right For A Race Traitor, Pete."

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Dick Tracy Returns.

...

The fascinating thing is that Muir spouts this Nazi bullshit while not realizing it is Nazi bullshit.

The Sexism Is There To Sell The Isolationism.

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Fighting Devil Dogs.

This kind of fascinating, a stopped clock moment where we have to acknowledge the stopped clock is a Nazi. Muir have taken his time coming to the Nazi Isolationist stance, but damn it, he's come to it, and he will not give it up lightly. One senses, in all his criticism, a desire to like Trump and Whiskey Pete, but simply put, these recent actions push too many of his newly acquired buttons.

Called It.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Lone Ranger.

As Muir demonstrates that yes, his opposition to this needless war is based on the worst rationalization possible, I'd like to note that apparently he has only one shirtless drawing of Whiskey Pete.

The Clutch Cargo comparisons keep coming.

Zed Bids The Secretary To Ogle His Wife.

It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Zorro Rides Again.

I'm suddenly flashing back to the days of Muir's mancrush on Cruz, when we got Muir's... *ahem* highly fanciful version of the man.

It's Astonishing To Realize In How Many Many Ways He's Having Them Violate Security Here.

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because S.O.S. Coast Guard.

...Man, that weird traced version of Kegsbreath looks like he just parachuted in from an episode of Clutch Cargo.

Only An Hour? Does He Know Who He's Dealing With?

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because The Painted Stallion.

As I nodded at yesterday, there's something so pathetic in Muir's insistence in treating his cast as these redneck Secret Master movers-and-shakers.

Ah, Yes, Because The Racist Compound Is One Of The Most Important Places In The World...

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Dick Tracy.

It's interesting. Once, Muir would have celebrated this without hesitation. You can see it in his clear desire to paint Kegsbreath as a macho man, the kind of guy who should be running the manly fighting stuff in Muir's warped, toxic masculinity tinged view. (Because, no, despite what Captain Mitty says, scaring random people isn't the Secretary of Defense's job.) But this is an area where his politics overall getting worse produces the illusion of him getting more thoughtful. So, prepare for him to worry about the manipulations of (((Israel))).

Muir Knows True Patriotism Is Gun-Humping And Wanting The Troops To Be Fascist Thugs.

 It's the Day's Day of Days! Because Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island.

The classic example of Muir casually demonstrating what a repugnant little fascist thug he is at heart, while imagining that he's somehow proving that he's the plain-talking man of the people. As usual, he not only demonstrates that his supposed patriotism is a fucking lie, but he doesn't understand the real McCoy, and wants the cheap counterfeit he's put up to be taken for it. 

In the end, he's just fascist scum. Sometimes, he really rubs your face in it.