Heathcliff Watch: Gambling

It's been a while since I did a Heathcliff Watch; in fact enough time has passed that I presume I need to re-introduce the feature. There are a few of them but this intro comes from the first (excerpted):

Those who lump all long-running animal comics in a pile (e.g. Garfield, Marmaduke) think that Heathcliff is just another wacky personification with zany antics. Except that Heathcliff is almost R rated. The cat has a bookie, a parole officer, and a convict father; he drinks and gambles, and if ethnic stereotypes persist, he hangs out with mobsters. Great stuff, yep, but for kids? [snip] Anyway, whenever a daily Heathcliff strip demonstrates these illegal and/or immoral activities in front of our nations youth and illiterates, I will let you know. (Also, if anyone has evidence of Marmaduke shooting craps, drop me a line).

So in this comic (today's), we have Heathcliff showing how serious his relationship is to his girlfriend, he introduces her to his bookie. And I ask, what other comic strip gives the main character a bookie? Is that character a cat? And is that character considered a harmless children's role-model?!

And I should reiterate, this is not a criticism of Heathcliff; I like this stuff.

Heathcliff

I know this seems like a meaningless obsession, but as I've mentioned before on the Styx, Heathcliff (the comic strip cat) should never be confused with any other comic strip animal. The writing team seems to keep up-to-date (which is nice, considering the comics page has actual zombie writers doing Blondie, Hagar, Beetle Bailey etc). But most of all, the comic is unashamed that Heathcliff is a violent, gambling, criminal. A random example from today and from a few days ago:

Heathcliff Watch, Cat Drugs

I don't know how to characterize catnip, but he's plowing a field of catnip using a plow drawn by a team of chihuahuas.

2009 Update: Here it is in its glory. What a crazy strip.

Heathcliff Watch

He's being served a subpoena.

Healthcliff: Gambling

Obscure reference today to the "football pool" - something that I would clearly have understood at age 9.

Heathcliff Watch

Naturally, I take comics seriously. Yeah, who doesn't. But my childhood dreams of making drawing a comic strip are irrepressible, and I have channeled that creative drive into reading pages and pages of them. I subscribe to two lists: Mycomics.com and Ucomics.com. I will bore you later with my lists of the good, bad, and ugly but I was struck, yet again, by the inexplicable presence of the comic "Heathcliff"

Those who lump all long-running animal comics in a pile (e.g. Garfield, Marmiduke) think that Heathcliff is just another wacky personification with zany antics. Except that Heathcliff is almost R rated. The cat has a bookie, a parole officer, and a convict father; he drinks and gambles, and if ethnic stereotypes persist, he hangs out with mobsters. Great stuff, yep, but for kids?

Yet again proof to me that either I was an exceptionally dim child (that I didn’t catch on) or I had *nooooo* idea what these symbols/pictures/implications meant.

Anyway, whenever a daily Heathcliff strip demonstrates these illegal and/or immoral activities in front of our nations youth and illiterates, I will let you know. (Also, if anyone has evidence of Marmaduke shooting craps, drop me a line).