Dog Eat Doug (10/6/09)

There’s something compelling about latent power. The image of a lion sitting peacefully in tall grass is fascinating because it forces me to imagine what the beast could do if he were roused to action. It’s the same reaction I have when seeing a gorilla in action. The large primates are gentle by nature, but they’re also so incredibly powerful that they could pound the life out of just about anything they please. And yet they don’t. The gentle giant presents an ideal for me: power combined with restraint. It makes me hope that humans can learn something from this part of the animal kingdom. We should carry a big stick, yes, but we should also remember to speak softly.

Dog Eat Doug (6/16/09)

Wait a minute…frogs eat ants? If that’s the case, then I’m surprised I didn’t see a few of these amphibians ribbiting near my front door yesterday when an entire colony of ants swarmed the sidewalk in search of a discarded popsicle stick or a drop of sugary coffee or whatever it was that someone accidentally dropped on the ground on the way out the door. There were so many ants that it would have been like a buffet for any frog lucky enough to wander by the building. Imagine a rabbit chewing its way out of a 400 lb. bag of carrots or an elephant chomping merrily through a peanut factory and you’ll have an idea of the volume of ants that covered the sidewalk.

Dog Eat Doug (5/16/09)

I spent the early part of this afternoon moving a few pieces of furniture from my grandfather’s house to my father’s apartment, a chore that required the type of large pickup truck typically used by landscapers and contractors. Since I don’t own a truck that large, I found myself renting one from a nearby home improvement store. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I noticed that the vehicle towered above all of the cars and sport utility vehicles on the road, and that it was almost parallel to a city bus. Then I came across a smart car turning in front of me as I waited at a traffic light. The bright red buggy couldn’t have been bigger than the pickup truck’s wheel. I’m sure the vehicle gets great gas mileage, but I’m not sure I would feel safe driving around in something minute, metal and enclosed.

Dog Eat Doug (4/21/09)

Just think, if Charles Schulz had drawn Snoopy as a lightweight chihuahua then he would have opened up a vast new world of comedy for Peanuts. Instead of the classic “Charlie Brown gets his kite stuck in a tree” gag, readers might have been treated to the surreal “Charlie Brown takes his puny dog for a walk and is forced to guide him through gale force winds” gag. And just think of the implications for Snoopy’s ongoing skirmish with the Red Baron. I’m not saying Snoopy would have been better off as a chihuahua, but I do think the third panel of today’s Dog Eat Doug illustrates, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the comic potential of small flying dogs.

Dog Eat Doug (3/21/09)

This installment of Dog Eat Doug indulges in a typical “dog and baby conspire to steal food from adults” setup, but what really grabbed my attention was the rendering of those grownups gathered around the dinner table at the left edge of the frame. Slightly fleshed out stick figures against a purple background create a striking effect and while those figures aren’t totally abstract, they seem mysterious in comparison to the rest of the environment. Come to think of it, that’s probably an accurate depiction of how how babies (and dogs) view the adults in their lives.

Dog Eat Doug (2/13/09)

Television is such a small part of my life that I’ve felt no real need to jump on the high definition bandwagon. Even though prices have fallen precipitously in the last year, I’ve held off on buying a new set to replace my analog model. But even I have to admit that the technology can be awe-inspiring. Earlier this year I visited some family friends that I hadn’t seen in a while and took immediate notice of their brand new, 53″ television mounted prominently on the wall. My starstruck reaction was very close to that of the characters in this strip.

Dog Eat Doug (1/15/09)

It’s -11 degrees in Chicago right now and I just spent what felt like an hour waiting for the train along with dozens of freezing commuters. In truth, it was only about 10 minutes, but the cold was so extreme that the trio of overhead heat lamps felt about as warm as a set of eco-friendly lightbulbs. Once I got on the train, a woman made a plea for a seat so she could sit and rub her toes for fear they had become frostbitten (fortunately someone volunteered their seat immediately). So when I read the phrase “psychotic invisible winter sprite” in today’s Dog Eat Doug it felt like a bitter commentary on the sub-zero temperatures brutalizing the Midwest.