Sunday Cavalcade of Goofiness

The Panel-by-Panel account:

1. I love the Battlefield Earth-style camera slant. I love even more that if you straighten it out in your mind, you'll notice that Sam is somehow standing in the most uncomfortable position possible.

2. I have no clue why Sam is so committed to kicking Rocky and Godiva out of his house or why it is of crucial importance that they never meet Neddy, but judging by the serious-as-a-stroke look on his face, I'm guessing there must be some dark secret about Neddy we may find out about in 7 months.

3. WHERE THE HELL DID GLORIA COME FROM?

4. This, this is Barreto at his best. There are 4 men in this panel, yet Barreto masterfully masks one with a speech balloon, then uses his patented "hot chick in the foreground" to block a second and give us a perspective that prevents him from drawing Sam and Steve again. If he could've somehow made it look like the short-haired hottie extra and Gloria were making out, it would've been Christmas 5 days early.

5. Hard to follow that last panel, but I do like how despondent Sam looks when it hits him that he's going home to his hated family and friends, and actively plans to do as little as possible to interact with them.

6 & 7. Meanwhile.... we are apparently ditching this boring, played out murder mystery drama for a much more exciting "ancillary characters who we might never see after this plot is finally played out talk about their problems." On the plus side, this means we'll get to see much more of everyone's favorite Judge Parker staple, Abbey Spencer's Bright Red Mullet. On the even bigger plus side, if we get to spend the next month staring at Godiva's insane purple striped sweater, well, who the hell cares who shot D'Vito?