What’s Going On In Mary Worth? What’s Content-Warn-worthy about Mary Worth THIS time? May – August 2023

My last Charterstone check-in came at the start of a story, which is great. Saves me trying to recap too much plot. And it just finished, too, saving me recap space next time. However, the story to recap here centers on animal abuse and pet endangerment. Obviously nothing too graphic happens. This is Mary Worth, not searing indictments of humanity. But people who do not need “dogs in peril” filling up their recreational reading should probably give this essay a pass. Catch my next recap of Karen Moy and June Brigman’s Mary Worth around November 2023.

If you are on the fence about whether to read this, I’ll admit there is some wonderful funny stuff the past twelve weeks of the strip. But you should not read stuff if all it does is upset you. You have enough troubles. It’s 2023, for crying out loud. In any case, as the strip itself is transitioning to the next story, you can most likely read the comic again if you want to take it as it happens.

Mary Worth.

15 May – 5 August 2023.

The last couple months of Mary Worth started with a surprising moment. Dr Jeff felt all sad about another couple at the Bum Boat texting their way through dinner. And Mary Worth said if they enjoy spending their time together without talking, fine. Other people not acting like you does not mean they need to be fixed. Before Dr Jeff can ask about the pod people we’re off to the main story, Old Man Saul Wynter and his beloved New Dog Greta. Here I put the cut so you can choose whether to hear any more.

One fine day at the dog park, Greta vanishes. Searches over the next several days, Lost Dog flyers, and asking the neighbors all turn up nothing. It’s so serious that even Toby, who formed her impression of Wynter when he was the cranky old guy you loved to snark about, feels bad for him.

Karen Moy and June Brigman’s Mary Worth for the 12th of June, 2023. OK but imagine if Mary Worth had read something about Sputnik 2, and went to Saul to explain how Greta was probably sent into space as a Soviet space spectacular.

Finally there’s a breakthrough. Mary Worth reads in the newspaper about how there’s dogfighting rings abducting small dogs in the area. When she sees a TV news report about the dogfighting underworld of Santa Royale, she decides she’s cracked the case. She rushes to give Saul the bad news that small dogs are being stolen for dogfighting rings in the area. He’s devastated, but Mary Worth offers that they don’t actually know that Greta’s dead yet. Nor does Mary Worth have any knowledge that this has anything to do with Greta. By moral luck she’s correct; Greta was stolen to be a bait dog. But her only evidence comes from knowing the authors, looks like.

Karen Moy and June Brigman’s Mary Worth for the 23rd of June, 2023. I don’t care that the comic strip is pandering to the ironic readers with CHEAP! brand dog food and ROT GUT brand liquor. I’m amused anyway, just as I am by the bow tie Greta keeps even through her ordeal.

Greta, meanwhile, is caged and taunted by the dogfighting guy who stole her. She’s also caged next to a cute looking dog he names ‘La-La’. We don’t see much of ‘La-La’, as she’s taken off by the guy to be attacked by the actual fighting dogs.

Meanwhile Saul calls on his friends to renew the search. And this time they’re going with friend Eve Lourd and her Labrador retriever Max. They give Max one of Greta’s leashes to sniff and he groks what he’s being asked for, leading them on a good run.

And a lucky one. The dogfighting guy, drunk on Rot Gut brand Square Booze, and throwing Cheap! brand dog food at Greta, accidentally leaves her cage a little open. Greta pokes the door open and escapes, getting out of the dogfighting building some way or other. And, just as Eve, Mary Worth, and Saul are worn out … Max gets the scent, and catches up with the fleeing Greta. Happy reunion! Happy ending!

Karen Moy and June Brigman’s Mary Worth for the 7th of July, 2023. Similarly, I understand that the Muffin of Vigilante Justice is there so the ironic readers won’t skip a day. But we aren’t going to skip a day anyway; you don’t need to coax us into anything.

Still … the dogfighting gang is still out there. And Mary Worth decides she has to do something. That something? A stake-out, fueled by muffins of righteousness. She watches a dog park and spots something curious, a guy with a leash and no dog hanging around. It’s Greta’s kidnapper, something we know but she doesn’t. She writes down the guy’s license plate and van description and turns it over to the cops. And in days the cops manage a big bust of the town’s dogfighting ring. So hey, happy ending!

Still … Greta is miserable yet, the trauma of her kidnapping lingering. He brings Greta to the vet again, considering whether to get antidepressants. But in the waiting room, luck is with them. So is “La-La”. Or, as her owner knows her, Holly. She was terribly battered off-screen — when the cops found her they weren’t sure she was alive — but she’s recovering. And Greta and Holly recognize each other, both gaining boosts in physical and mental traits by the encounter. Saul and Simone, Holly’s human, agree they’re going to have to arrange play dates. Greta and Holly swap Telegram IDs so they can chat until then. So hey, happy ending!

Karen Moy and June Brigman’s Mary Worth for the 24th of July, 2023. If we pretend we don’t understand how narrative economy works, then we suppose Greta’s been cured of her post-traumatic stress disorder by seeing a familiar dog face for a minute. Still, it beats how Wally Winkerbean kept on getting cured of his post-traumatic stress disorder and got ready to start taking a couple classes at Local Community College over and over again.

I mean, there’s a week of Mary Worth making some salmon square dog treats for Greta and Max. Also for Saul to thank Mary Worth for whatever the heck she did this story. Yes, she gave the tip about the suspicious-looking guy at the dog park, but the story claims the cops got multiple tips about that. So all we can say she alone contributed was telling Saul, without evidence, that Greta got stolen by a dogfighting ring. Still, hey, happy ending, that’s the important thing, and who can say where they all will be twelve weeks from now? Karen Moy and June Brigman, that’s who.

Dubiously Sourced Mary Worth Sunday Panel Quotes!

Something I do know, right now? That we get a quote to set the tone for every Sunday strip, and it’s something from Brainyquotes that the credited person did not say. Here’s the recent quoting.

• “We can only learn to love by loving.” — Iris Murdoch, 14 May 2023.
• “Things are not always as they seem.” — Phaedrus, 21 May 2023.
• “The beter I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.” — Charles de Gaulle, 28 May 2023.
• “Good can exist without evil, whereas evil cannot exist without good.” — Thomas Aquinas, 4 June 2023.
• “Brutality to an animal is cruelty to mankind — its only difference is the victim.” — Alphonse de Lamartine, 11 June 2023.
• “The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero, 18 June 2023.
• “Nothing’s so hard, but search will find it out.” — Robert Herrick, 25 June 2023.
• “Every parting is a form of death, as every reunion is a type of heaven.” — Tryon Edwards, 2 July 2023.
• “Still ’round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate.” — J R R Tolkien, 9 July 2023.
• “Even in a world with much sadness, at its essence, life is beautiful.” — Dianne Reeves, 16 July 2023.
• “Time doesn’t take away from friendship, nor does separation.” — Tennessee Williams, 23 July 2023.
• “Home is where the heart is.” — Pliny the Elder, 30 July 2023.
• “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” — Aesop, 6 August 2023.

Next Week!

Has the Ghost Who Walks had enough of hanging around the longest-running furry convention in history? And have we started a story that’s placed after the story still unfolding in the daily continuity? I recap Tony DePaul and Jeff Weigel’s The Phantom (Sundays) next week, all going well.