I assume she feels as a feminist she must object to his compliment, which is why he said, “You don’t mean that” and she said, “it is my official position.”
As with all Barney & Clyde, we can only wait for someone who reads the strip enough to know the characters.
I like Targuman’s hypothesis about a “pro forma” objection, and he expressed it better than I would have. Barney may effectively have remarried a “trophy wife”, but both of them seem to be perfectly happy with and aware of exactly what they have in each other.
@Downpuppy: the characters are a pharmaceutical tycoon (Barney) and his trophy wife (Lucretia), but that doesn’t explain the comic. She knows that she’s a trophy wife (and doesn’t seem to resent the fact), but maybe she’s objecting because, (as a commenter on gocomics put it) she knows that his statement is more of a brag than a compliment.
Comics I Don't Understand 
I assume she feels as a feminist she must object to his compliment, which is why he said, “You don’t mean that” and she said, “it is my official position.”
As with all Barney & Clyde, we can only wait for someone who reads the strip enough to know the characters.
I like Targuman’s hypothesis about a “pro forma” objection, and he expressed it better than I would have. Barney may effectively have remarried a “trophy wife”, but both of them seem to be perfectly happy with and aware of exactly what they have in each other.
@Downpuppy: the characters are a pharmaceutical tycoon (Barney) and his trophy wife (Lucretia), but that doesn’t explain the comic. She knows that she’s a trophy wife (and doesn’t seem to resent the fact), but maybe she’s objecting because, (as a commenter on gocomics put it) she knows that his statement is more of a brag than a compliment.
What Targuman and Kilby said.
Here is a relevant strip that was posted back in May:
So we’re left with “handsome”. Somehow a word mostly used on males comes across as handsome for a woman, and she feels like he’s degraded women?