Mitch4 notes: “Or is it actually 4th-wall? I thought so because the art seems to show him looking out at us, but both parents are grimacing as though they heard this and are considering their responses.”
“Looks can be deceiving” seems like a phrase too old for Dennis’s purported age, so I’m going with 4th-wall.
New Adventures of Queen Victoria is now irregularly updating, and the 3 after this one have also just been thought balloons in the dark. Per Wikipedia: “The strip ended on February 14, 2021; according to Sungenis, “15 years is long enough to do anything.” In January 2026 the comic returned to GoComics with new strips.”
There’s not much about new projects on Pab’s website. I dimly recall hearing he had some health issues.
Mark H. sends this in: “If there’s actually a wall at all.”
Boise Ed sends this in: “Here’s nother imaginative use of the Fourth Wall idea.”
I seem to remember Dagwood used to talk to the dog for this type of monologue, not directly to the reader.
Boise Ed notes, “You don’t get much more fourth-wall than this one.”
Boise Ed sends this in: “There have been a lot of fourth-wall strips in recent times, but Parisi has a bit of a different take here.”
Not technically 4th wall, but including this anyway.
Mark H. sends these in:
By one definition, “4th wall comic refers to a comic book where characters become aware of their own fictional existence and address the audience directly. This concept, known as the Fourth Wall, separates the characters from the readers, allowing them to comment on the narrative and its limitations.” By that definition, not all of these fit. In some of these, it’s that the cartoonist lets us acknowledge the cartoonist’s existence, while the characters remain unaware. Is there a separate term that should be used for that?
A collection of some fourth wall comics.
Mitch4 sends this one in: “The “fourth wall” aspect is that only we, seeing his shout spelled out, can really tell which homophone he is using, though the other character claims to know.”
??? Is there a joke either in the two panel version or the one panel version? Why does the comic only fill up the middle of the space? Why is there a dotted background, which doesn’t occur in this strip generally? What’s Jaimes trying to say here?
“They say it’s probably safe to keep orbiting for a while, but if it stays on or starts flashing we might have to call someone.”
Boise Ed sends this in: “I can’t recall ever seeing so clever a use of the fourth wall.”
JMcAndrew sends this in: “I’m assuming Curtis is watching the 1977 schlock horror film “The Incredible Melting Man” which might be the most obscure geezer movie I’ve ever seen referenced in a newspaper comic strip.”
Perhaps some relative of cartoonist Ray Billingsley was in this movie. Billingsley was born in 1957, so he would have been 20 when this was made.
Comics I Don't Understand 