Mirthless Laughter
LightNews LightNews
banner
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Mirthless Laughter
@mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
900 followers 1.8K following 490 posts
Translator. Editor. Copywriter. Occasional voiceover bloke. Planning to return to cartooning after a brief 35-year hiatus. Posts in français and svenska may occur.
Posts Replies Media Videos
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Tchéky Karyo 1953-2025
French actor of Turkish origin Tchéky Karyo looking grizzled and wearing a flat cap
November 1, 2025 at 10:33 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Funny how this headline is just as informative if you change it to “Manhunt after jailed Epping sex offender mistakenly released”
BBC website headline that reads “Manhunt after jailed Epping hotel asylum seeker mistakenly released”
October 24, 2025 at 5:38 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
“Aldrig tidigare varit hat mot judar i vårt land” 🙄
October 17, 2025 at 7:43 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
“Am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening?”
In a detail from a panel in the comic book Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, the character Adrian Veidt sits in a chair gazing at a wall of television screens set to different channels while petting his mutant cat Bubastis and recording his thoughts on a tape recorder. “Just me and the world,” he observes.
September 29, 2025 at 3:58 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
What’s your sign?
Sign on a bridge in Dorset bearing the words: “NOTICE/DORSET/Any person wilfully injuring any part of this county bridge will be guilty of felony and upon conviction liable to be transported for life/By the court/T Fooks”
September 28, 2025 at 5:29 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
A panel from the comic book Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, depicting a Smile badge in a gutter in a pool of blood, accompanied by the caption “Rorschach’s journal. October 12, 1985: Dog carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face.”
September 10, 2025 at 1:31 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
This is probably as good an opportunity as any to mention that the best use of the word sarcophagus occurs near the end of Don Marquis’ Archy and Mehitabel poem “archy interviews a pharaoh” www.blueridgejournal.com/poems/dm-arc...
A passage from Don Marquis’ poem Archy interviews a pharaoh that reads: and with these hopeless words the unfortunate residuum gave a great cough of despair and turned to dust and debris right in my face it being the only time i ever actually saw anybody put the cough into sarcophagus
September 9, 2025 at 9:32 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
This was slightly earlier and quite a bit sillier, but same idea really
Detail from the cover of Action Comics #481, showing Superman piloting the Supermobile, a sort of cross between a plane and an Iron Man suit, using a telescopic fist to punch the android Amazo in the gob
August 30, 2025 at 7:44 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Tintin, who in addition to being half poodle and half Maltese, is also half British, Thai, French and Swedish, wishes you all a happy International Dog Day #internationaldogday
Tintin the Maltipoo, a small dog with curly white fur, reclines on a blue sofa, using a green cushion as a pillow
August 26, 2025 at 1:38 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
I’ve seen more bums today than a gentleman my age might otherwise reasonably expect
August 25, 2025 at 2:31 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
I’d been waiting for an occasion to place a Marcel Comics joke ever since DC Comics introduced a character called The Mime a few years ago; this will was it
A screenshot from a Facebook group in which members post out-of-context panels from comic books. In this case, a member has posted a sequence from Amazing Spider-Man #658 in which The Invisible Woman catches a mime by enclosing him in a force field. Underneath the image, a member (me) has commented: “He’s a Marcel Comics character”
August 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Anyway
A portrait photograph of Tintin the Maltipoo, a small dog with white curly fur, gazing at the camera with large brown eyes, tongue protruding slightly, wearing a string of pearls
August 16, 2025 at 9:06 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
This is a hell of a title for a medical journal
A segment of machine translated text including the words “Infect Dis Now” [an abbreviation of Infectious Diseases Now]
August 15, 2025 at 9:16 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
I’m not sure if anyone at the BBC advises talking heads about these matters or if Republican political strategist Ashley Davis was just determined to make a statement, but it’s quite an interesting choice for a background motif while you’re defending #Trump’s authoritarian measures in Washington
A screenshot from the BBC News programme The Context, showing Republican Strategist Ashley Davis talking in front of a tapestry with a motif of flowers and what appear to be swastikas
August 13, 2025 at 7:44 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Don't overthink it: what comic book panels/pages live in your head rent-free? Drop four and tag #comicsdna
From a nightmare sequence in Hergé’s Les Sept Boules de Cristal, the mummified figure of Rascar Capac enters Tintin’s bedroom brandishing a crystal ball before shattering it on the floor. I am probably not the only person to have been terrified by this sequence in their childhood From André Franquin’s La Mauvaise Tête, Spirou’s sidekick Fantasio, on the run from the police, decides to hide from the police by joining a bike race but accidentally veers off the road and plummets down a steep slope on his bike. Franquin could draw bicycles like nobody’s business From Swamp Thing #21 by Alan Moore, Steve Bissette and John Totleben, General Sunderland finds the newly-regrown Swamp Thing in his office, with Jason Woodrue’s narration: “I wonder what it will look like, so new and raw and green…” From Superman #423 by Alan Moore, Curt Swan and George Pérez: Superman’s dog Krypto sacrifices himself to save his master by savaging the Kryptonite Man, killing him
July 31, 2025 at 8:47 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Sort of tempted to buy a car so I can get a Rocketeer hood ornament
A CNC-milled brass hood ornament shaped like the helmet of The Rocketeer from the comics by Dave Stevens
July 10, 2025 at 5:33 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?
Photograph of a sculpture representing a giant corkscrew with outstretched “arms” at the Cité du Vin in Bordeaux
July 4, 2025 at 2:14 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
One thing I have in common with Superman is that my dog is white and fluffy and can fly
Tintin the Maltipoo, a small dog with curly white fur, photographed in mid-leap so he appears to be hovering above the ground, his shadow cast below him untethered, his expression rapt, his tail proud and bristling; in short, a happy dog
July 2, 2025 at 9:07 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Photo of JK Simmonds as J Jonah Jameson in the 2002 Spider-Man film, holding a cigar. The photo is captioned: “Slander is spoken. In print it’s libel.”
June 29, 2025 at 4:49 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
To be fair, the name “Daredevil” was already taken too
The cover to the Lev Gleason-published Daredevil comic #18, showing the titular character at a carnival hitting a high striker with a mallet
June 22, 2025 at 8:14 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
One person found this helpful
An Amazon customer review for a coffee grinder that gives the product 5 stars. The headline reads “it works” and the body of text “dont want to write a review”. An automated comment below mentions that “One person found this helpful”
June 11, 2025 at 8:19 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
I came across this tweet a few years ago and it had a staggering number of replies from members of the Anglican clergy
A tweet showing a photo of a wide selection of biscuits with the text “Ok Tweeties. You can pick only one biscuit for the rest of your life. Which one?”
June 10, 2025 at 7:11 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Just discovered the existence of Batman Close, London W12. I haven’t been yet, but I have high hopes for the outdoor gym
Section from Google Maps showing Batman Close in London W12, along with the Wash Launderette and an outdoor gym
June 9, 2025 at 9:07 AM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
Tintin sends all his love and good wishes
Tintin, a small dog with curly white fur, lies on a blue sofa and gazes at the camera with his big brown eyes
May 31, 2025 at 8:03 PM
mirthlesslaughter.bsky.social
I tried doing the AI-generated action figure of myself thing and wtf
A knock-off Superman action figure in packaging bearing the name “Specialman”
May 26, 2025 at 8:45 PM