First new comic of the new year. The optimistic beginning of our fresh new lap of the drain, as it were. I hope you and everyone you care about have had good holidays and will have a good year. As for me, I can’t really complain.

Well, as I’ve said many times, I can complain, but no one will want to hear it because I am, in fact, the luckiest person any of you know. You’re all a big part of that, and I appreciate it.

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And that’s why I try not to be overtly political. While I stand by the opinions expressed here, 100% of the predictions I made were wrong.

Also, I gotta say, the facial expression I drew in panel 2 is probably the least flattering image of me in existence.

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I looked up the meaning of the antiquated slang phrase twenty-three skidoo recently. When I was a kid, people would throw it around mainly as a joke: making fun of themselves, or someone else, for being out of touch and hopelessly behind the times. I always got the impression it was a popular phrase around the same time as singing into a folded-cardboard megaphone while wearing a sweater with a big letter on it.

Anyway, it turns out twenty-three skidoo means that it’s time to make a hasty exit, so it would also work as a good starting announcement in panel two.

Next time you must flee in a hurry, yell "twenty-three skidoo!" It will mark you as a person with both a fine sense of humor, and a fine sense of history. Also, it might confuse your tormentors enough to give you a tiny head start.

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