That darn Diamond Lil, Specktickles, Pickles and Frank and Ernest

Neither "Diamond Lil" nor "Specktickles" are in the Post print edition. So that first letter writer is going to https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/comics/ which just has the strip names and is choosing to click on and read those strips.

(Brett Koth/Distributed by Creators)

Cut 'Diamond.' And tell these obtuse triangles to go fly a kite.

August 23 2025

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/08/22/ghislaine-maxwell-epstein-confederate-memorial-civil-war/

The Post has a great number of great cartoons. But the worst is definitely "Diamond Lil." The Aug. 3 strip was typically inane and insulting, both to women and to men. Day after day, the little quips and puns are just tiresome.

Second-worst — and first-weirdest — is "Specktickles," the one with all the triangular eyeglasses. Besides its ugly characters, the dialogue is contemptuous. Just look at the Aug. 2 strip.

(Bill Abbott/Distributed by Creators)

"Pickles," on the other hand, is the greatest.

Ty Childress, Mokelumne Hill, California

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(Brian Crane/Distributed by Andrews McMeel Syndication)

Grandpa and Frank and Ernest don't seem to be trying very hard anymore

The Aug. 5 print edition was the usual report from the Bad News Bears. But unusually, there was no offset in the Comics.

Any job that has to be performed routinely under a deadline is unenviable. So even the best cartoonists occasionally swing and miss under pressure. But this collection in aggregate was the lamest in memory. Even my two favorites, "Pickles" and "Frank and Ernest," were well short of the mark. I searched diligently but couldn't muster a smile, much less an LOL.

William A. McCollam, Fairfax