December 25, 2011: Sunday Showdown!

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Clockwise from the bottom left:

• Ever the unrepentant philistine, Leroy is once again befuddled and unimpressed with his latest, what I must assume forced, trip to a local art museum. In Leroy's defense, the modern/abstract "art" he's criticizing looks more like something one would find on the cover of a trapper keeper or from the intro to "Saved By the Bell". I also find myself questioning the intrinsic value of this muddled, pastel colored, piece. I believe Loretta agrees with him as well, but refuses to give him the pleasure of being right. Leroy gets the first of the point day.
• I am slightly perplexed at the meaning of Loretta's query in this panel. Why would Loretta think that Leroy needs to be carrying luggage? My best guess is that the garment bag is Loretta's and that she is suggesting Leroy carry it around all night in a humiliating display of subjugation. Perhaps he lost some kind of bet with Loretta and he has to do it. Thinking of it that way, Loretta's suggestion is more an implied order for Leroy to fetch her cumbersome garment bag (which may possibly be filled with heavy rocks). I'm giving Loretta the points. The score is tied 1-1.
• Even on Christmas, Loretta's diabolical cruelty is unrelenting. While a less sadistic individual would have just denied Leroy a gift or given him an undesirable gift, Loretta has insidiously found a way to give Leroy a thoughtful present while still inflicting maximum misery upon him by selling the one possession he had that made the present useful. It's actually quite brilliant; in a grotesquely malevolent sort of way. I don't think even O. Henry could have anticipated this twist ending. Loretta earns the point and goes up 2-1.
• The top right panel has fed Leroy all year long with an ever changing assortment of Loretta prepared meals to insult and this final panel is no different. Loretta serves up two plates of inedible, seemingly indestructible white slabs, ostensibly referring to them as steak, for dinner and Leroy is right there to drop an appropriate zinger about them. Where would Leroy be without the reliable security of that blessed right panel? Interestingly, this is the first time I can recall that Leroy has ever claimed he loved anything. Leroy ties the score 2-2.
• As she has done all to often this year, Loretta notches the final Sunday Showdown of 2011 with a clutch performance in the fifth panel; this time in rather spectacular fashion. While Loretta has gained a reputation as a compulsively careless, dangerously inept motorist; her particularly cool demeanor makes me suspect that this accident may have been intentional. Aside from forcing Leroy to buy yet another new car for her to eventually demolish, Loretta may have been banking on terrifying Leroy into a fatal heart attack. While there's no way of proving it was a murder attempt, there is no denying she had a motive. Loretta gets the point and takes the final Showdown of the year 2011.

Official Count:

Leroy - 121

Loretta - 141

Push - 97