November 4, 2012: Sunday Showdown!

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Clockwise from the bottom left:

• Not a perfect zinger by Leroy but it is still quite effective. He's clearly indicating that Loretta's figure has been expanding, but when I imagine adding minutes to an hourglass my initial impression is increasing the amount of sand in the top part rather than physically increasing the size of the hourglass (and thus increasing the amount of sand) so it can tally more minutes. Still, the insult is surprisingly sharp for Leroy; this is the kind of line Loretta would normally be saying about him. Leroy kicks things off with a point and leads 1-0.
• Believe me Leroy, if the modest page view numbers of this blog are any indication, your tingling Leroy sense is not being set off by interest from the internet. I'm not even sure what the point of this panel is. What's the joke? The fact that Leroy is using the phrase "googling me"? That Leroy is awkwardly adapting an old expression for modern times?  With less than two months left in the year, Leroy really should focus on capitalizing every opportunity to catch up to Loretta. It's a push, Leroy still leads 1-0.
• The Lockhorns must live in some implausibly lucky section of Nassau county. This is about the closet thing to a reference to Hurricane Sandy which devastated so much of the region last week. Leroy appears to be exploiting the state of emergency as an excuse to ditch Loretta and go fishing. While most people would find using a destructive natural disaster as a means to lie to your spouse and to facilitate your own personal leisure activity as extremely offensive, in the world of the Lockhorns that is worth a point. Leroy leads 2-0.
• It would appear that the Lockhorns are taking a page out of "Ziggy" and futilely taking their personal problems to the complaint department of a retail store. Leave it to the Lockhorns to find inspiration in the one comic character with an even more pathetic, loveless, existence than them. One can only shudder at the volume of miserable marriage complaints that the Lockhorns dropped on those poor complaint department employees. It's another push, which means that Leroy clinches early victory with a 2-0 leads with only one panel to go.
• Who knew Leroy was a bit of a comic book guy? Leroy's tears are definitely justified. Given his age, the comic books of Leroy's youth were probably a wealth of Golden Age Era issues worth millions. He probably had a cherished copy of Action Comics #1, which would explain the uncontrollable bawling at the sight of the Superman poster. Loretta's callus attitude towards Leroy's suffering is just enough to earn her a point. Leroy however still hangs on to take the day with a 2-1 victory.

Official Count:

Leroy - 108

Loretta - 124

Push - 77