(Original Publication Date, 23 June 1991)
Panel 1: We find John trying to sleep in on Father's Day morning only to be partially awoken by thudding footsteps.
Panel 2: Since this is probably a re-purposed Mother's Day strip, John is fully awake because one of the the idiot kids yells to the other one "Hey! Walk quieter! Y'wanna wake up Dad?"
Panel 3: Since the kids are always chaotic evil because Lynn has a captive audience of women who are at best ambivalent about motherhood, John buries his head under the covers because the TV is playing part of the "Duck, Rabbit, Duck" trilogy at brain-splitting volume levels.
Panel 4: John's misery is compounded by Elly outshouting Bugs, Daffy and Elmer in order to tell them that for goodness sakes, if they're going to watch television that early, they could at least turn it down.
Panel 5: John puts his pillow over his ears when April starts crying and Mike points that out. When told to change her diaper, he says that he just did.
Panel 6: As they carry him his breakfast in bed, John wonders what it could be while Mike gets on Liz's case for carrying it in such a way that she put her thumb in the yoke.
Panel 7: They then yell "TA-DA!!! Happy Father's Day, Dad!!"
Panel 8: As Liz and the others smile at him and because they have no idea that he's been sitting in bed listening to their noise, they're the picture of innocence when she asks him "Aren't you glad we let you sleep in, Daddy?"
Summary: If there are notes, we're going to get a symphony in the key of "Father's Day is a greeting card holiday because he didn't push a howling rutabaga out of anywhere." Tomorrow,
howtheduck talks about how middle aged women regard pretty young girls as a reminder of their own fading charms. Meanwhile, I wonder something Lynn does not: "Is Elly stupid enough to think that Martha's parents let her out of the house dressed like that?"