I am NOT fat, far from it. Most people think I am more muscular than anything else (and no not "soft" muscle LOL but the hard kind you get from working out at the gym for 20+ years)

I say that, because it seems the assumption that only fat people could ever be offended at Berk's extremely tired use of this paradigm to get an extremely cheap laugh.

What's so offensive about it is the "lack of necessity." Perhaps that is what is so extremely obnoxious about this bit of inclusion.

I can only assume that Bekeley realized he was totally dependent "lazy, obvious, tired cliche humor" to get a laugh. So much so that the only way to finish the strip was to cap it with the most trite example, and tried and true too - the fat woman joke. sigh.

the only bright spot is the garish nature of her outfit.

Otherwise, let's see how many decades have passed since BB used this joke in one form or another - something called the "island of man hating women" comes to mind.

Being a first time use or still fresh and new use, it was funny, his portrayal of the man-hating woman - his chief weapon of humor was drawing her morbidly obese, but it wasn't the whole joke, as it is in the last panel of this strip.

If the woman weren't fat, it would still be funny.

It's utterly unnecessary to make her fat, considering that twiggy would have had a hard time fitting in the "non-existant" seat "b" besides opus.

Perhaps that's why some overweight people were so annoyed. The lady didn't need to be fat, just the same way that Salon doesn't impress anyone by their choice to help Berkeley with his retirement fund in return for drawing one lame strip after another.

I do hope that unlike SouthPark where people laughed and laughed without ever realizing the joke was on them (the lefties that is) that people realize much sooner that a strip whose humor is this bad (on the level of B.C., Mallard the Duck,Family Circus) shouldn't be in Salon, and is probably more appropriate for a "Murdoch" publication, any one of them. I mean let him support closet FRight-wing comic artists. I certainly have no interest in his trite liberatarian sense of humor that always seems to see a bit more sense in the FRight Wing view of things.

Flying used to be fun. I'm even a (private) pilot, for heaven's sake. But this strip hit all the low notes that make commercial flying such a drag.

I drive everywhere now, and actually see the country I'm crossing. Only emergencies or utter necessity (my son choosing to get married in Mexico)will get me on a plane now.

This is brilliant! It pretty much sums up the flying experience for me. I'm only 5 feet 5, weigh 115, and I can't get off of a 2 hour flight without resembling the Hunchback Of Notre Dame. There is no room for my legs, unless I stretch them out into the aisle, (God forbid I should hope to actually cross them!) no longer any footrest, never enough blankets or pillows, and now they don't even feed you. AND they nag you to clean up the plane FOR them before you leave it.

What do people who are any bigger than I am (i.e. most of the country) do? Why is there no limit to the amount of seating space an airline can take away from it's victims, I mean, passengers?

As for airport "security", my husband, a weekly business traveler, had a silver frame with our photos in it, (a christmas present) stolen out of his luggage the first time he brought it with him, by "security". Who watches THEM?!

So far, I love traveling more than I hate flying, but it's getting close to a toss up. If trains weren't so expensive and slow in this country, I wouldn't bother at all, except to cross an ocean.

Oh man, this is pure gold! The airlines are awful! Ain't it the truth? Ain't it the TRUTH?

Hey, don't forget the food! That's awful, too! Pretzels? What's up with that? And then they lose your luggage!

What about rude door-to-door salesmen? And wiseacre kids and that crazy music they listen to? And mothers-in-law? And cars with big fins on them? And guys on desert islands with one palm tree?

Keep up the great work. Real cutting edge.

On the point about "if you want better service pay for it", I have started paying for first/business class (they are now the same) on my frequent flights between California and NYC. It doesn't help the waits on the tarmac (4 hrs last trip), the air quality (which gets worse with a longer flight), the long lines at security or the temperaments of the personnel and other passengers.

That's an arm and a leg, like thirty or forty pounds. How come nobody ever gives me love for saving the airlines fuel and helping keep ticket prices down?

I don't have a right arm. If you sit to my right, you've really lucked out: you get the whole armrest to yourself, you lucky fuck, you!

I read Opus in the sunday paper...Spokane's Spokesman Review.. I find it very funny. Actually it's one of the only funny comics in the paper now. Funky Winkerbean is super sad right now.. and for better or worse is pretty depressing too. Zits is boring and so is blonie and garfield and there are a few comics that I never ever read...the ted and sally one. 6 chix is super funny... I think the Salon Letter writers are despartaly looking for things to offend them... stay in broadsheet if you want to be "shocked and offended and disgusted etc"

"... please, it's not the government's job to manage customer satisfaction for an industry. This is an opportunity for some airline to distinguish itself by improving customer service, not a case for legislation."

-- kreniigh

I agree completely with kreniigh.

For my family, it's worth six "cattle class" tickets to spend a week in Florida in November, but it's not worth six first class tickets. That's my choice and I'm grateful that deregulation has let me do this.

I don't want the bad old days of regulation brought back.