Editing This Modern World (section)

==Characters==
In addition to any politicians and celebrities depicted, the strip has several recurring characters:

;Tom Tomorrow
Tom occasionally appears in his own strips as himself, breaking the [[fourth wall]].

;Tom Tomorrow (fictional)
In an "intermediate" version of the strip, a character ''named'' Tom Tomorrow was in the strip. He was a [[private investigator]] who was dressed in a [[radiation suit]] so his face was never seen. He was eventually phased out.

;Dippy the Wonder-Penguin
Fictional Tom Tomorrow's sidekick. His vocabulary was limited to "wank".

;Sparky the Wonder Penguin
A sort of upgraded version of Dippy (who had been phased out by the time of Sparky's introduction), Sparky is a sunglasses-wearing penguin that can actually talk. Similar to Dippy, Sparky's first words in the strip are "George [H. W.] Bush is a '''wanker'''".  A strong liberal advocate, he briefly became a [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] after being hit on the head with a random falling toilet.

;Blinky the Dog
A small [[Boston Terrier]] who shares most of Sparky's political sympathies. Normally very mellow, he briefly became a radical when steroids were put into his food when he was intended to replace the then-Republican Sparky.

;Bob Friendly
Mr. Friendly is in charge of the advertising section of ''This Modern World'' (thus breaking the [[fourth wall]]). It was he who introduced Sparky the Penguin. He appears only occasionally.

;Dr. Wilbur von Philbert
One of the longest-running characters in the strip, Dr. von Philbert is the person who discovered how to mine reality for energy.

;Biff and Wanda
Two blow-dried [[news presenters]] of ''Action McNews'', a newscast in which Tomorrow suggests that most [[News program|TV news]] is little more than PR spin. A Biff and Wanda strip almost always ends with a cut to a commercial break ("Now, these messages!").

;Biff and Betty
Biff and Betty are two [[archetype]]s of 1950s people, who sometimes share their thoughts on the modern world. Biff often appears alone with Sparky, expressing a naive conservative opinion which invariably prompts an exasperated liberal rebuttal from the penguin.

;Invisible Hand of the Free Market Man
Invisible Hand of the Free Market Man (abbreviated I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man in dialog in the strip) is a [[superhero]] character, wearing what is basically a [[Superman]] costume, with an I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man logo (a hand with a letter of IHOTF on each finger, and M in the palm) where the Superman logo would be.  I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man's head is a giant left hand with facial features in the palm.  I.H.O.T.F.M.-Man is an ardent defender of [[Adam Smith]]'s [[invisible hand]] metaphor, and usually intervenes in situations where the purity of [[free market]] economics is in jeopardy.  His declarations are often based on principles of free-market economics taken to their logical extreme.  The first panel of a comic featuring I.H.O.T.F.M-Man is usually a parody of the cover of [[Action Comics 1|''Action Comics'' #1]]. Often, another character will point out that he is, in fact, not invisible.

;Conservative Jones and Moonbat McWacky
Conservative Jones and Moonbat McWacky are two children used in the strip to satirize conservative talking points. Conservative is dressed as a [[Encyclopedia Brown|boy detective]] and asks Moonbat questions about politics. Moonbat gives reasonable answers, which the Conservative turns into illogical statements about liberals.

;Public figures
All the presidents since [[Ronald Reagan]] have appeared, as well as other political and media figures. [[Rush Limbaugh]] is a favorite caricature subject, although he usually talks through a radio and is not personally shown. (He was once, however, depicted as a pig, in a strip parodying the film ''[[The Mask (1994 film)|The Mask]]''.) Conservative columnist [[Ann Coulter]] is often the target of particularly unflattering caricatures, usually popping up in the middle of a strip to make a typically inflammatory remark, ending with a guttural "Haw haw haw!" laugh. In a few strips, [[George W. Bush]] gets hold of what appears to be the [[DeLorean time machine|DeLorean]] from ''[[Back to the Future]]'' and goes back in time to meet America's [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]]. [[Karl Rove]] and [[Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]] make frequent appearances.

;Parallel Earth
The strip occasionally visits a [[Parallel universe (fiction)|parallel Earth]], a deliberate parody of our own world. In some strips, Parallel Earth makes wacky political choices which are exaggerated versions of real-world events. In others, the inhabitants of Parallel Earth have made sensible political choices, in contrast to the people of our own world (but wear odd, brightly-colored clothing featuring [[polka dots]]).

;Small Cute Dog
A small cute dog who was accidentally elected president of Parallel Earth in the year 2000 (and re-elected in 2004), and whose subsequent actions mirrored those of President [[George W. Bush]].

;Planet Glox
A pair of tentacle-waving anchor-aliens host a newscast from Planet Glox, resembling Fox News. They report about news strikingly similar to that on Earth, but in factual scientific terminology (i.e., [[Coneheads]]-style), thereby making fun, for example, of the public obsession with the sexual activities of public figures, by referring to the global importance of touching reproductive organs.

===Other recurring elements===

; Supergiant Conglomerated Corporation
A fictitious, stereotypical [[big business]] or [[megacorporation]] in an unspecified industry, but appears to represent the [[military-industrial complex]]. This company has been portrayed as being unethical, [[Psychological manipulation|manipulative]], obsessed with [[spin (public relations)|spin]], and environmentally unfriendly. Occasionally written as "Supergiant Amalgamated Corporation".

; ''Action McNews''
The (presumably local) TV news program on which Biff and Wanda are anchors.