Several blogs, not the least of which is The Comics Curmudgeon, reinterpret Marmaduke as either a psychotic, baby-eating killer or a politically oriented dog or some other variation.
Some fans also jokingly speculate that Marmaduke's owner Phil is actually Adolf Hitler.
Some fans have suggested that rather than Comic-Book Time, Marmaduke actually has superpowers that allow him to live longer than normal dogs.
Critical Dissonance: Marmaduke is one of the most highly criticized comic strips in publication, but also one of the most widely circulated comic strips in the world with a fanbase large enough to keep United Media from canceling it.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: One of the most monotonous newspaper comics, frequently recycling the same handful of big dog jokes.
Memetic Psychopath: Back in the comic's Early-Installment Weirdness days, Marmaduke had a very different, more angular design with a constant expression of disdain and Big Ol' Eyebrows, and also seemed to be much more actively malicious (being actively feared by his owners and the people around them). "Early Marmaduke" or "Classic Marmaduke" is often seen as downright evil. In the creepypasta Dogscape, it's implied that the dog that became the biomass covering Earth in the story was, in fact, Marmaduke himself.
Saved by the Fans: United Media has tried to cancel the comic at least once a decade since the 1980s only for its supporters kick up enough of a fuss to get them to quickly reverse their decision.
