Magnets, how do they work? Thorin knows!
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Dustin, 9/9/24
Deckhand on an Alaskan crab boat.
Choker setter for a logging crew.
Apprentice roofer.
C’mon, Dustin—get it over with.
Dick Tracy, 9/9/24
Sure, Ro-Zan is dangerous but Thorin, with his desperation at Moon Valley losing its atmosphere, known antipathy to Terrans, and blatant disregard for human rights, is no saint either—and he’s headed your way, Diet. Don’t forget, “the nation that controls magnetism will control the universe,” and said nation is emphatically not yours.
Hi and Lois, 9/9/24
Hi will both mash his thumb and pulverize the precious Oxy he’ll need for the pain. Ditto will tell him he can still snort it, but he has to pick out the plastic fragments first. Hi will ignore him—he’s in a hurry, dammit—and maybe he can hassle the E.R. docs for more Oxy to ease the pain from his nosebleed.
Rex Morgan, M.D., 9/9/24
Truck sits and ponders his answer: “Am I Truck Tyler? Used to be, kid; used to be ….”
—Uncle Lumpy
140 replies to “Magnets, how do they work? Thorin knows!”
RMMD:
Gosh, they’re making process servers younger and younger these days, aren’t they.
RMMD:
“Hey, Mister — are you Truck Tyler?”
“Well, yep, but in the immortal words of J. J. Cale and Lynyrd Skynyrd, ‘They call me the breeze’ !”
“Really? — my Aunt Judy says you’re nothing but a big bag of wind!”
I don’t get Dustin (the comic)
I mean, Dustin is a nice guy, not even bad looking. But the comic goes out of its way to treat him like he’s an utterly repulsive scum of the earth.
Especially from his Dad who is actually more deserving of such insults.
Wait a second, what’s this “no education” bullshit, I thought Dustin’s whole deal was that he has all the advantages his father had, and it’s only his snooty refusal to roll up his sleeves and actually work (which, and this is very important, the kids these days will not do) that keeps him mooching off his generational betters? What’s next, a Dustin strip about how maybe quiet quitting is, in some situations, not actually a thing? (kicks a table angrily)
Wait… Dustin, taking note of the insult, can be a Chauffer for Mr. Tyler.
Yes, he can be a “Toad Truck Driver”
I’m sorry, I’ll never be as good a punner as the legendary Bob Tice but I’ll keep trying.
So let me get this straight, you went for a pointless joke about Oxycontin when the joke that could have been well-played was Hi cussing in front of his kid.
This is why this website is as pointless as the comics, and you are no help as a substitute.
RMMD: Damn, looks like I lost a bet with myself. I was sure they were setting up for Truck to be found dead on that bench from a heart attack.
@Uncle Lumpy? No:
You are so very kind…
you certainly have the moral high-ground here -rolls eyes-
@Uncle Lumpy? No: I mean, sure, you were never claiming to have any nice intentions.
You had a choice, you could have been the better person and say nothing, but instead you chose to be rude and insulting towards Uncle Lumpy, this site, and its viewers.
Why someone would make such a choice is beyond me.
@The Rambling Otter: don’t feed the troll.
@Ken: It may still be heart related, though. As I pointed out Saturday night, it could be ATTR-CM.
DT: Hmm. Starting to get a feeling what Mike Curtis is really up to here. Anyway, this is really dumb for a lot of reasons: Mysta burying the lede to an absurd level, Dick Tracy being the most useless person they could call unless they need a coffee pot emptied, Moon Governor needing to be called immediately if he’s even still alive, but most irksome to me is Diet Smith pretending he’s in any position to dictate terms. Who cares what he thinks? He doesn’t have any authority. He’s not important. He’s just an asshole.
JP: Oh, were you actually interested in learning more about this situation with Declan’s family and how it was developing? I’m sorry, but there’s just no time! Neddy and Abbey are too busy quipping and eyerolling about the optimal time to start planning for the holidays! Unless… no. No way. Don’t do it, Neddy, this is the worst idea ever! [covers eyes with hands] [peeks between fingers]
RMMD: Yep, Truck’s still just sitting around, and- Jesus Christ! What did those bullies to Parker’s arms?!
You know, a lot of the soap opera comics push the boundaries of credence to their limit (for example, a certain someone falling from the prow of a superyacht and somehow living to tell his stupid tale), but this new outrage in Rex Morgan I simply cannot buy. No random passerby, let alone a young child, recognizes a roots rock musician out of his element. That thinnest of niche interest genres doesn’t give you “recognition in real life” fame. It gives you “massive nerd Buck overpays for your 45” fame, at best.
MW: Oh yeah, Estelle’s just shrugging this off, because she’s SOOO laid back.
RMMD: Just when things are at their lowest, Truck meets his son from a forgotten fling. He owes LOTS of back child support.
He’s the angel of death if we’re lucky
Dustin: Does everyone just automatically hate Dustin for merely existing? It’s not quite enough to make me sympathetic for the guy but instead make me unsympathetic for everyone else.
H&L: It’s funny because Hi is useless and even his children (who likely aren’t even his) think he’s just a cuck.
MW: “You really should listen to what I have to say about how dedicating yourself to your job is not a good thing. I’m an Asian woman and in this white bread SoCal city, that makes me the equivalent of Morgan Freeman in those 2000s movies. And trust me that as an Asian woman, you should jump to conclusions as often as possible based on what a complete stranger tells you rather than actually talk to your partner.”
Dustin: Hold on, I can see no experience,but no education? I thought that Dustin was one of those despicable millenials who went to college for some useless humanities degree, not a worthless slacker who just finished hig school. Please,tell me what I’m supposed ti hate!
DT You know if we didn’t have the art I woild swear I was reading some terrible Lord if the Rings fanfic.
RMMD PLAY MUDDY BOO- oh no wait that’s the other one. As you were.
RMMD — “Hey mister, are you Truck Tyler? I think you’re great, but my dad says you don’t try hard enough, except for the Emmy’s.”
H&L: Thirsty is laughing because his fix comes in easily opened bottles or pop-top cans.
RMMD: “Could you put your arms down?” (waves hand by his nose)
Grammy’s!! D’oh!! Come at me, Uncle Lumpy? No.
BF: 1) “So….I’m going to Canada WITH YOU!!!! (Sings) Ton histoire…est epopee/Des plus brilliants exploits…..”
2) “So….We going to fuck before you go, or what?”
3) “So….can you mail me back some poutine? And a box of Mackintosh toffee?”
If this kid is inviting Truck to speak at his elementary school’s Roots Americana club, I’m down for the next 6 months of strips.
H&L: Ditto opens the container a little too easily. Hi tells Lois with a perplexed mix of pride and anger; “Well now I know who’s been stealing my little blue pills.”
Has it been previously established that Hi is a doorknob or is this new to the canon?
***
No, Rex Morgan, M.D.! No, no, NO! I will accept that roots country is unfathomably popular amongst the adults in your little universe, but I will NOT accept that some random kid in a park knows who Truck truckin’ Tyler is!
RMMD: The kid reminds Tyler of the restraining order keeping him at least a hundred yards away from schools and playgrounds.
I was looking through archives to see how often we only see one Flagston twin* and I saw a Pravuil Gabriel strip and I thought “Hey! Wasn’t Dick Tracy doing a follow-up with Gabriel and Silver Nitrate in prison? Maybe they’ve gotten around to what’s going on with the angels who fled to Carbondale! I should check!” even though I had just read today’s Dick Tracy in the above post. My brain may not be good for much but at least in instantly flushes Moon Myst storylines.
*Reasonably often, when Ditto is playing baseball or Dot is doing an influencer joke. You know what? Some legacy comic strip with kids who say the darnedest things should do one about how after World War I, millions of people were killed by a Spanish influencer. No need to credit me, just send a large check!
Dick Tracy: I sort of resent that MIT Technology Review couldn’t be bothered to provide context to the claim that “the nation that controls electromagnetism will control the universe.” Other than the rabid anti-communism, that much is a given. What were talking about again? Lunarian right-wing authoritarianism? Ah, it all makes sense now!
MW: “Thanks, but I’m not worried,” Estelle assures Sheila. “Ed and I resolved all of this the last time we had a plot line.” But inside, the anxiety is growing. She thinks back to her on-again, off-again relationship with Wilbur. How each time she would cut him loose for being a drunken boor, Mary would talk her into taking him back. How she was only able to break free once he had the audacity to fake his own death, an act so heinous even Mary briefly (very briefly) stopped defending him.
And where was Estelle before Wilbur? On a conga line of horrible dates with creeps from Silver Daters. Why did she keep going after she realized every man on the site had lied about their age, or profession, or general worth as a human being?
Estelle begins to tremble. Sheila asks if she’s all right, but the vet’s voice sounds far away. Is this her life? Doomed to repeat the same tired plots ad nauseam until they’re so played out that there’s no choice but to catapult her into a new story line? Is she in purgatory? Hell? There’s the sign post up ahead, next stop: The Moybrig Zone.
Extending thoughts on Dick Tracy: Thorin is Pinochet, Ro-Zan is more of an Abimael Guzmán type, Mysta is a college student trapped between forces beyond her control, Moon Valley has been relocated to Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro, center of Lunarian coca production (Moon snow is the best blow), IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.*
*Yes yes, Pinochet was from Chile, everything else is from Peru, don’t bother me with facts and crap.
CURTIS:. ANNOUNCER “Clean up crew needed in kitchen. Puddles. Will Puddles please report to the kitchen.”
MANDRAKE:. Maybe first someone should check on the man lying in the snow. Is he dead, dying, or sneaking up on you?
@Uncle Lumpy? No: It takes a small man to half-ass an attempt to troll [checks notes] America’s number-one newspaper comics blog.
Dustin – Dustin becoming the put-upon boyfriend of an influencer girlfriend would be a way to shake up this comic. It keeps him in a subservient position that lets the average reader of this strip (Boomer and elder Gen Xers who need to blame the youth to distract from their aging bodies and failed dreams) while providing something potentially relevant for a transition to another format when the newspapers finally give up the ghost.
Hi and Lois – The childproof cap was invented in 1967 and Poison Prevention Packaging Act was signed in 1970 by Nixon to mandate safe packaging on medicines. At this point even aged comics readership have both lived long enough to get used to those caps, and to have seen this same lame joke done time and time again in the comics.
There should be a mandatory expiration date on tired old jokes like their is for food and medicine.
Red Morgan, MD – With the newspaper routes declining due to the drop in circulation, paper boys have taken up a second job in serving summons to people. Truck Tyler is being sued by Wanda for smashing that coffee cup in the diner over frustration of his finger locking up.
Now we’re leaving the world of medical drama and into one of the legal world. Rex is going to have mixed feelings being on the stand, until he makes the acquaintance of Justice Clarence Thomas, who will gift him one of his many RVs he gets from affluent friends with business before the court.
A joke about how adults can’t open child proof caps, but children can? Hi and Lois is now only 50 years behind the times.
On this bléssed day we are ALL Truck Tyler.
DtM – Of all the Mr. Wilson looks, today is my favorite: pubic hair out the nose.
MW: “Many of us vets sacrifice our personal lives for the sake of the animals, but I chose a different route. I don’t really give a shit.”
CS: Sheesh, this makes less sense than usual.
Frazz: “That’s because Mister Spaetzle is a simpleton. Stick with me kid, and you too can grow up to be a wise philosopher in a menial dead-end minimum-wage job.”
JP: “I want to discuss holiday plans. Um, you’re not thinking of coming home, are you?”
@Ukulele Ike:
I’m going with
4) “Yeah, you’re going to have to stay longer, because Louise is suing us for wrongful termination and you’re
the fall girlan important witness to what happened.”*************
Crankshaft : “You shouldn’t worry about this thing I came in the middle of the night to tell you about in very alarmist terms!”
************
On Dustin : he’s supposed to have a B.A. in English, a subject he chose because he mistakenly believed the English course for the bachelor’s degree was the same as the English as a second language course, and thus, an easy A (he got mostly Cs).
But the strip will ignore ANYTHING they’ve previously established about Dustin for a joke. (Did you know he’s supposed to be a substitute teacher on the side? (it was the initial justification for why he’s always hanging out with that little kid who’s not related to him))
@But What Do I Know?: Got the reference! And it’s a good one.
Now . . . who has Truck dragged up and down the court? Or across the stage?
CS: Don’t worry, Lillian. You’ll have that mortgage paid off before you turn 130! (She had a younger sister who was marriage age during World War II. Do the math.)
Dustin: Lady, he politely asked you a reasonable question it’s your job to answer. That you choose to give him a useless, insulting response feels like you’re the one with the problem.
H&L – Comic Strip Featuring Child Offering to Get the Childproof Top Off for His Frustrated Parent, Iteration #352.
@The Rambling Otter: I think it might be Scott Adams… he has the lack of brains and amount of free time needed
@Philip: Dustin becoming the put-upon boyfriend of an influencer girlfriend would be a way to shake up this comic.
Doesn’t one of Luann’s friends do that? That would shake up two comics that desperately need it.
@Everything Is Better With Monkeys:
@The Rambling Otter: I think it might be Scott Adams… he has the lack of brains and amount of free time needed
Okay, that made me laugh.
@Banana Jr. 6000: In Luann, shaking may lead to jiggling which may lead to thinking about (whispers) s-e-x… this is not allowed.
RMMD: Truck is supposed to be a better person than Mud Mountain, isn’t he?
From that link, “Between 1966 and 1969, the Dick Tracy comic strip proclaimed 31 times that “The nation that controls magnetism will control the universe.” “. I once was giving a talk that basically boiled down to “Fucking magnets: here’s how they work” and wanted to include one of those old strips. After going through a bunch of microfilm copies of the Chicago Tribune from that era (nb: Dennis the Menace wasn’t funny back then either), I wrote to the Dick Tracy museum to ask if they knew specific dates. They wrote back with a complete list of the exact days where that catchphrase appeared (apparently always as narration-box text, not dialog) and I got my cartoon panel for the talk.
I have no real point here, except to note that there is (was?) at least one person so deeply versed in Dick Tracy lore that they could rattle off that set of dates without any real trouble.
DtM: Both Dennis and Wilson have been exiled to the front lawn. Dennis due to the trumpet, obviously. Wilson? Last night’s bean casserole, most likely.
@Dmsilev: OK, I found the old email; advantages of being a digital packrat. For posterity, the Dick Tracy catchphrase “the nation that controls magnetism will control the universe” appears (always in narration box) on the following dates:
1966: Jan 16, May 15, May 21, Aug 22, Aug 27, Oct 20, Nov 02, Nov 18, Nov 27
1967: Jan 1, Mar 21, Apr 7, Apr 16, May 14, May 19, Jun 4, July 23, Aug 19, Sep 15, Oct 13, Nov 3, Nov 17, Dec 17
1968: Mar 18, May 5, Jun 27, Aug 9, Dec 28
1969: Sep 2, Sep 9, Oct 3
(The email was from 2007. Given how deeply Modern Tracy has delved into Classical Tracy lore, I assume it’s made recurrences since then)
Don Abundio, translated:
“I had this phone installed in my car! An important man like me can’t afford to miss any calls”
“Oh! I’m impressed, Don Abundio!”
“There’s my very first call”
“It’s a telemarketer!”
[Label: TRASH]
@Philip: @Rube: Joe Miller’s Jests contained several rib-ticklers about getting the phial of laudanum tablets open.
9cl: wth, now they’re children again.
@Banana Jr. 6000:
Dustin becoming the put-upon boyfriend of an influencer girlfriend would be a way to shake up this comic.
Doesn’t one of Luann’s friends do that?
Nah, Bets isn’t one of Luann’s friends (by that, I mean, I’m pretty sure they barely ever interact. Bets would not be any less friendly towards Luann than Bernice or Tara), and also Bets was made to quit her influencer job to show her loyalty and devotion towards being Gunther’s Girlfriend exclusively (a terrible decision). Then they had a bit that implied that Bets never even cared about all that nerd stuff anyway?
Man, I know and have stuff to say about frickin’ Luann WAAAAY over what would be considered healthyMeanwhile, over on Dustin, I think the only time nerd hobbies have been mentioned on there was that “storyline” where Dustin was becoming friends with a bunch of his coworkers, and they invited him to their weekly D&D game, and he QUIT THE JOB saying something along the lines of “People who play D&D are the only people who are bigger losers than I am”.
I’m not sure Dustin (the strip) would ever believe GIRLS can have nerdy hobbies.
tl;dr : good idea, but Luann dropped that bit unceremoniously a while ago, and Dustin would never pick it up.
@jroggs: re RMMD: “What did those bullies do to Parker’s arms?”
And now missing a leg, too! (Is this really Parker, or some other rando glasses-wearing kid?) Will this be Truck’s inspiration for a new hit song?
Don’t be surprised that Parker recognizes Truck. Remember, Truck’s one hit, Glenwood Motel, put Glenwood on the map, and he’s still a local celebrity
because of all the fame and economic development the song brought to the townbecause he was the opening act for Mud Mountain Murphy.Dustin-Ah the contempt people show to Dustin. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him pick up a gun one day.
Slylock Fox-Slylock then called in the head of the museum and roughed him up.
RMMD-“I’m from Western Union. I have a letter for you.”
FC-“This interview is over,” Mommy declares.
@Dmsilev:
There are actually two! The Chester Gould/Dick Tracy Museum, which is awesome, and the Dick Tracy Wiki, which is also awesome and maintained by an L.A. pal of Josh’s.
Dustin: Does Bitter Employment Agency Lady do this to everyone who seeks her services, or is just Dustin? I’m trying to determine if this is some irrational vendetta against him specifically or if she’s just really, really bad at her job.
RMMD: Roots country is making a big comeback with the preteen set, you know.
@Hibbleton: I sincerely hope that Scott Adams did not earn enough from Dilbert to finance a comfortable retirement. I enjoy picturing him making his daily bread and butter working at Ringling Bros., shoveling up the elephant droppings.
Crankshaft-“I’m sure the owner of the book store in Westview didn’t pay me, I mean pay someone enough protection money.”
@jroggs: You forget, Diet Smith is a billionaire. Mysta doesn’t have time to waste with Presidents or the UN, she has to go for the REAL POWER!
@TheDiva: RMMD: Truck need never work again, after his songs were parodied on Sesame Street.
@Rube: I know, right? At this point, I kinda want to google for the first time this gag actually came out.
@Ken: He hasn’t actually gotten up yet, there’s still time…
Luann: Credit where it’s due, that kitten looks super cute peeking out of that bag…
MW: They shake hands, and Sheila pulls Eshtelle close and hisses ‘And tell Ed to stay outta da West Side!’
Who appears in his namesake comic more, Barney Google or Rex Morgan?
Pluggers: Good grief! You’re a Plugger if you even know the meaning of getting your hair “set.”
In olden times, ladies would go to the “beauty parlor” for a shampoo and set, where the wet hair would be wound on curlers, dried under a dryer, and then styled into a rigid mass preserved by large amounts of hair spray. The hair was thus “set” and could last until next week’s appointment. I won’t go into the details involving sleeping with toilet paper around the head.
GT: “You’re not pregnant again, are you? Cause I shelled out for one abortion but you’re going to have to foot the bill from here on out.”
JP: “Yes, let’s discuss Christmas, because if you’re flying out here and don’t want to spend even more money than usual on holiday airfare, you should have bought your tickets yesterday.”
MW: “Uh-huh…honey, last time I saw denial that deep I was taking a river cruise to Aswan.”
Frazz: Yeah, well, you’re balding prematurely. Maybe you should stop being such a little schmuck.
Luann: “He really likes the Tom of Finland bag for some reason.”
CS: Karma (i.e., the author of this comic) evidently doesn’t care about your past misdeeds, Loathsome.
9CL: Creepiest 9CL ever, or just one of many?
@The Rambling Otter: I enjoy the potential for drama
@63 SideshowJon: Barney Google seems to stop by four or five times a year, long enough to be glad he and his weird not-horsething are gone.
@64 Arabella: Sleeping with toilet paper around the head? They got swirlies before bedtime, didn’t they?
Mary Worth: Estelle isn’t worried about Dr. Ed’s work/life balance. He may not give her a lot of his time but it’s good quality time with good quality dick. She had Wilbur who had lots of time and, well, she’s glad she doesn’t have to go anywhere near his dick.
@Arabella:
Thank you! I remember “hair set turbans” for that purpose. You can still get them on Etsy.
RMMD-“You better be Truck Tyler. You have no idea how many bums I’ve already asked.”
@Ukulele Ike: And his co-workers keep coming up to him and saying “I got a great idea for a cartoon about how clueless the management is here! How about you draw it and we split the profits?”
@35 Scratchy Scrotum LXIX:
The other sign of a brown noser.
I don’t know if Sheila is trying to advise Estelle about how Dr. Ed’s dedication to his job will affect their relationship or if she’s trying to break them up in the most convoluted way possible but either way she’s doing a really bad job at both. Which only confirms the theory that she’s the latest Karen Moy self insert since Carol Frenchie.
Bacön: Why Baja Gaijin doesn’t like clowns.
(No actual clown in this strip.)
MW: Estelle thinks, “Maybe I shouldn’t have run off that young hussy of a vet that Ed hired after Stephen left.”
I’m not the only one who remembers the young (attractive) female vet who was hired to solve Ed’s previous overwork crisis, am I? I only recall one appearance by her as that story concluded, problem solved. Was she just doing an internship? Or maybe there’s an interesting story there….. nah, that’s crazy talk.
Dustin: Hahaha! It’s funny because Dustin’s horrid parents did a terrible job raising him or making any kind of future for him at all! Those lazy kids, not being able to get ahead in the current terrible economy, amirite?
Hi And Lois: A new target for Hi’s hammer has just walked into the room.
Rex Morgan: I’m sorry, but there is absolutely no fucking way a kid would know who Truck is, let alone care if they saw him on the street. This doesn’t so much break the suspension of disbelief as it does murder it.
Dennis the Menace Spanish to English.
Loose Parts: Not safe for you know who.
La Belleza Interior, translated:
“I must admit, I enjoy this ‘Space Trek’ more than I expected, Bern.”
“But of course, Tiffany. Now you see, there was nothing for you to be afraid of at all, was there?”
“Well, watching this might have turned me into a huge dork like you, but there’s no real harm in that! Right?”
“Hey guys! Check out this nerd poison I just bought!” [psssshhhh]
“Welp, them’s the breaks.”
Dustin: It worked for Meghan!
Seriously, there’s always reality TV! (Ouch, did I just say “seriously” and “reality TV” in the same sentence?)
@Dmsilev: To go even further off topic, I just taught two entire classes on Hume’s “Of Miracles” without ever once uttering the phrase “fucking magnets” and I feel very proud of myself. (The zoomer colleges students wouldn’t know what it means anyway.)
@Banana Jr. 6000: At the very least, it’d be a way to get their title characters in one place for a well-timed drone strike.
Gil Thorp – Saturday’s strip confused me. At first I thought it was a Bob Weber Jr. “find six differences” thing, but now, I wonder if it has something to do with why Keri is moody? Is she pregnant again? Is she sick of Beth? Premenstrual Dysphoria Disorder? Sophomore Slump? Swim Test Anxiety?
@Old School Allie Cat: At a guess, I think they’re bitter about the boys’ football team getting all the “media day” attention, while the girls’ track(?) team went ignored. But who knows? Maybe Keri is disgusted by Gil calling his four-decades-junior girlfriend “Sweets,” or they just hate it when their family eats Chinese take-out with percussion drumsticks.
MW: Something tells me that cool, calm Estelle isn’t going to handle this news as well as she is right now…
At least I hope that’s the case or this was really a week’s worth of strips that were a waste of time, lol
@SideshowJon:
Who appears in his namesake comic more, Barney Google or Rex Morgan?
Well, we know it’s not Judge Parker.
Why you won’t find Baja Gaijin in the desert.
@SideshowJon: @Her Father, John Darling.: Peanuts is my favorite titular character. That guy’s hilarious!
FC – PJ must be around fifty years old. Pregnant women haven’t worn that look since the 1970s.
9CL – Positive: The twins are not adults, showing off meticulously drawn and shaded legs to tempt their thralls.
That zinger in the last panel wasn’t bad, especially if you remember that Brooke wrote it.
Negative: Thorax.
Mary Worth – The problem isn’t Ed’s workaholic lifestyle – it’s becoming more and more obvious that the problem is Estelle’s stupidity. I don’t know how Mary will meddle this, because you can’t fix stupid.
@Peanut Gallery:
Tenía la esperanza de que Don Abundio se inclinara más hacia el surrealismo. Esto parece un buen comienzo.
DT: “We must have some proof”? Since when? This is Dick Tracy, dammit, we don’t need proof, we just need Ro-Zan to “accidentally” plummet to his death while trying to escape!
HtH: Guys, I’m starting to think the Hägar creative team doesn’t really get how castles work on any level. I’ve long accepted that, for humorous purposes, the strip ignores that their primary practical purpose is to be highly defensible structures and just lets Hägar and his band waltz into them whenever they like. But strips like today’s and yesterday’s make me suspect they also don’t get that their primary symbolic purpose is to be a centre of political power, and just see them as, like, medieval McMansions. And “earl” is probably just medieval for “rich guy”.
@Cleveland Mocks: Re Frazz – I hate that I know this, but Frazz has his menial job by choice. His backstory is that he is a successful songwriter, but he chooses to work as a janitor in an elementary school. He gets to serve as a smug role model for the kids.
As for the songwriting, some time ago a strip quoted some of his lyrics. My immediate reaction was, “Don’t quit your day job.”
@Ukulele Ike: Hey! It’s show business!
@Arabella: @Baja Gaijin: Was the toilet paper around the head intended to keep the hairstyle in place? I never did that, but I remember trying to sleep on brush rollers to set my hair. I never used hairspray because I couldn’t stand the way it made my hair feel. So it was trying to sleep in rollers every night.
@jroggs: But doing “the worst idea ever” is Neddy’s entire thing!
@Philip:
Looks at Luann.
Um…no it wouldn’t.
@Violet: Tomorrow the street sweeper says, “It’s a collect call. Can I borrow a nickel?”
@TheDiva: re GT: I’m glad you said something. I had the same thought, but didn’t want to risk being the only demented soul on this thread :)
@jroggs:
Well to be fair, I really was not, so….
Dustin: Apprentice baiter on an Alaskan crab boat. After a few years experience he can become a master baiter.
HI AND LOIS: “How am I going to get my #@$*&*&# Oxycontin high on with this &*#%$^# cap?”
@Avoiding the Madding Crowd: getting Dustin a job on a crab fishing boat would be an intriguing turn for the strip. I like the idea.
@88 Sequitur: By the presence of the saguro cactus, I presume these are the Mexican Sand EVILSCARYyouknow whats…
@93 I speak Jive: Now that you made me think about this again, I’m picturing a cranial papier-mâché thing happening.
DT: As a non-follower of DICK TRACY, my first thought was “gee, this sounds serious, maybe she should contact someone in the United Nations,” and then I realized that for all I know, Diet Smith (I think that’s who the old guy is) might be in charge of Earth’s global defense system now. Long ago I might have found this possibility mildly alarming, but now I think, “eh, they could do worse.”
@Poteet: Also, what was Dick Tracy doing at the time of the Lunarian invasion meeting that has Mysta so extremely irritated? Was he clipping his toenails?
DUSTIN: I don’t follow DUSTIN, but I did have the strong impression from his CC appearances that the protagonist had gone to college. So what’s with “no education”? How am I supposed to regard him with appropriate contempt when he isn’t given accurate dialogue? Also, I want to know his concept of “pays well.”
Rex: I think that’s Parker, and the beating took years off their life. Look, they’re nine! No way can they be a comedian now, except to even younger kids, who won’t get that generation’s humor.
GT: Keri is upset because Daddy’s fucktoy is going to be working behind the Bud stick at a local dive bar pouring cheap shots for rummies, and everyone on the team is going to know about it. Also, the Chinese restaurant shorted them an eggroll, so guess who didn’t get one.
@MKay: RMMD: Just when things are at their lowest, Truck meets his son from a forgotten fling. He owes LOTS of back child support.
Child, or grandchild? How does grandchild support work in Glenwood?
@Baja Gaijin: I can imagine a papier-mache cocoon keeping that helmet hair in place overnight.
Hair sprayed so stiff that it doesn’t move for the week between settings? Going a week without washing? Blecch.
@I speak Jive:
Those experimental NFL helmets would probably do the trick.
RMMD:
“I’m your long-lost grandson — Tonka Tippecanoe!”
“Here,Mr Tyler, have my Coke™,really, you can have it.!” Truck takes off his toupee,and throws it on the kid.”Here, kid,catch.” “Ewwwww, Mr Tyler, that’s disgusting!” “It was ether that or my jockeys, kid.” “Oh, good choice then, thanks, Mr Tyler!”.
COCA-COLA™. ITS THE REAL THING!
@Poteet: “Also, I want to know his concept of “pays well.””
My guess is enough that will finally allow him to move out. Preferably, to the other side of the country so he never has to see his family ever again.
@Horace Broon: @jroggs: But doing “the worst idea ever” is Neddy’s entire thing!
______________
“This could be the start of something worse….”-Steve Allen, ” Theme to the Neddy Show.”
James Earl Jones, voice of Darth Vader (among many, many other things), has died at 93.
RMMD – Please-please-please be channeling Dave Berg here, so tomorrow the turns away and says “Boy, are you an asshole!’
Oh wait – that was the National Lampoon parody. No matter.
@Uncle Lumpy? No: Go home troll.
Beetle Bailey: That’s why beetle pitches and Sarge catches.
@Ukulele Ike:
Well I kinda don’t blame her there. I mean it’s nice that Gil can be “open” about his relationship and all, but he really shouldn’t relay to his children the sexually explicit positions he and his lover are going to….wait, what do you mean that’s not innuendo?
@Peanut Gallery:
You’ve really got a knack for this!
WHY? Today we hear the hatred of some Mudges for Scott Adams of “Dilbert” reknown. And there’s ongoing dislike; f bookstore owner Lillian of CS. What’s the backstory there?
PHANTOM:. Speaking of bad behavior, why is Phantom allowing his beloved, protective wolf attack an apparently invincible machine with lethal capabilities? No loyalty to Devil?
@Activist:
I don’t know about the Scott Adams thing, but shortly before World War II, Lillian intercepted a love letter to her lovely, naïve younger sister Lucy from Lucy’s swain Eugene. The letter included one of those unforgivably stupid “if you don’t reply I’ll know you don’t love me” clauses, good goin’ Eugene. Lillian concealed the letter from Lucy, who died years later in hospice, demented and alone, leaving Eugene to mope his entire goddamn life. I think the animus here at CC is at the retcon of Lillian as an amiable, slightly ditzy bookstore owner and author rather than a vicious, jealous harridan who has never shown the slightest inkling of remorse.
Oh, yeah: Lucy and Eugene got back together in dreams, which I’m sure was immensely satisfying to all concerned.
@122 Uncle Lumpy: tl;dr: Lillian is a loathsome hag.
@Baja Gaijin:
Well yeah, but that’s canon, not backstory.
@124 Uncle Lumpy: Young people don’t have time for all those words anymore. They can barely pay attention all the way through an entire Tweet.
@Uncle Lumpy: Yep, that’s it. We never fail to mention that the loathsome hag ruined her sister’s life, and that’s how she did it, with a big assist from the stupidity of Eugene’s proposal.
And Batiuk attempts to retcon her into his idea of a likeable person, but it will never work.
Another thing about the loathsome hag that annoys me is her writing career. She fumfers and has trouble putting words together, but we’re expected to believe that she can write murder mysteries. Yeah, sure.
@Uncle Lumpy:
#122. Thanks, Uncle Lumpy, while I can imagine numerous big sisters sabotaging a little sister like that, it’s sickening and Lillian deserves our ire. Yet perhaps she now is haunted with guilt. (Hope, hope)
@127 Activist: She should be haunted with a lovelorn Wilbur Weston making cow eyes at her, forever.
@Activist: just google why his syndicate and other licensing partners all suddenly cut ties with Adams…
@Uncle Lumpy:
#122. Just st read your linked 2011 response to Eugene’s letter. You hit nail on head about discomfort with proposals as part of sports entertainment. Yes, sometimes the proposee wants to say NO WAY but can’t until later
Besides, much like the person I accused of being Adams, he always did have a vastly inflated idea of his own wit and ability
RMMD: Sorry, kid. I’m his evil twin, SUV Tyler.
@Ukulele Ike: Scott Adams is worth 20 million.
@Activist: To be fair, I was just going with that “Because she’s an obnoxious Batiuk character, duh!” reasoning, but the sister-betrayal thing works too.
Regarding Scott Adams, I always wanted to see him promote Dilbert to manager, and see whether it was the pointy-haired boss’s character he found contemptible, or the role of manager itself. I has my suspicions.
@Rembrandt36:Just in case anybody tries to tell you that God is all powerful and all good.
@Rube:
#136. Ok, Scott Adams may be rich. I, for one, don’t equate financial success with being successful as a human being.
– working class and glad of it
@Uncle Lumpy: #70:
“hair set turbans”
Those were real popular in the 60s. Elizabeth Taylor was a big aficionado.
@Baja Gaijin:
In fairness, Wilbur makes cow eyes at cows.
@Arabella: Setting your hair meant putting it in rollers. It could have been in the beauty parlor or doing it yourself at home. You might have slept with your hair wrapped in toilet paper but you might have slept–or tried–on rollers. Rollers died a well-deserved death with the advent of blow dryers. And the 60s style of long flowing hair.