The Comics Curmudgeon

Main content:

Monday catch-up quickies

Gil Thorp, 7/30/07

Thank God the helpful narration box tells us that Gail Martin’s tour has hit the weirdly specific spot of Wheeling, W.Va., because based on the soul-crushing Stalinist architecture on display in panel one, I would have guessed that she was just finishing up three triumphant nights in Bratislava’s Štadión Petržalka.

As many of you have noted, Gil Thorp’s trademarked Hideous Disembodied Claw-Thing™ makes an appearance in panel three, but there is hope for humankind: when you compare it to its previous appearances you can see that it’s losing fingers. Soon we’ll be safe as Earth’s corrosive atmosphere causes it to dissolve altogether!

Mark Trail, 7/30/07

“And by ‘come check on you,’ I mean ‘shoot you in the face with his enormous shotgun.’ Don’t worry, I’ll be right here, lurking safely in the bushes until you distract him with your screams of agony!” Christ, it’s no wonder that Sam is attempting to withdraw her head into her shirt, turtle-like.

Family Circus, 7/30/07

Man, that’s a great, subtle expression of brief hope flickering out on the face of Pipey McMustache there. It’s almost a little cruel to drag it out in a rerun to make him feel that disappointment again.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 01:59 pm and is filed under Family Circus, Gil Thorp, Mark Trail.

92 responses to “Monday catch-up quickies”

Chat Noir
July 31st, 2007 at 2:02 pm [Reply]

Thought balloon for Family Circus neighbor: “Shit. Now I’ll definitely have to burn their house down.”
Woodrowfan
July 31st, 2007 at 2:03 pm [Reply]

Girl Reporter: He has a rifle.
Mark Trail: right. ok, YOU distract him!

real gallant MT, sheesh.

oh, and first?????
Woodrowfan
July 31st, 2007 at 2:04 pm [Reply]

damn, I type too slow!
AtomicDog
July 31st, 2007 at 2:04 pm [Reply]

First! First!
Trotzenbonnie
July 31st, 2007 at 2:04 pm [Reply]

Either that’s a caterpillar crawling across Kaz’s forehead or he’s not a natural blond.
Matt Ramone
July 31st, 2007 at 2:04 pm [Reply]

Since when did Gail’s manager have a flap for a neck?
AtomicDog
July 31st, 2007 at 2:05 pm [Reply]

Sigh.
AtomicDog
July 31st, 2007 at 2:06 pm [Reply]

I guess the secret is not to try.
seanman
July 31st, 2007 at 2:07 pm [Reply]

Anybody catch FW’s “Seinfeld” tribute; it’s actually fairly decent, except that everyone looks like Shannon’s friends from the Tard-A-Foob-A-Thon, particularly poor Elaine. Plus, Kramer’s not throwing down on those rude, awful darkies.

However, its not as depressing as usual, so that’s good…
Mountain Mama
July 31st, 2007 at 2:09 pm [Reply]

Melkardammnit! Should have known a new post was coming…..from the end of yesterthread.

Divine O’F: We can do a Tucson meet anytime you want next month, except from the 16th to the 22nd. I will be visiting my new niece in CO!

Dingo: My condolences on the Tempe job, but really, dear, you don’t want to come here. However, if you do ever find yourself in the area again, my offer of a margarita is still good. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the NY gig.

And FOOB still foobs, MW still drags (”I’ll get you, my pretty, and those little kittens, too!”), and JP is getting boring. Hydrology studies? Really?

However, Gail is now in my beloved home state and I’ll take it as a personal shout-out. Call me, weird GT artists! I’m sure she’s playing the Wheeling Civic Center and I couldn’t be prouder. Where next? The Rose Theater in Clarksburg?
Paperback Rifler
July 31st, 2007 at 2:09 pm [Reply]

1. Alternate thought balloon: “Dang! Now I’ll have to retrieve my suicide noose from this trashcan! Freakin’ Keanes.”

Or, for an alternate alternate thought balloon, you can go with the always appropriate default caption for the New Yorker Caption contest. Come to think of it, it could probably be the default caption for every FC panel as well.
Josh
July 31st, 2007 at 2:10 pm [Reply]

Note to everybody who posts “First Post” comments otherwise empty of content: Please don’t. This really annoys me, and it thus falls afoul of my discussion policies. I usually eliminate such comments if they are actually first, though I leave up those that aren’t actually first because I feel the humiliation ought to be its own punishment. I’m considering replacing all “first post!” comments with links to this video, though, in an attempt to stop the madness.

Josh
Trotzenbonnie
July 31st, 2007 at 2:10 pm [Reply]

And all that apartment building needs is a Black September terrorist in a ski mask hanging out on the balcony….
The Divine O’F
July 31st, 2007 at 2:11 pm [Reply]

Haven’t we seen all these strips before? One of my mom’s first symptoms of Alzheimer’s was thinking that they were repeating the comics every day. So this makes me a little nervous.

Poteet and Crabby Genes: last night I dreamed that we were all at a teaching conference for TESOL teachers.

Dingo: Sorry you won’t be a neighbor. I’ll keep all my fingers crossed that you get the New York job.

Yesterthread: Nice parody, Paperback Rifler! And it did end the thread.

AZ CURMINIONS: First call–meetup next month (Aug) any day but the 16th through 22nd. Line forms on the left!
I Pity The Foob
July 31st, 2007 at 2:11 pm [Reply]

Modern Lit professors, it’s time to update your curricula:

(Gag alert! 7/31 Coffee Talk entry)

Your creative efforts over the past decades have created an entirely new literary genre. The illustrated story, with fully developed characters, plot lines and serious dealing with real social and moral issues in a fictional context is more than mere entertainment, although it surely is that. For Better or for Worse has become something like the Charles Dickens or the Hemmingway of our times. You are to be congratulated on thus expanding and enriching the body of English Literature.

John, Canada
wobblie
July 31st, 2007 at 2:15 pm [Reply]

That’s architecture in the first panel of GT? I thought they’d started ripping off Mark Trail’s patented “talking animals,” only replacing it with stacked office furniture.
Poppinjay
July 31st, 2007 at 2:17 pm [Reply]

Pipey McMustache doesn’t want Jeffy to move away.

Pipey McMustache likes Jeffy.

Pipey McMustache invites Jeffy into his home for Jesus Juice. And pipe smoking.

The heart wants what it wants.
Beauregard Bugleboy
July 31st, 2007 at 2:18 pm [Reply]

Apparently English is Gail’s second language. “Decked the culprit”? And she pronounces “showed” as if it were two syllables.
Andrea D and The Grandstanding Oddballs
July 31st, 2007 at 2:19 pm [Reply]

Seriously, I hope Gail Martin never starts her own blog. She’ll have to hire an entire entourage of former Secret Service and ex-CIA spooks to hunt down and apprehend the terrorist who leaves comments like “Your a dum bithc and i haet you.”
Perky Bird
July 31st, 2007 at 2:21 pm [Reply]

GT– What?! Gail Martin was in Wheeling, WV, yesterday?! WHY didn’t someone tell me! I actually passed through Wheeling on my way home from Ohio. I would have stopped to hear her play, if only I had known! Curses upon you , cruel Fate! *sobs*
Tweeks_Coffee
July 31st, 2007 at 2:23 pm [Reply]

#19 – Andrea D:

Now why would she go through all that trouble when she can pick up any high school assistant coach for far less than those “professionals”? Though I fear what would happen when she ran out of athletic assistant coaches and started having to hire assistant chess team coaches and the like. She may have to deal with a flood of slightly nasty mail the likes of which she never dreamed!
Trotzenbonnie
July 31st, 2007 at 2:23 pm [Reply]

#15 – I Pity The Foob
‘The illustrated story’? Isn’t that one of them there newfangled graphic novels?
And FBOFW has become something like the Hemmingway of our times? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yvonne_Hemmingway
Thank God he didn’t mean Ernest Hemingway or I have to fire up the Deathmobile.

I’m going to throw up now.
ElSanto
July 31st, 2007 at 2:24 pm [Reply]

Crap… is it Monday already? I gots to get to work!
Inspector Dim
July 31st, 2007 at 2:24 pm [Reply]

In today’s Garfield, we continue the gripping saga of a talking ball of string. Today, the ball of string is depressed because life is meaningless. Garfield responds by beating the hell out of it.

In today’s Momma, we continue the endless saga of a dwarfish old hellbeast who lives to torment the children she’s done such a terrible job of raising. Today, her daughter-in-law expresses a brief flicker of creativity and independence–just to be yanked back to her soulless domestic existence by the tiny old hag.

Hilarity abounds!
Reedzilla
July 31st, 2007 at 2:24 pm [Reply]

MT:
“I’M GOING TO GET BEHIND HIM, YOU TRY TO DISTRACT HIM! Shit, he somehow knew we were here! It’s as if he has some sort of special sense that tracked us after we shouted our plan back and forth while standing 15 feet behind him!”
Anonymous
July 31st, 2007 at 2:24 pm [Reply]

Claw woman’s head bobbles to the left and right like she’s some overaged valley girl. Also, there doesn’t seem to be anything written on the paper. Doesn’t that strike you as weird?
The Divine O’F
July 31st, 2007 at 2:26 pm [Reply]

RMMD: I think I’ve missed something… Hugh has damaged his ears. Was there a bird strike before the car exploded?
BigTed
July 31st, 2007 at 2:27 pm [Reply]

I don’t think Sam Hill would have any trouble distracting the Birdman of the Airport, but not with her shirt buttoned all the way to the top like that.

Of course, any normal person would just call the TSA and say “There’s a guy hanging out near the airport with a rifle! And birds! And possibly some liquids in unapproved containers that hold more than 2 ounces!” But that would be too easy for our Mark, wouldn’t it?
andycx
July 31st, 2007 at 2:29 pm [Reply]

Why do I have the feeling the whole GT storyline is going to turn out to be a ruse – it was all so Gail could get close to the hunk of burning Kaz for a little Tarzana lovin’.

Okay, eww, I just made myself sick …
commodorejohn
July 31st, 2007 at 2:31 pm [Reply]

Reposting:

#15 I Pity The Foob – Note that the fellow saying this is from Canada. Clearly he wants his country to be recognized for its comic strip accomplishments. (Oops, sorry, “graphic novel!”) I’d tend to agree with him, though, in that I think Dickens sucks nearly as much as FOOB sucks. I’ve never read Hemingway.
Zero B.C.
July 31st, 2007 at 2:32 pm [Reply]

OK, off topic here, but HELP! Here in Charleston, SC, we are faced with the Sophie’s Choice of comics. After dropping both Shoe and B.C., the local paper has decided to bring one of them back through on an online vote. Please don’t let them resurrect B.C.! You can vote at http://www.postandcourier.com – the poll is half way down the page. Thank you!
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
July 31st, 2007 at 2:37 pm [Reply]

Digression into linguistic nerdery:

This Family Circus uses the term “granddad” rather than the more common “grandpa”. The existence of different terms for the father of your parent is something that has been discussed by linguists, and it’s interesting to note that, compared to, say, pop vs. soda vs. coke, “granddad” is apparently not quite as strongly associated with any particular region. (Of course, what you call your grandparents doesn’t depend so much on where you’re from, but rather where your parents or grandparents are from.)
Little Guy
July 31st, 2007 at 2:41 pm [Reply]

GT: Gail must have Bob confused with Mark Trail and his RIght Hook O’ Justice (TM).

15: No kidding, Charles Dickens wrote for the masses, one chapter at a time, especially “Great Expectations”. There were serious Pip/Estrella shippers who bugged Chuckie to get them together. (and you thought Coffee Talk was bad). Hmmm.. I wonder if LJ got her Kelpfroth inspiration from Miss Havisham….. mmmmm….. crispy spinster almost-bride…..
Andrea D and The Grandstanding Oddballs
July 31st, 2007 at 2:44 pm [Reply]

Skullturf: Yuppers. My Russian grandmother was “Nana”. Canadian grandmother is “Gram”.
ElSanto
July 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm [Reply]

#33 — The difference being that “Great Expectations” ended with, in my opinion, one of the greatest non-resolutions in literature. Dickens didn’t want Pip & Estrella together; his readers did. So he structured it so that the ending could be read either way. Brilliant.

(And, yeah, I’m a Great Expectations groupie. I hae both the 1946 David Lean film and the 1999 PBS adaptation with Ioan Gruffudd. The less said about the Ethan Hawke film the better.)
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
July 31st, 2007 at 2:47 pm [Reply]

My Canadian grandmother (born in Winnipeg, raised in Saskatchewan) was never anything but “Grandma”. But a few of my friends referred to their mother’s mother as “Nan”.
AhClem
July 31st, 2007 at 2:52 pm [Reply]

#12 Josh -
Here is the XKCD take on first posts:
http://xkcd.com/269/

#15 I Pity the Foob -
That would be Ethel Hemingway, one of the founders of Las Vegas School of Writing (along with Jerry Steinbeck and Eunice O’Neil).
Andrea D and The Grandstanding Oddballs
July 31st, 2007 at 2:53 pm [Reply]

Saskatchewan! Represent, yo. I was in Saskatoon a couple of weeks ago. It was a wet heat. My gram turned 90 this year, so we all got together to not drink.

Can you imagine a Canadian family that doesn’t drink? Well, welcome to my own personal hell.
Chris
July 31st, 2007 at 2:55 pm [Reply]

One of the saddest things I’ve seen in years is that Lynn Johnston actually seems to think that her musical drivel is life affirming art.

It’s just sad.

Yeah, Trotzenbonnie, the Olympic Village in Munich came to mind for me, too.
taswegiannie
July 31st, 2007 at 2:56 pm [Reply]

I think Pipey McMoustache looks suspiciously like Aldo Kelrast. Or perhaps a future Anthony Caine who feels it’s now safe to regrow the mo because he no longer needs to try.

And why is it acceptable to smoke a pipe but not cigarettes?
Pozzo
July 31st, 2007 at 2:58 pm [Reply]

Other comic strips, when they go into reruns, either add “Classics” to the title, tell you on their website that the cartoonist is on vacation, or make no mention of it whatsoever. Keane, Inc., acts like it’s doing you some sort of freakin’ favor!
Lammergeier13
July 31st, 2007 at 3:06 pm [Reply]

DT: All right, we get it! The cold war ended, but the Baron is still programmed. We’ve been over this 10 times now. However, nobody has thought it worthwhile to explain what he’s been programmed for! At least let us in on the reason why he went to that spooky farm from Sin City, you know, the one where that creepy Elijah Wood Harry Potter look-alike who enjoys eating prostitutes (literally) lives. Or will that big wolf get him first?
Squawk
July 31st, 2007 at 3:08 pm [Reply]

GT:

“Dear Gail,

You stink.

Sincerely,
A disgruntled fan.”

Better check that one out, Kaz. Sounds like a psycho.
Dr. Shrinker
July 31st, 2007 at 3:10 pm [Reply]

The last thread died before anyone could help me…

Can anyone explain today’s Frazz to me? Sharks? Heroes? I read it both before and after coffee this morning, and I just don’t get it!
GodWithFire
July 31st, 2007 at 3:12 pm [Reply]

BigTed: They didn’t have mobile phones in 1955, and Mark Trail (along with TDIET and NASCAR) is locked in a timeless universe where Ike is still in the White House, an office desk consists of a phone and a typewriter, and Mrs. Clever wears pearls when housecleaning.

FC: Ok, I’m glad to find out that these are re-runs, because I was about to vent about today’s strip, in which we see three of the tykes in the backseat without a child seat to be seen. PJ is, I guess, locked in the cargo container on the roof, or else tied to the rear bumper.
RedBadger
July 31st, 2007 at 3:14 pm [Reply]

I’m glad today’s Mark Trail led off with a declaration that our villain is about to release more birds, because
Friday’s strip left it rather vague.
Lammergeier13
July 31st, 2007 at 3:15 pm [Reply]

FOOB: I love the look on Dad’s face in panel 2 today, It’s got that whole “Oh my God, my entire life has been a lie perpetrated by a shrieking, self-righteous harridan!” vibe to it. Yeah, I feel like that sometimes too.
Portia
July 31st, 2007 at 3:23 pm [Reply]

7/31 FW:

Never has a butt crack been as lovingly rendered as it was today on the Blonde Chick.
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
July 31st, 2007 at 3:24 pm [Reply]

#44 Dr. Shrinker — I don’t get Frazz either. Is it possible that the cartoonist made an editing mistake? The Sharks are the team he leaves out the first time he lists the teams. Did he mean for the omitted team to be the Heroes? However, that still doesn’t make the strip very funny.
Mollie
July 31st, 2007 at 3:24 pm [Reply]

The thing that irritates me most about this “Gil Thorp” (if I must pick just one thing) is the way the word “showed” is broken in that last panel. It looks like it was lettered by some second-rate formatting software that automatically assumes “-ed” = new syllable.

Or are we to understand that Gail Martin actually pronounces the word “show-ed”? Perhaps she is speaking in iambic pentameter. That would explain the stiffness of “We were hoping you’d decked the culprit.” Or maybe it’s an affectation she relies on to make her lyrics fit more accurately to her music… like that verse of “The First Nowell” where you have to sing, “They look-ed up and saw a star…” I hate “The First Nowell.” Ungainly, childish, weirdly old-fashioned yet not at all charming, with nigh-incomprehensible storytelling… It’s totally the “Gil Thorp” of Christmas carols. I bet it’s the first track on “A Gail Martin Christmas.”
Electro
July 31st, 2007 at 3:24 pm [Reply]

I called both my grandfathers by their first names. That should have done away with any confusion, except that they were both named Ed. My cousins, however, called Ed ‘granddad’.

On a related note, I’ve always wanted to ‘deck the culprit’. With boughs of holly.
Lame Name
July 31st, 2007 at 3:31 pm [Reply]

15, 22, 30 — What a marvelous idea! A novel told with graphics! How completely innovative! Bold, even! I should add it to my syllabus this instant! … What’s that, you say? It’s been done? More meritoriously and innovatively? By … Harvey Pekar? Art Spiegelman? Wait a minute … do they have condescending little girls with undefined mental disabilities? How about moustache-y boyfriends who keep their children in the basement? Vomit-inducing song lyrics? No? Sorry, I don’t see how I could possibly include those in my curriculum.
NinaPetrovna
July 31st, 2007 at 3:31 pm [Reply]

I can understand John in Canada’s equation of FOOB to Dickens, kind of, as further elucidated in 33 and 35– but Hemingway? Hemingway? I suppose that his recurrent themes of damaged masculinity could be reflected through John Patterson’s own emasculation, perhaps. That’s about all I can come up with, though. Lynn Johnston is more like Samuel Richardson dipped in treacle and partially digested by ants.
Tomcat
July 31st, 2007 at 3:32 pm [Reply]

Hey check this out!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GLBdbLrdLP4

Pretty wacky, huh?
Skullturf Q. Beavispants
July 31st, 2007 at 3:32 pm [Reply]

#51 Electro — I have a friend with two uncles named Bob Jones and Bob Smith.
Chloe The Cat
July 31st, 2007 at 3:38 pm [Reply]

Zero BC I voted, but I think you are SOOL because it looks like BC is back. So sorry.
I Pity The Foob
July 31st, 2007 at 3:39 pm [Reply]

Wouldn’t it be great if Linda Richman moderated this Coffee Talk?
Ian Cameron, PhD
July 31st, 2007 at 3:41 pm [Reply]

58th!
Dave
July 31st, 2007 at 3:42 pm [Reply]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-070731cartoon-htmlpage,0,5826156.htmlpage

This does not exactly encourage me to shell out $26.95 …
MossMoses
July 31st, 2007 at 3:48 pm [Reply]

28. Big Ted, law “enforcement” in Lost Forest is a misnomer. If Mark Trail didn’t enforce justice with his fist, vigilante style, there would be no justice whatsoever and every evil deed would go unpunished. Sheriff Rawhide is more than happy to sit back and have Mark Trail do all the dirty work while he hangs out eating donuts in the station, whining about how busy he is. The only time the cops ever show up is for mop up duty after Mark Trail has already foiled the evildoers.

It’s also not worth trying to take someone to court there. Alberto Gonzalez couldn’t run the Lost Forest judiciary any worse himself. By having connections to Mark Trail (through Doctor Davis), the bald “papa” Sam Hill got off scott free, despite overwhelming evidence of destruction of public property, terrorism, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

So, it’s no wonder Mark Trail just takes matters into his own fists. He’s the LoFo equivalent of Rambo.
CrabbyGenes
July 31st, 2007 at 3:49 pm [Reply]

#12 Josh. Well, the video deterred ME, that’s for sure.

Actually, I have been in the postion of being able to post first. A few times I have arrived at a new post of yours before anyone else did, and seen that very inviting “no comments.” And invariably, when I see that phrase, my mind goes blank (similar to what happens to it when someone starts that annoying timer for the Scattergories game). So I’ve never posted first. I’m still hoping to do so one of these days. If I ever think of a worth-while comment, that is.
Big Sims
July 31st, 2007 at 3:49 pm [Reply]

48 – Portia
There was much discussion yesterday about this; is it plumber crack? Thong-n-crack? A tattoo? Cancer? Trotzenbonnie believes that it is a Lee Press-on Thong to give the illusion of undergarments for those who are embarrassed of going without. I think it cancer brought on by the glue used by the Lee Press-on products. True Fable wrote an argument against the butt-crack on display, which I agree with, I’m mad that 150 years ago bathing costumes started showing too much ankle, leaving nothing to the imagination.
But in the end it’s not what we want it to be. Only Batuik knows what it is and what we want. You, me, his audience have no idea what we want nor are qualified to make decisions or have opinions.
Jeffster
July 31st, 2007 at 3:52 pm [Reply]

#31 you’re behind in the polls. I added my support. Death the BC. Oh, wait…to late.
The Divine O’F
July 31st, 2007 at 3:57 pm [Reply]

Here’s my caption, which I don’t love, but at least it’s done:

“I don’t have any idea what it’s for, but it gives him something to do since he retired.”
CrabbyGenes
July 31st, 2007 at 3:59 pm [Reply]

#14 Divine O’F. That’s interesting. Because (and this is absolutely true, I swear!) last night I drempt that Poteet agreed to meet you to have fun and discuss POLDARK.

I’m off to Narita Airport this morning (for a see-off, not to fly myself). Back later!

(Did I just invent a new word?)
michael farris
July 31st, 2007 at 4:14 pm [Reply]

I just want to add a ME TOO! to the Gil Thorpe convert in a recent thread.
The art is ….. unusual, the plotting …. unconventional and the pacing is …. disorienting. But somehow all these add up to so much more than than the sum of its parts.

Just think, a few short months ago I was blissfully unaware of the existence of anything like Gil Thorpe.

And now I’m as giggly as a schoolgirl over the possibilities of Kaz going after the Gail Martin stalker (my best guess as to the stalker’s identity? That’s right, Clambake! (he’s never forgiven her for showing up drunk for that concert tp benefit the phoney negro league players).

Thank you internet, thank you comics curmudgeon!

Just one question, does Gil Thorpe not have a Sunday strip?
Poteet
July 31st, 2007 at 4:24 pm [Reply]

# 14 — Divine O’F, I’m very flattered to have attended a dream TESOL conference, because never was someone less qualified. CrabbyGenes got the foreign language talent in our family, though she’s modest about it. Thanks for having me at the conference, though, because I’m sure I had a good time. You language people are a hoot.

# 65 — C-Genes, sounds like a good new word to me!
Poteet
July 31st, 2007 at 4:31 pm [Reply]

I’ve been the first poster on a few threads, but I’ve never used the word “first” in those posts because I’m scared. And now I’m scared to watch the video. Maybe it has giant angry faces from (DT)GT.
Uncle Lumpy
July 31st, 2007 at 4:33 pm [Reply]

I posted first once, and they held a clambake for me. I talked about it for days.
SmartPeopleOnIce
July 31st, 2007 at 4:42 pm [Reply]

I heard that everytime you post first, Josh sends you a pony.
Grumblebritches
July 31st, 2007 at 4:55 pm [Reply]

Lucky for Mark he’s not trying to sneak up on the Vice President like that or he’d have been blown to bits by panel two. Not so lucky for us, of course. But lucky for him.
BigTed
July 31st, 2007 at 4:58 pm [Reply]

Actually, I was the first commenter in the thread before this one, and he sent me one of those annoying talking unicorns from “9 Chickweed Lane.”
bees on pie
July 31st, 2007 at 5:38 pm [Reply]

Aww, Dawn’s wearing a cute little romper! I get the Carter’s ones for my toddler at Costco for $5.99. They’re great for summer!
Ivan Lermolieff
July 31st, 2007 at 5:39 pm [Reply]

Gil Thorp’s trademarked Hideous Disembodied Claw-Thing™

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Morelli
katherine
July 31st, 2007 at 6:00 pm [Reply]

yay! I killed the last thread!
Canaduck
July 31st, 2007 at 6:06 pm [Reply]

For a while there, instead of calling Grandpa “Grandpa,” I started calling him “Grandpappy.” But he didn’t like that, and asked me to go back to Grandpa. So I did, but I changed it a little. I put an “e” in instead of an “a,” so it became “Grendpa.”
At first he didn’t notice, but then he said, “What did you call me?”
“Grandpa,” I said. But then I went back to calling him Grendpa. Finally he just said to go ahead and call him Grandpappy, which I did, only I changed it a little bit to “Grendpeppy.” (Jack Handey)

—————————————

That said, my grandfather was always Granddad to me. He grew up in California. So did my mother. My father was from the east coast. (I suspect where your parents are from has a lot to do with what your grandparents are called–at least it did in my family.)
Chat Noir
July 31st, 2007 at 6:18 pm [Reply]

Since I posted first without even trying, I’ll post last, too, and point out how nicely Jeffy would fit in the trashcan Pipey’s holding.

Also, I’ll note that my niece calls her grandfather (my dad) “Nampy” because she can’t quite pronounce Grampy. The moral of the story appears to be that kids say weird stuff and elderly folks bear the brunt of it. Unless you happen to be Grandpa Boxcar and then the reverse is true.
Tim McDonough
July 31st, 2007 at 6:41 pm [Reply]

Wheeling? Not good. Gail Martin’s “Not Exactly A-List” Tour continues in Chillicothe, Grand Junction and Las Cruces.

Gil Thorp’s Awful Creeping Claw may be losing fingers but it’s becoming infinitely more terrifying.
Kip W
July 31st, 2007 at 7:06 pm [Reply]

Archie – My god, they stole a gag I made here about a week ago. How long before they start recycling “Dysfunctional Family Circus” lines?

Anonymous @26 – She’s channelling Rocky the Flying Squirrel. “Now this is what I really call a message!”
soleil
July 31st, 2007 at 10:01 pm [Reply]

I haven’t been here for about a month, and Mark Trail is STILL about the birds and the airport?

On the other hand, it looks like I have some catching up to do with Mary Worth. What joy.
Edward
August 1st, 2007 at 1:42 am [Reply]

Apparently, a Plugger’s ‘Hard Drive’ is a hammer. What it isn’t is a tumescent penis. Pluggers are impotent with shame and bottled-up rage, and cannot afford Cialis. Also, their wives are sexually uninterested in them, mainly because they’re so awfully fat.
Antiquated Tory
August 1st, 2007 at 3:59 am [Reply]

Damn Josh, when were you in Bratislava>? ANd why?
Mike Billips
August 1st, 2007 at 4:12 am [Reply]

Oh, hey, check out Jeffy Keane’s attempt at Lucas-style revisionism in Tuesday’s Family Circus. What are the odds that late ’60s station wagon had everyone wearing shoulder belts in the original run? Nice try, Jeffy, but you’ve doomed Billy and yourself to a gruesome strangling death in case of a wreck, since you lack the artistic skill to Photoshop in some child seats. Based on her seating position, Dolly appears to be on her own, safety wise, likely because she’s just performed an Indian rub or other torture on Jeffy.

Speaking of the Bush administration, what are the odds that those seatbelts were installed after some surreptious bribery by the Safety Czar?
Mike Billips
August 1st, 2007 at 4:12 am [Reply]

Oh, hey, check out Jeffy Keane’s attempt at Lucas-style revisionism in Tuesday’s Family Circus. What are the odds that late ’60s station wagon had everyone wearing shoulder belts in the original run? Nice try, Jeffy, but you’ve doomed Billy and yourself to a gruesome strangling death in case of a wreck, since you lack the artistic skill to Photoshop in some child seats. Based on her seating position, Dolly appears to be on her own, safety wise, likely because she’s just performed an Indian rub or other torture on Jeffy.

Speaking of the Bush administration, what are the odds that those seatbelts were installed after some surreptitious bribery by the Safety Czar?
Calico
August 1st, 2007 at 8:35 am [Reply]

Pipey McMustache?!

Hell, that’s our ALDO!
Frank Parsnip
August 1st, 2007 at 8:53 am [Reply]

GT: Given the premium paid nowadays for a range of “security consultants”, I didn’t understand how it was that Kaz got the bodyguard gig based solely on his punching ability. But then I recognized his bizarre eyebrow-plucked, double-earring-wearing visage from my latest issue of Honcho Overload magazine, in which Kaz was voted “Best All-Male Porn Donkey Puncher of 2006″. My guess is that Walter Cronkite is cruisin’ for a bruisin’.
Foobaphobe
August 1st, 2007 at 10:26 am [Reply]

FOOB:
Following closely in LJ’s footsteps, April is now happily enjoying neutering males! (Cf. Michael’s letter for August on the Off. Foo site.)
Woodrowfan
August 1st, 2007 at 10:33 am [Reply]

My one grandmother insisted that her 3 grandkids call her “Nan Nan.” After about age 9 I started calling her “Grandma”, much to her annoyance, while my two cousins kept calling her Nan Nan until they were well into their 20s (at which point she died). They were mentioned in her will, I was not. But I consider that a small price to pay for not having to humilate myself calling her “nan nan” when I was a teen or an adult.

We now return to Comics Curmudgeon and the current debate, “:Does reading Funky Winkerbean cause cancer, or doe sit just feel like it does?”
Woodrowfan
August 1st, 2007 at 10:35 am [Reply]

Frazz=Not Funny.

Also, Bear=woodsy poop
Sun=rise in east
GT=square heads
MT=Fist’o justice!
Sly Robbie
August 1st, 2007 at 7:09 pm [Reply]

I just can’t help myself.

Must quote from Get Smart!:

“It’s The Craw!

I’m not ‘The Craw’… I’m The Craw!”

/Robbie
F.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:24 pm [Reply]

The joke in Frazz is less “Funny”, and more “soul crushingly depressing”. See, while Frazz omits mentioning the Sharks, and assumes that Weird Looking Kid noticed his mistake, and thinks that the Sharks do not exist, in fact Weird Looking Kid is so completely disillusioned with life that he was simply pointing out there are no heroes left.

… I thought it was pretty funny, actually.
nemoErensenuT
March 9th, 2008 at 7:51 am [Reply]

I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:

Please read the posting and discussion policies before posting. You are not required to supply an e-mail address to comment; however, doing so decreases the likelihood of your comment being flagged as spam. E-mail addresses will never be made public or seen by anyone but the site writers, who may use them to communicate with commentors.

Archives:

Comment of the week:

Main navigation:

Main content:

Monday catch-up quickies

92 responses to “Monday catch-up quickies”

Leave a Reply

All the cool kids…

Randomly Selected Post O’ Mystery