Kwazy Kwaanza!
Curtis, 1/3/05
Once a year, Curtis takes a break from its usual urban tomfoolery to present an opaque Kwaanza fable set in some mythical ancient African locale. This year, though, the strip has moved the seasonal tale to an shameful time in our own history, when six-fingered persons were cruelly oppressed and shunned. Thankfully, we live in more enlightened times, when our digital diversity is celebrated with national events like Polydactylism Week (August 3-9).
Though I can never quite grasp the point behind the plots of the Kwaanza stories, they do feature some of the most interesting art seen in the strip. I like the long first panel here, with the sort of trippy, melty piano-y thing going on towards the middle. I have to say that I’m less in favor of the gratuitous use of quotation marks around words like “knack” and “Joe” and “untouchable.” And the less said about “naturallyier,” the better.
Inigo
January 7th, 2005 at 9:18 am
When I meet the six-fingered man, I will say to him ‘Hello. My name is Ingio Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
sninky-chan
January 7th, 2005 at 9:22 am
It’s the 5000 Fingers of Dr. T!
Anonymous
January 8th, 2005 at 5:41 pm
why is “untouchable” a pun in this strip? because fingers are capable of communicating to our brain the sense of “touch”?
manfire
January 8th, 2005 at 9:47 pm
At least “Joe” doesn’t play any of that “rap” junk like Curtis and Derrick and “Onion” like to “listen” “to”.
Deckard Canine
September 8th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
I especially hated how, in this story, other characters had their names said without the quotes, but “Joe” always had his. Is that Billingsley’s way of not fully respecting the oppressed guy?
doolz
November 15th, 2007 at 11:48 am
It’s because 6 fingered people are outcast pariahs, like Untouchables in India’s caste system. They are lowly, despised, freakish mutants.