The Comics Curmudgeon

50 responses to “Metapost: Search engine puzzles”

1. laska
   August 29th, 2005 at 1:02 pm [Reply]

   first!

2. laska
   August 29th, 2005 at 1:05 pm [Reply]

   I can’t really think of a good answer, other than maybe there are a lot of people hopeful something’s going to go down at the Bumstead’s party and it’s more likely to happen if it’s happened in the past. Maybe like in Sleeping Beauty, the evil fairy is miffed she didn’t get invited so she crashes the party.

3. Howdy
   August 29th, 2005 at 1:13 pm [Reply]

   some radio stations have a website that you collect and use points for prizes and other stuff.

   this is a question asked in the triva section for points.

   if you wanna see go to newrock973.listenernetwork.com

4. Howdy
   August 29th, 2005 at 1:30 pm [Reply]

   the anwser is Dick Tracy

5. Sheila
   August 29th, 2005 at 1:34 pm [Reply]

   Not Popeye? Didn’t he get some WWII action against the Japanese?

6. arex
   August 29th, 2005 at 1:37 pm [Reply]

   Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s Dick Tracy as well. I remember reading about some hoopla back in the 20s or 30s when it first ran.
   What I want to know is “which is the NEXT comic to feature someone being shot to death”? (please be MaryWorth. PLEASE be MaryWorth!)

7. Lee
   August 29th, 2005 at 1:54 pm [Reply]

   If we’re taking bets on the next one, we can’t rule out

   A3G: A convenient and arbitrary way to get Scott out of the picture so Luann can find a guy even more bland and empty-headed than she is. Since that’s an utter impossibility, it ensures that the strip will go on forever.

   FBOFW: I had thought of Howard as a target for someone’s revenge, but given that we’re talking about the Pattersons, I ruled that out. More than likely, Lynn would use it as a cheap way of getting Anthony’s wife out of the picture so he and Liz can finally get together. Which is reason enough to hope she’s not that stupid.

8. Toni
   August 29th, 2005 at 2:17 pm [Reply]

   I’m kinda hoping Scott is going to kidnap her and sell her into slavery in the Domincan Republic.

9. Lee
   August 29th, 2005 at 2:32 pm [Reply]

   That was actually my first thought when this Dominican Republic storyline began. The question is whether Bolle and Trusiani will remember that they’ve already used a similar plot with Margo.

   More repetition, mule!

10. Dennis Jimenez
    August 29th, 2005 at 2:41 pm [Reply]

    I suspect we will find that Scott’s wealth was built on his family exploiting and poisoning the good people of Alea. Luann’s ultimatim to Scott – it’s your filty money or me. Scott does a quick mental calculation (How many $1,000 call girls can I get for $1 million? = 1,000.) Goodbye Luann….

11. Nom du Jour
    August 29th, 2005 at 2:52 pm [Reply]

    ahhhh, but it is true love.

    Scott will toss all the Gainesburger fortune to the dogs if he can spend eternity with LuAnn.

    *Sigh*

12. MaryAnnTheRest
    August 29th, 2005 at 2:58 pm [Reply]

    Next on Family Circus… Jeffy finally goes over the edge and finds Dad’s shotgun.

    BTW, I was watching Futurama on Saturday night, and Fry actually said, “There are guys in the background of Mary Worth comics that are more important than me.” I just verified it at http://www.gotfuturama.com. That just kills me.

13. Frank Drackman
    August 29th, 2005 at 3:16 pm [Reply]

    Dammit people beat me to it..but Dick Tracy had great episodes of people gettin shot in the head,goin to the electric chair..all sorts of cool stuff

14. Nom du Jour
    August 29th, 2005 at 3:28 pm [Reply]

    The first shooting murder I remember is when Mary Worth took out her husband for giving her some cheesy swans for her birthday.

    Either I am remembering that or it might just be wishful thinking.

15. Leons Petrazickis
    August 29th, 2005 at 3:31 pm [Reply]

    More than likely, Lynn would use it as a cheap way of getting Anthony’s wife out of the picture so he and Liz can finally get together.

    Hmm. Could Lynn have Anthony’s wife murdered in revenge by the foiled rapist who’s STILL AT LARGE and UNREPORTED?

16. Flintstone_guy
    August 29th, 2005 at 3:35 pm [Reply]

    Wasn’t it one of the ants in B.C.? Did it on the rock with a wooden gun…

17. Smokey Stover
    August 29th, 2005 at 3:50 pm [Reply]

    A lot of those pre-WWII strips were pretty violent. One possibility is Wash Tubbs (later Captain Easy):

    http://www.adventurestrips.com/washtubbs/washtubbs_harvey_crane.html

18. Irina
    August 29th, 2005 at 4:07 pm [Reply]

    … a little surprised that no one’s commented on the horrible gamma radiation that has apparently atrophied Boyd’s arms in Saturday’s Mark Trail.

    Too bad it didn’t give him super-rabid racoon powers.

    CooneyMan!

19. JohnnyC
    August 29th, 2005 at 4:42 pm [Reply]

    didn’t Batman’s father get shot to death?

20. Brenda
    August 29th, 2005 at 4:43 pm [Reply]

    Radio station/website in Sacramento has the Trivia games section for points. This was one of the questions.

21. arex
    August 29th, 2005 at 5:03 pm [Reply]

    yeah, batman’s parents were both shot. But I’m pretty sure that Dick Tracy predates Batman. And I’m not sure if Batman was ever a newspaper comic (it was never a “strip”).

22. Lee
    August 29th, 2005 at 5:30 pm [Reply]

    Hmm. Could Lynn have Anthony’s wife murdered in revenge by the foiled rapist who’s STILL AT LARGE and UNREPORTED?

    At large, unreported, and suitable for framing?

23. Chris Opperman
    August 29th, 2005 at 5:58 pm [Reply]

    I believe the ancient Egyptians had hieroglyphics of people with spears going through them? Would that count? Cave paintings, perhaps?

    If it must be 20th century, then it’s probably when Tess Trueheart’s parents were shot in one of the first episodes of Dick Tracy, unless Annie beat them to it (Annie’s been around for almost a century now, no?).

    cdo

24. Sourbelly
    August 29th, 2005 at 6:19 pm [Reply]

    The first comics shooting murder took place in “Love Is.”

25. Steven
    August 29th, 2005 at 6:48 pm [Reply]

    Maybe they’re looking for an example to go by. Kind of a “how to shoot someone to death”, like those illustrated “how to put on a seatbelt” things on airplanes. You and I, we might think it’s obvious how to shoot someone to death, others may not. Don’t judge.

26. Islamorada Girl
    August 29th, 2005 at 7:28 pm [Reply]

    I’ll say Terry and The Pirates. The Dragon Lady, my first feminist icon, was always having her evil henchmen drag some poor schlub out to eat some lead.

27. Dingo
    August 29th, 2005 at 8:00 pm [Reply]

    #14 – Mary’s husband didn’t give her the swans on her birthday; he gave them to her on their wedding night! At least it wasn’t a how-to sex videotape using animated swans named Anthony and Therese, though I hear you can buy those at the Mt. Foob giftstore.

28. Anonymous
    August 29th, 2005 at 8:06 pm [Reply]

    MaryAnnTheRest–

    I was just watching that on the DVD, and my husband couldn’t figure out why I was cracking up.

    And tonight, I was watching The Simpsons episode where Lisa passes as a college student, and this had me rolling on the floor:

    Lisa: But the atmosphere was so stimulating! It was a bustling marketplace of ideas.
    Marge: Oh, and this kitchen isn’t?
    Lisa: Well…
    Marge: I put those Cathys on the fridge for you. I don’t even like them… they’ve gotten so smutty.
    Homer: Oh sure, if a man does it it’s smutty, but if a woman did it–
    Marge: Homer, Cathy is a woman.
    Homer: Oh come on, he…(Homer looks closer) you’re riiight. (he shudders).

29. dimestore lipstick
    August 29th, 2005 at 8:10 pm [Reply]

    In re: #28–
    That was me, and you can listen to it here:
    http://www.lardlad.com/assets/quotes/season13/ten.shtml

    ~Dime

30. Maxim Gorky
    August 29th, 2005 at 8:26 pm [Reply]

    Is anybody else here enraged by the new packaging that the Simpsons DVDs are encumbered with?

31. Dingo
    August 29th, 2005 at 8:29 pm [Reply]

    I would be enraged if I had the money to purchase things like Simpsons DVD sets. Graduate school: the reason Ramen noodles exist.

32. Lee
    August 29th, 2005 at 8:58 pm [Reply]

    The season box sets to date had a great running joke going, as the covers were a play on the opening-credits tradition of changing the way the family sits at the couch in every episode. The new packaging just makes no sense, and it’s pretty unwieldy too.

33. Islamorada Girl
    August 29th, 2005 at 8:58 pm [Reply]

    Dingo. Black beans, lots of black beans.

34. LouieLouie
    August 29th, 2005 at 9:25 pm [Reply]

    Regarding the new Simpson’s DVD box , the show has relented and is issuing a regular box, but not without getting in a few digs at the complainers. The site asks people to select their reason for wanting the new box. Choices include “Anal retentive (box must be identical),” “Lonely (will pretend box is new best friend),” and “Just like free stuff.”
    http://www.simpsonsbox.com/

35. Mibbitmaker
    August 29th, 2005 at 10:17 pm [Reply]

    I haven’t been following this Simpsons controversy, but, wow, that’s pretty gutsy for people from a show that’s long past its prime.

    re: this gun thing… I predict Therese will go on a shooting spree, whiping out most of the FBOFW cast, except for, you guessed it: Howard Erk! His response: “I love a girl who murders an entire family, and all their friends and pets!” Oddly enough, we won’t see the attrocities we expect from Howie, since she kills him shortly after; no, we get a few weeks offering no judgement on her actions, since all the victims (save Howie) are considered rotten jerks in the strip. Therese goes on to live a happy life (for one thing, nobody in Blondie invites her to the party), until, one day, a giant bolder from a Road Runner cartoon falls on her, crushing her to death. The end.
    – This has been another “Mr. Mike’s Least Loved Bedtime Tales”

    (Jeez, talk about something going long past its prime!)

36. cjcasa
    August 29th, 2005 at 10:22 pm [Reply]

    RE #30 Wow, they put those in there? The “emcumber” is the best part of the cucumber!!

37. Matt Estes
    August 29th, 2005 at 10:45 pm [Reply]

    #19 and #21, yes, Batman was totally a newspaper comic strip at one time. I think it only ran on Sundays, because it was always in color and took up almost a full page, a la Prince Valiant. I have no idea if they ever showed his parents getting gunned down like dogs in it, though.

38. Lee
    August 29th, 2005 at 10:58 pm [Reply]

    I know that in the wake of the release of the first Tim Burton film, Batman reappeared in a daily strip. I don’t remember keeping up with it for very long, though.

39. This guy
    August 29th, 2005 at 11:26 pm [Reply]

    To poster #24 who said the first comic shooting was in a strip called “Love is”… Can you provide any link or information about that strip? I’ve been searching Google for info about it and haven’t come up with anything.

40. bw24
    August 30th, 2005 at 12:35 am [Reply]

    Well the reson I’m looking for the very first comic strip that one was shot to death. Is for radio station points and very board.

41. Ron
    August 30th, 2005 at 1:16 am [Reply]

    Just so you know, in the absence of weights, I am employing isometrics.

42. Occam
    August 30th, 2005 at 1:29 am [Reply]

    #39: I believe #24 was engaging in a bit of leg-pulling. “Love Is …” is such a nauseatingly sweet bit of dross it’ll have you rushing for your insulin.

    However, if that doesn’t discourage you, go to
    http://www.comicspage.com/loveis/loveis.html and you’ll see what I mean.

43. J.Po
    August 30th, 2005 at 7:30 am [Reply]

    Someone posted this on the other site…a wonderful take-off on the “Love Is” drivel.

    http://theendofhumor.blogspot.com/

44. J.Po
    August 30th, 2005 at 7:30 am [Reply]

    sorry, can’t remember how to make links here…

45. Sourbelly
    August 30th, 2005 at 8:42 am [Reply]

    #39: I don’t have any solid proof that “Love Is” depicted the first-ever comics shooting murder (through the pimp’s throat, as I recall), but keep looking. It’s out there.

46. Everyone's forgotten the obvious!
    August 30th, 2005 at 12:44 pm [Reply]

    Pluggers plug ‘em.

47. Commenter
    August 30th, 2005 at 1:40 pm [Reply]

    Dick Tracy, which didn’t start until 1931, seems awfully late for the first death by inadvisably stopping a bullet. After all, the comic strip dates back to the 19th century. There were shooting deaths in both Tarzan and Buck Rogers, both of which date from 1929 (though I can’t specifically confirm whether there were any shootings before 1931), and there may have been in Wash Tubbs (began 1924) or Thimble Theatre (later Popeye the Sailorman) (began 1919). However, the earliest shooting death I can recall is in Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend, which ran from 1904 to about 1913. Admittedly, this was in a dream, so maybe it doesn’t count.

48. Islamorada Girl
    August 30th, 2005 at 7:39 pm [Reply]

    Well, there’s always Little Nemo and The Yellow Kid. One of them aced William Randolph Hearst with a Charter Arms .22, but missed and grazed Marion Davies.

49. This guy
    August 30th, 2005 at 11:03 pm [Reply]

    My leg has been pulled. I had never seen “Love is…” before, and had no idea what it was. Now that I know, I wish I could still not know.

50. Ryan
    April 9th, 2009 at 6:35 pm [Reply]

    But certainly, Love Is must be in the running for First Comic that Caused a Reader’s Death.

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