Immature sniggering Monday
Shoe, 11/23/09
It is not often that I offer unironic congratulations to the writers of any comic, let alone to those of Shoe, but: Unironic congratulations, writers of Shoe, for slipping what seems to me to be a fairly transparent premature ejaculation joke past the censors at Cassatt and Brookins, Inc. I guess you could just bat your eyes innocently and say, “Oh, no, that’s just the length of their relationship!” but, uh, yeah. And the joke would have maybe worked better if she had said “six and a half feet,” though would anyone actually say that in idiomatic English? Also: six and half foot tall prematurely ejaculating bird, yeesh. But still, a comics coup!
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, 11/23/09
Speaking of coups, I’m pretty unsettled by the sheer quantity of ammunition that Snuffy is stockpiling in his rickety rural shack. Apparently he’s tired of just killing muskrat for stew and firing warning shots over the head of the occasional revenuer, and has decided to launch a full-on armed assault on Sheriff Tait, who as near as I can tell is the only legally sanctioned authority figure resident in Hootin’ Holler. If Lukey’s head-shakin’, tongue-wagglin’ approval is any indication, he assumes he’ll have a privileged position in Snuffy’s New Order, though of course one can never really trust the word of an unstable military dictator.
Gil Thorp, 11/23/09
Tightly wound rage case Duncan Daley has been working hard at being good because of some inspirational blah blah his brother tried to hand him before he went to prison, but now that his brother is starting prison fights, Duncan has decided that being good is for suckers. His disconcerting facial expression in panel three — the tight little smile, the faraway eyes — promises that he’s going “celebrate” with grim, fanatical intensity, possibly leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.
Crock, 11/23/09
OH OH WAIT EXCEPT WE LIVE IN THE SAHARA FUCKING DESERT
Dingo
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:21 am
Josh, you expect logic in Crock?
Amateur
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 am
MW: “MEIN FUHRER, I CAN WALK!”
J.D. Hammond
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
You’ve heard what they say about duck penii, right?
Patrick
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:28 am
Six and a half minutes was the shortest? Bird-lady should count her blessings…or I should date a better quality of man.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:29 am
Let’s all take a moment to remember Max Mouse, who died valiantly trying to vindicate his flawed “napkins and marbles flotation device” theory.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:31 am
Oh, and MC: If you’re going to give us that angle, couldn’t you have contrived a reason to put her in front and him in the background? My morning could have been significantly brightened, but was instead rendered corrupt by the unwanted presence of pudgy platypus midriff.
MolyBendum
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:34 am
Crock – Why bother maintaining desert continuity when they don’t even bother putting punchlines in the comic strip? Fuck it. Tomorrow it’ll be the Commandant and Figowitz on Mars with pterodactyls flying overhead as one says “Say, the air is fine here” and the other replies “Well it sure beats swimming the English Channel”.
junk science
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:42 am
Are Roz and the other female bird on a date? That’s a classic “let me know you’re normal” first date question.
ArtisticPlatypus
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am
I’m not really into football (I’m a european, an thus my only pastimes are to have an evil accent and fight secret agents), so excuse me for not knowing all of the rules. Anyway, in panel two of Gil Thorp it looks like the player is about to toss the football in the groin of the referee, and the referee doesn’t appear to be inclined to prevent it. Is this some sort of bizarre ritual in american football? Should I start watching the game regularly?
MolyBendum
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:48 am
Snuffy Smith – I wonder if the residents of Hootin’ Holler are attacked and beaten by those who live outside the Holler should they dare venture out. Stuff is either at the Gen’ral Store or it doesn’t exist. It’s like The Village, except M. Night Shyamalan handed directorial duties over to John Boorman.
commodorejohn
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:52 am
I will not gratuitously repost…I will not gratuitously repost…I will not gratuitously repost…
Oh, and more information about six and half foot tall prematurely ejaculating birds can be found on the Internet.
Artist formerly known as Ben
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:55 am
11/23
FW: Lacking any actual jokes today, I’m hoping that Becky launches into an abusive peptalk along the lines of, “You can’t close the leads, you can’t close shit, you ARE shit, hit the bricks pal!” The thing is that in the Funkyverse, Glengary Glen Ross actually is the height of holiday cheer.
A3G: Of course you can still turn heads. What man could pass up Carol Channing?
MT: He’s going to rehash the entire back-story? They’ll be putting calcium supplements in Sassy’s food by the time he’s done.
MW: In the last panel it looks like Scott’s rehab has left him with the proportions of a baby. A muscular baby with a blond Easter Island head. No wonder the doctor is cringing away.
Luann: TJ just wants the best seat in case Toni and Nancy DeG start making out. Ever the optimist.
S4th: Three guesses which parent Ted takes after. HInt: it’s not his dad.
WofI: The enemy is Irwin the troll from Broom Hilda? The Great Legacy Strip War must be heating up.
RMMD: Okay, Tim is it? Yeah, we’ve found out that Mark Trail is extending his contract, so we’re suspending auditions for now. But you showed us some really good stuff, and we think you’ll go far in the PG-rated vigilante business.
Lockhorns: Tie dye is dead. Now we know what killed it.
Ziggy: Oh God. Someone has already made an obscene photoshop of this one, haven’t they. Tom, you really need to not use words like “blowfish.”
Shoe: Hey lady, sometimes six and a half minutes is all a guy can manage. Take it as a compliment.
Artist formerly known as Ben
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
y113 True Fable
That would be the funniest. It would lead to the shortest divorce case in Bangalla history. Why should Diana bother to take Kit for everything he’s got? The only thing he has is a king-size Wyatt Earp complex, and he can keep it.
UncleJeff
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
GT: I have to admire the modesty of Rubin & Whigham in their storylines about the perpetual mediocrity of the Fightin’ Mudlarks sports teams. Check out ESPN.com’s “Tuesday Morning Quarterback” for his very funny recounting of the “Friday Night Lights” TV show with its preposterous game endings…teams going to the Texas playoffs having played fewer games than state rules…boys with absolutely no experience playing football suddenly becoming savant-like field generals.
ArtisticPlatypus: I see you have a game over in Europe where regularly men line up in front of a goal with their hands over their groins. I guess the object is for the guy kicking the ball to hit one of the opponents in the testicles. I approve.
Rydia
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Hmm. It looks like Roz took the joke the same way, judging from the expression on her face.
Artist formerly known as Ben
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:03 pm
As far as Crock goes, the bite of winter and sudden snowstorm are nonsensical in themselves. So are the cacti, if you know anything about plant distribution. But at least now Maggot and Grossie’s kid (NOT LOOKING UP HIS NAME LIFE IS TOO SHORT) isn’t in danger of perishing from parka-induced heat stroke.
Chyron HR
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:04 pm
Apartment 3-G – “He almost blushed when I kissed him! I’m glad I didn’t get that H1N1 shot.”
Between Friends – “Ha ha, silly Twitterfacebloggers, nobody cares about the minutiae of your lives. Now check it out, the blonde lady’s daughter doesn’t want to eat her peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Doesn’t that deserve to be published in newspapers nationwide?”
City on the Edge of Forever – “Well, what about this $700 charge to LegalOffshorePharmacy.biz?” “It costs a lot to keep me up, too.”
Funkerboo – “This week kicks off our band turkey sale. Good luck finding people who haven’t bought their turkeys yet three days before Thanksgiving.”
Herb & Jamaal – The 9 Chickweed Lane crossover is surprisingly subdued.
Marvin – “We’ve decided that this year we’re going to leave the cooking to people who probably don’t know how to cook. Won’t that make a wonderful Thanksgiving? I hear a one-armed woman is still selling turkeys.”
The Phantom – “Once whites owned blacks! Now it’s the other way around! What a funny old world!”
Dingo
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
One-Eyed Wolfdog: AHEM! I said, “AHEM!” to you. My day was made by witnessing a fleshy platypus midsection from that angle. Makes me wonder what a six pack of Old Milwaukee and a jar of olive oil could do. Then again, I believe Rex Morgan could be had for one cocktail olive.
TheDiva
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Cathy: I initially read that as “Mother always overdoses for the holidays.” Which is much funnier and perfectly believable within the context of this strip.
C’Shaft: I see it’s time for plot line #2 (of 4): “Crankshaft tries to grill something; flame-blackened hilarity ensues.”
Curtis: Do these cousins have, you know, names? Or did the dialogue get switched with Herb and Jamaal?
MW: “Why, your head bandages and inexplicable arm cast have vanished already! It’s a miracle!”
Calico
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Shoe would have been even funnier if she had said “Six and a half seconds.”
Re: Snuffy, I didn’t know he was one of them bible quotin’ survivalist militia type guys! Scary shit.
Steve S
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:15 pm
In Gil Thorp, my biggest concern is the rip in the universe that appears in panel 2. They even tried to paper over it with the narration box, but it’s back there, sucking the player and referee in.
Digger
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:16 pm
That bird-woman hooked up with Big Bird? Wow!
Muffaroo
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Crock – Apparently it snows some in the north, which isn’t where the strip takes place.
Dick – “It sort of happened, I guess. It sort of happened, I guess.”
Smirky Schadenfreude – It’s funny because it was the last panel and nobody was suffering any disease or fresh physical trauma!
Herb & – I like the “blah blah blah Ginger” version better.
Marmaduke’s looking for his balls. He should try the trash can behind the vet’s.
Non Seq – “Christ, what an asshole.”
Shoe – “So much for last night. Now, the night before last…”
Ziggy – “You want me to do what to the bubbles?”
commodorejohn
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Oh, what the hell. If AFKAB can do it…
A3G – “*sigh* Back to my miserable life?” That’s Tommie’s line!
BrS – “Quick! We’ve got to save the life of the woman who has at one point or another tried to murder every single one of us!”
Crankshaft – Since one of the running themes of this strip is that outdoor grilling = fiery gas explosion, and this has been the case pretty much since the dawn of time, I can only assume that Crankshaft is deliberately trying to kill his family. To which I can only say: bravo, sir. God be with you.
Crock – THEY. LIVE. IN. A. DESERT.
DT – What’s with the basketball?
FB – I have to say, I actually kind of like the art in Fred Basset today. However, when every other object in the scene has visible depth, it might be a good idea to not have the stereo be a two-dimensional cutout propped against the wall.
FW – “I’d do it myself, but, you know. One arm.”
Lockhorns – You know, I’m not the most fashion-conscious person in the world (and by that I mean “sometimes my shirt and pants go fairly well together,”) but…even I understand that tye-dye and other late ’60s fashions have come back, gone away again, and are probably due for another comeback in about a decade or so. Cripes, it’s not like I’ve even been paying attention. Maybe this is a rerun from 1981?
Luann – Who the hell does assigned seating?
MT – Get ready for Mark’s head to explode, when he is confronted with the prospect of morality that is not entirely black and white.
MW – What the…? What’s with the…was Fletcher Hanks the guest-artist for panel two?
MC – Whoa! Camera craziness! It’s nice to see some experimentation with the visual formula here.
NS – I’m not sure we really need another New Yorker, but anyway: NO SHIRT, NO SHOES, SERVICE!
PBS – Ah, don’t worry, Pastis. It probably won’t be a week before your article is declared “non-notable” and deleted to make room for individual Transformers episode summary pages.
Popeye – Remember, kids: asphyxiating someone in their own home is totally justifiable if they were releasing air pollutants! Did Popeye join the ELF or something?
RMMD – Remember, kids: murdering punks is only bad because the police might catch you!
SF – Oh God yes.
SFx – Huh, I was going to say “that big open tub on the deck, which is more or less boat-like.” Anyway: “IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!” “SO DO YOU!”
Edison Lee – Oh, peachy. Steve Jobs will produce a car that looks like a million bucks, runs like 750 grand, has a user interface that remains mostly the same through every iteration except for a different stupid gimmick, and uses entirely different parts and fuel than any other motor vehicle in the country, but at least he’ll make one hell of a sales pitch.
THERE! BASK IN MY SCINTILLATING WIT!
Comcis Fan
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:22 pm
BB: The helicopter interrupts Sarge’s clumsy attempt to have a Brokeback moment with Beetle.
S4th: And Ted has a problem with Sally’s mom?
Edge City: Len and Abby stumble to come up with good cover stories for the suspiciously high charges on their credit card bill. Abby has no idea that Len’s hardware store carries a selection of fine pine-scented cologne and tool-belt lingerie.
Comcis Fan
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Non Sequitur: Someone should have fun with this. The meat cleaver is a bit unsettling and I’m just thinking of sophomoric wiener jokes.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Scintillation(wit) = (constant)*(1/10)^(number of times posted)
Cranky
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Dolly Parton has said it costs a lot to look so cheap. In the case of Crock, it takes a lot of effort to show such lack of effort.
BigTed
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
At least Snuffy is keeping his ammo safely indoors. You don’t want to know what would happen if all that gunpowder came in contact with the giant fertilizer bin he calls an “outhouse.”
McManx
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
S Smith — The signs are all there… stockpile of ammo; the full length beards; requisite headscarves on the women folk… Holy Shit! Hootin’ Holler is a Taliban sleeper cell.
Crock — Today’s strip demonstrates that this comic is aptly named.
M Trail — Before we sit down for the rest of the story, has everyone forgotten that somewhere in the bushes is one pissed-off alligator?
M Worth — Either Scott’s head is swelling to horrific proportions, or the Mary Worth art department has lost its sense of perspective. Oh, but one would never accuse Mary Worth of having much perspective anyway…
ArtisticPlatypus
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
@UncleJeff
Yeah, but it’s harder than it looks. You see, the kicker has to hit the groins of everyone who lined up, within a quite small time limit.
And while we’re talking about fine european traditions, did you know that once a year everyone in my country get really, really drunk and dance around a paganistic phallic symbol?
Proof: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer#Sweden
Red Greenback
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Shoe: Continued: “Oddly enough it was the same guy.”
BG&SS: I read this as Lukey delivering his set-up line to the tune of Midnight Rambler.
GT(E): “And now it’s time to furiously celebrate.”
Crock: is on crack. Nothing new here.
queek
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
baby otters: http://dailysquee.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/129029585715232443.jpg
for those needing a dose of kewt.
bourbon babe, unbuckled
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
4 Patrick: Geez, no kidding. Given 6 1/2 minutes, I would have had time to finish my grocery lists. As it was, I never got much past “apples…. milk…..”
33 queek: Yay for otter cuteness!
Old Goat
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
23: check out http://www.morocco.com/blog/snow-skiing-in-morocco
Roto13
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
The final Crock strip will reveal that they´ve actually been in a really big sandbox in Wisconsin the whole time. Except Crock is never going to end.
odinthor
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
DtM. — It’s not every day that Dennis the Menace will remind me of Dr. Samuel Johnson: “Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.”
H&L. — Ha ha! It’s funny because people prefer less expense to more expense!
MW. — “You talkin’ motivation, dude: the better my leg has healed, the faster I can run away from that crazy chick!”
RMMD. — Well, Tim, let’s try the party test here. If I were having a party, would I rather invite you or Cue? Hmmm, all I can say is, “Hey, Cue—you prefer Rocky Road or Neapolitan?”
Love Is . . . — . . . A lot like getting a splinter in your butt. It feels good when someone helps you with it, but it leaves a blemish afterwards.
Josh
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:07 pm
#6 OEW/#18 Dingo — I myself was given pause by today’s MC by contemplating why exactly a mammal that hatched from an egg would have a belly button. This almost made it into today’s post, before I sheepishly started thinking about the whole “oh, and he walks upright and has thumbs and clothes and a job” thing. Not that it’s stopped me from whinging about the breasts on the “sexy” lady birds in Shoe…
Josh
bman
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Crock and company are imagining themselves in a winter wonderland to take their minds off their endless hellhole of a life. “Sir, another guard died of heat stroke yesterday.” “GOSH IT SURE IS ANNOYING TO SHOVEL ALL THIS SNOW, AMIRITE?”
AndyL
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I think Snuffy Smith is trying to be topical. Nearly twelve months ago it was in the news that many rural locations really were facing ammo shortages as hillbillies started hoarding it.
Hootin’ Holler is probably just now receiving word that those big city folk have sent an uppity negro to Wash’n'ton who’s going to take away their guns.
DamnCat
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Hello! How do you think he got the name “Snuffy”?
Uncle Lumpy
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:24 pm
WikiAnswers says that only mamels have the belly buttons. So let’s call this one “unanswered.”
Also: any day we see Snuffy’s teeth is a good day.
Carlo
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
@ 9 Artistic Platypus: Groin spiking is worth two points in American football. Unfortunately, it has fallen out of fashion (along with GT’s wing T offense) since the 1950s.
PBS:Did anyone else look up Stephen Pastis Wikipedia entry, only to be disappointed that the stated facts were NOT in his bio?
UncleJeff
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:28 pm
31 ArtisticPlatypus: I hope the scoreboard uses the “pinball” sound effect.
30 McManx: Snuffy bin Laden?
33 queek: awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
JustAGuyGuy
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Doesn’t seem like a stretch to me as to why Snuffy would have so much ammo. What other explanation is better than “He chases off any and all who bring forth possible technological progress with a shotgun” for why Hootin’ Holler is the way it is?
AndyL
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
comment on today’s Family Circus : That is not how doors work!
Carly
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Wait, people in the Crock world have discovered electricity? And managed to include it in their castles/forts/whatever?
ladadog
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Phantom: Heloise & Abelard don’t look grown up, in fact, they look like they’ve shrunk in size and age.
And, is Kit Walker not eating? It now seems his face really resembles the Skull Cave. Either that, or, in his grief, he forgot to put in his teeth.
PBS: How bad is it that I actually went to Stephan Pastis’ Wikiipedia page and looked for Rat’s entries?
ladadog
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:41 pm
#43 Carlo, Oh, sorry, your post must have popped up whilst I was typing mine. Yes, I looked.
Écureuil Écumant
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
@y73 bats :[ says: “commodorejohn: *sniff*…memories of my first Mark Trail Sunday strip mashup. (Including a direct steal of the Doritos ‘n’ isopods photo from somewhere…)”
Hey bats :[ — you’re not alone in your observation that giant isopods love Doritos!
Carpeteria
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Wait, so six and a half minutes is considered premature now? Damn. It’s pretty bad when a comic strip about anthropomorphic birds and the corresponding blog entry about said strip make you feel inadequate as a man.
Poteet
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
SHOE — As a nature geek, I’ve seen birds doing it, especially the kestrels that use my nest boxes. They do the deed a lot, many times a day, but each encounter lasts only a few seconds and I’ve never heard the females scream reproaches at the males for quitting too early. I decided years ago that SHOE takes place on another planet. Here on earth, bird sex isn’t like our sex.
Poteet
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:02 pm
# 48 ladadog — It’s not bad at all. You just saved me the trouble. Are they there?
Darkefang
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:05 pm
A3G: Bobbie’s right. After six weeks leading up to the meat of this plot, it had better be good.
Crankshaft: Every morning before I get my newspaper, I anxiously anticipate that days comics page. Will Crankshaft be cranky today? Will he mispronounce a word? Will be be incompetent in some kind of yardwork? Or will he grill something incorrectly? No matter how many times I see these same jokes repeated, they in no way become old.
Curtis: Speaking of jokes that haven’t at all been run into the ground, I’m glad to see Curtis’ cousins back this Thanksgiving? What? These aren’t the same ones who eat everything and leave Curtis nothing? That’s disappointing.
DT: Well, Barb Els confessed to shooting the acrobat and Mr. Pops was holding everyone at gunpoint, but does Dick have any proof whatsoever about the Ringmaster blackmailing everyone? Oh, right. This is Dick Tracy. Forget I said anything.
Phantom: Did anyone bother to look for Diana before assuming she died? For all they know, she’s unconscious in a hospital somewhere.
Uncle Lumpy
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Shoe warrants a return to Woody Allen’s question from Annie Hall — do we really need those eggs so very badly?
Joe Blevins
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
GT: I like how the actual gameplay in Gil Thorp is reduced to one out-of-context moment in which (I think) a Milford player has pinned an opposing team member to the ground and is threatening to beat him senselsess with a football (or football-shaped bludgeon) as the horror-stricken referee throws up his arms in surrender. This is how football is played, right? My only knowledge of the game comes through this comic strip, so I may have missed pretty much all of the sport’s finer points.
Dragon of Life
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:22 pm
First reaction to today’s post: “Shoe wins the just-not-trying-any-more award.”
Second reaction: “Wait, I meant Crock.”
Third reaction: “….eh.”
Master Mahan
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I assume in tomorrow’s Shoe these two will complain about male birds not having external genitalia.
I’ve always gotten the impression Snuffy Smith aims for it to be Pogo, but today it seems to have have ended up as Ruby Ridge.
Jeffsterr
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:25 pm
RE: Sunday’s MW: Leonard Cohen a.k.a. the Godfather of Gloom, he’s being quoted in the wrong strip, He belongs in FW, of course.
yellojkt
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Does anybody else notice a similarity between today’s 9 Chickweed Lane and a certain Kurt Vonnegut novel? I do.
Poteet
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
# 52 — I should clarify that “many” is by human standards. Kestrels mate up to fifteen times a day over a period of up to six weeks. I salute the observers who provided that information to science. Though watching kestrels is no chore — unlike the birds in SHOE, they are graceful, beautiful, and anatomically logical.
ladadog
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:32 pm
#53: Poteet: Nope, no Pastis facts penned by Rat.
Poteet
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
# 62 ladadog — Thank you. And may I say again that I do like your name.
Gal Friday
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
GT: Time for the Milford Sacrificial Bonfire!
cj
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Crock:
In a world where eldritch head-things are considered women, is it any surprise that it snows in a sun-drenched desert?
Snuffy:
Establishing an iron-fisted regime in northern Appalachia will have about the same effect as someone declaring themselves the Sovereign of Custodia – blank indifference.
Carbunicle
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Crock is a caricature of Brian Donlevy (Purposefully? Who knows?) But who might Poulet be? Or is it the other officer? In any case, its continued syndication is baffling.
Carbunicle
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 pm
So the oldest crazy woman in 9CL is actually Eva Braun? You’d think I’d be more surprised.
dyslexic dog
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:51 pm
#46 AndyL –
Not today, but back in 1972, that’s how doors worked.
Citric
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
MW: “No, your recovery speed is remarkable because you’re in Mary Worth. Usually it takes three weeks to have a simple conversation.”
neographite
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:54 pm
OH GOD NO!!! On 11/20 we hear that Ziggy is about to participate in some “queasy-making sex act” and today we find out what it is. The horror. Take my eyes, please.
ladadog
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
#63 Poteet, why, thank you!
Phantom: In the meantime, I’ve been pondering the fate of Diana. Yes, too much time on my hands, and I should be cleaning the house in advance of my Thanksgiving guests, but, procrastination, thy name is ladadog.
Here’s how I see it. During the bombing, Chatu had his henchmen whisk Diana away. Of course, she will have lost her memory. The evildoers will convince her that she is a Master Criminal and that The Phantom is her sworn enemy. Then she will launch months of a one-woman crime spree, commandeering the Skull Cave for her own nefarious use, and striking fear in the hearts of the Bandar people (or is it the Bengallese?).
Chatu escapes from prison to meet up with his protege. But, it will not be long before the student becomes the teacher. Diana’s contempt for Chatu will build until she imprisons him in some sort of jungle dungeon, where she uses him for on demand booty calls, and to also, taunt him.
At one point, The Phantom – who has been tracking the fearsome Master Criminal – will meet up with her.
That’s all I’ve got so far, I was envisioning a reunion with her children that would shock her into regaining her memory, but, I think, after seeing them she’d be inclined to toss them in the jungle dungeon with Chatu.
Either that, or she’s really dead.
bats :[
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:18 pm
33. queek: truly exsqueeeesite!
42. Uncle Lumpy: platypus and echidnas are mammals; they just happen to be monotremes. I suspect there might be an abdominal scar where the developing-in-egg fetus was once attached to the yolk sac.
I don’t know too much about non-North American mammals (that was the focus of my college mammalogy class) — once we’d committed the 26 Orders to memory (that took care of the monotremes and marsupials), we focused on the 110 N.A. genera (and about a million of those were $#&**% itty-bitty rodents!).
Carbunicle
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
@46 That is not how doors work but it is how melonheads do.
Jym the Wildlife Man
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
=v= FW: Backtracking a bit, remember how Wally Winkerbean was on the brink of something morbid, involving two six-packs and a handgun? And the only thing he had to look forward to was a Cleveland Browns game? Well, the Brown lost to Josh’s home team, 16-Zip.
=22= Shoe (Digger): I had the same thought. I can’t imagine Big Bird getting hot ‘n’ heavy, though if he did, 6.5 seconds sounds about right.
teddytoad
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Kudos to Gil Thorp’s narration box for pointing out that Milford wins the same way Milford loses: by Gil being wrong.
Jym the Wildlife Man
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
=30= MW (McManx): It would seem that his miraculous healing required grafts and transplants from his arm.
=60= 9CWL (yellojkt): Bingo!
=70= Ziggy (neographite): Paging Troy McClure …
White Rabbit
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Shoe: The six and a half minute time interval is obviously chosen as a reference to Russ Meyer’s movie “The Seven Minutes”. According to the movie, seven minutes is the average time for the human female to get it over with.
I’m surprised I have to explain this stuff.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Jumble: “Arse meat”? What the hell is this about?
Larry McAwful
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
AndyL–Yep, I’ve heard that, too. And I’ve heard the same dire warning from the angry hillbillies in my life. They mention it in a vaguely menacing way: “So, you hear there’s an ammo shortage lately? I don’t know if it means nothing, but it sure is inneresting, isn’t it?” Do they mean to suggest a call to arms? Or just to express solidarity over their threatened guns that no one is talking about taking away from them? Snuffy knows.
Laocoon
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Is Dennis the Menace about today’s Garfield? Because at least for me, it easily applies.
Calico
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I am so waiting for the day when Karen Moy quotes Lemmy from Motorhead in Mary Worth.
Calico
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
#78 – Could be about Cathy’s AAACK! or Elly Patterson’s asses. I hope not, though.
Cliff Arroyo
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 pm
“I am so waiting for the day when Karen Moy quotes Lemmy from Motorhead in Mary Worth.”
I’m waiting for her to quote John Doe and Exene Cervenka:
“If it isn’t men it’s death”
“adultery makes you give things away,
it gets you confused,
then you have to change the sheets”
“freedom of choice in the USA,
drives everybody crazy”
or even a simple:
“Our whole fucking life is a wreck,
We’re desperate, get used to it,
it’s kiss or kill”
Aviatrix
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:22 pm
@77 White Rabbit: Seven minutes? Only with serious battery-powered assistance. And some important reason not to go for seconds or thirds.
Crankenstank
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Oh Josh. Can’t you read Crock the way the English Departments at the finest universities teach it? Crock and company aren’t in the desert, they’re in HELL, and they circulate between the various rings based on whatever wretched level of karma they’ve sunk to. Like most dead people, they just don’t realize they’re dead. Today’s strip finds them descended into the 9th circle, where their previous crimes against nature pale compared to the crimes of ultimate betrayal.
Jumper
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:35 pm
YouTube demonstrates six and a half minutes is pretty good for a boy bird.
Joe the Toad
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Has anyone seen Dean Booth’s latest offering?
http://comicbooth.com/blogengine.net/
DamienBixlan
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Crock is, by definition, a hate crime. Against logic and every universal law.
AhClem
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Shoe – I think the lady bird’s short-duration friend was suffering from Rictal Dysfunction.
bats :[
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:46 pm
I’m glad Scott’s progress is coming along so well. From the looks of him in Panel 2, it seems he’s contemplating a career change, to that of a “muffler man”. I don’t know what his exact job will be, but I’m sure something like that will really class up old Santa Royale.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Next Sunday’s MW. Panel One: A beaming, rosy-cheeked Delilah, reclining at home as she talks on the phone.
Narration box:
(I realize that ‘beaming, rosy-cheeked’ is far more likely to be ’simpering, oddly beige’, but I strive to be idealistic.)
tb4000
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Snuffy: Ol’ Snuffy’s been givin that thar Glenn Beck a lissen, seems ta me. The revolution will not be televised, says Snuffy, only to continue on with asking what the fuck is a television.
White Rabbit
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
@84 Aviatrix: Yeah, that’s not the only thing in a Russ Meyer movie that bears little resemblance to actual life as we know it.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm
#89 – Sadly, suffered also by Luann’s TJ.
Black Drazon
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:01 pm
So wait, is the moral of this Gil Thorp storyline “Morals are for suckers who wouldn’t cling to them for five seconds when put in a real-life tough situation.” Who’s writing this comic, The Joker? Dammit all, now I’m going to have to actually read it.
Tracer Bullet
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Evidently, Scott is highly motivated to grip Adrian like a bowling ball.
AtomicDog
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Is Snuffy on the wagon? He hasn’t run any moonshine in a looooong time.
Lolsworth
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Dear whatever that bloody squiggle is meant to be guy who writes Crock:
When you yourself either can’t remember or are simply no longer interested enough in YOUR OWN COMIC’S BASIC PREMISE, then it’s time to pack it in. You can’t possibly be raking in the cash here. It’s Crock, for God’s sake. The only licenced Crock product I ever saw was “Brush Up Your French With Crock”, which hardly counts.
Carbunicle
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Moly asks, Moly gets. Apologies for the quality, no scanner here.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
#98 …which, ironically, included the phrase Il n’y a pas de neige dans le désert du Sahara.
Lolsworth
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:21 pm
#100: It might have done, actually. It was just regular Crock with the text translated, which actually made it seem as though the strip was funny until I learned French.
Old School Allie Cat
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Luann – I wonder what TJ’s silver pattern is. If I had to guess, I’d bet it’s Imperial Queen.
Of course, that’s also Margo Magee and Mary Worth’s pattern.
Baron Bizarre
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Wow, that brings back memories of how in high school French class, we used to translate old “For Better or For Worse” strips. And I’ve been out of high school 28 years – has that strip really been around that long? Damn.
Niall
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:30 pm
6. One-eyed wolfdog: It certainly was a different angle… I don’t think the angle on Ashley would have done much. Maureen.. yeah. But hey, Dingo liked it, so it can’t be all bad. :)
27. One-eyed wolfdog: by that formula, I’m damned funny. The formula therefore is wrong.
33. queek: squeeee! indeed.
34 bourbon babe: May your next time be such that any groceries never even enter your mind! (maybe bananas.. or cucumbers.. english or american, your choice… but not sausages. especially in a hallway.)
51 Carpeteria: there could be worse, there could be people who can’t even remember how long they last because it happens so infrequently…
68. dyslexic dog: that photo keeps warping my sense of perspective somehow. If I stare at it, it starts… moving…
99 Carbunicle: Bravo!! Except that it can’t be Crock, because the figures are recogniseably human!
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
#104 – the constant on the righthand side is determined by the scintillation of the wit upon first posting. Each subsequent repetition diminishes it by a factor of 10. If there was none to begin with, this has no effect. But you do not fall into that category. You always scintillate detectably.
Poteet
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
# 33 queek — kawaii!
CROCK — I see a role for CROCK. It would be in one of those finders-of-insane-criminals primetime shows. The perp shuts his victims in isolation chambers, and their only communication with the outside world, except for having food and water shoved in silence through slits in the doors, is to be given one CROCK strip per day, also pushed through the door. Against their wills, the victims are forced to contemplate the strips until they go crazy.
Yeah, I deserve to have nightmares for that, and I’m sure I will.
gnemec
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Are those Nike logos on Snuffy’s ammo boxes?
Calico
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
#83 – Hell Yeah!
X!
DavidMac
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:14 pm
GIL THORP: What’s a lineman doing with the football in panel 2? It doesn’t appear he’s in the end zone, so did he recover a fumble (no, the ref is signaling a touchdown, PAT or field goal). Maybe he’s going to Crock’s desert and help shovel snow and the ref is simply throwing his arms up in exasperation.
Li’l Bunnë FooFoo
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:31 pm
AndyL@40 – Snuffy Smith got topical? Isn’t that one of the signs of the apocalypse?
gnome de blog
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
109 DavidMac: 80-89 are ends. Like Toni Daytona, he’s an eligible receiver.
mr 12 oz can
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:55 pm
i like how moy started out todays strip by saying weeks later but you know tomm strip will be back to that vapid phone call . oh can anybody tell me what bob is sitting on in todays mark trail or is he taking a dump so rusty will stop staring at him
Joshua
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:04 pm
#103 Baron Bizarre: At least FBOFW was translatable back then (the strip debuted in 1979). During the later years of the strip, the strip became so reliant on puns that I don’t know how the foreign translations managed to work.
Carbunicle
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:07 pm
@112 I don’t think that would work on Rusty.
cheech wizard
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:08 pm
43/Carlo: PBS:Did anyone else look up Stephen Pastis Wikipedia entry, only to be disappointed that the stated facts were NOT in his bio?
They are now.
Red Greenback
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
It looks like Ol’ Lukey’s a-fixin’ to engage in some furious chicken-chokin’ at the sight of all that bodacious ammo.
Mr. O'Malley
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Translating puns:
I’ve said this before, but not for a while. I have a Life in Hell collection in Finnish. One of the original cartoons is little Bongo mangling the Pledge of Allegiance with schoolboy puns. I have it in Finnish, but what in the world can it be?
Does anyone speak Finnish?
Uncle Lumpy
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:32 pm
#117 Mr. O’Malley –
Puns and wordplay require a gifted translator, but aren’t insurmountable obstacles — here’s Frank L. Warrin’s 1931 French translation of Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky:
Le Jaseroque
Frank L. Warrin
Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux
Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave.
Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux
Et le mômerade horsgrave.
«Garde-toi du Jaseroque, mon fils!
La gueule qui mord; la griffe qui prend!
Garde-toi de l’oiseau Jube, évite
Le frumieux Band-à-prend!»
Son glaive vorpal en main il va-
T-à la recherche du fauve manscant;
Puis arrivé à l’arbre Té-Té,
Il y reste, réfléchissant.
Pendant qu’il pense, tout uffusé,
Le Jaseroque, à l’oeil flambant,
Vient siblant par le bois tullegeais,
Et burbule en venant.
Un deux, un deux, par le milieu,
Le glaive vorpal fait pat-à-pan!
La bête défaite, avec sa tête,
Il rentre gallomphant.
«As-tu tué le Jaseroque?
Viens à mon coeur, fils rayonnais!
Ô Jour frabbejeais! Calleau! Callai!»
Il cortule dans sa joie.
Il brilgue: les tôves lubricilleux
Se gyrent en vrillant dans le guave.
Enmîmés sont les gougebosqueux
Et le mômerade horsgrave.
bats :[
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:38 pm
99. Carbunicle: now you’re done it. Look for a letter early next week, inviting you to become the replacement artist for Crock whenever the current one expires.
Poteet
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:42 pm
# 117 Mr. O’Malley & # 118 Uncle Lumpy — Wow. Thank you for making me feel lucky to be here.
Écureuil Écumant
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
@188 Uncle Lumpy, thanks for sharing that. “La bête défaite, avec sa tête” is particularly nicely turned when compared to the original.
Now that’s one I’d love to see in Finnish.
Buck Ripsnort
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
STILL pissed off at Jumble Guy for using KAPOK in Saturday’s puzzle. Just saw the answer today, got angry all over again; KAPOK is not a word.
And re: Ziggy– don’t blowfish– aka pufferfish– puff themselves up instead of blowing bubbles? I know, I’m analysing a panel about The Man W/ No Pants, but STILL. . . .
Lolsworth
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Translating puns: I point you to this workshop by the legendary, the brilliant Anthea Bell, without whom (in tandem with the equally great Derek Hockridge) Asterix wouldn’t have been at all funny to anyone but the French. You Americans didn’t use them. Vous êtes des fous!
Lou Shumaker
November 23rd, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Stop the presses: “Dinette Set” creator complains Internet killing her comic strip:
http://www.pjstar.com/entertainment/x511160397/On-the-Air-Internet-not-helping-cartoonists
Dean Booth
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:03 pm
#122, Buck: I’m with you. KAPOK is certainly not an “ordinary” word, per the instructions. There are four or five trick words like KAPOK that show up in the JUMBLE every now and then.
odinthor
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm
NYerCC. : “Lissen, Snakey, I’m just gonna ignore your comment ‘We’re halfway to a Cialis™ ad,’ OK?”
bats :[
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
I always thought Kapok was a perfectly legit word (albeit from the Malay language); then again, I process the kids’ books for our Friends of the Library sales, and I don’t know how many copies of “The Great Kapok Tree” I’ve priced over the past three years.
124. Lou S: sounds like sour journalistic grapes to me. All aspects of print news seem on the downturn (which is sorta kinda sad), and I think they have been for at least five years (and really, probably more) — the writing on the wall has been done via pixels on a screen for quite a while.
Whatshernuts should be happy that the Seattle paper has kept an online form of her strip. I don’t know when (if ever) the Arizona Daily Star ever had an online comic page (too expensive!, was its excuse). Maybe she should launch a covert operation to take out
Lynn JohnstonSparky.One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Dear Julie Larson: If the Internet kills The Dinette Set then the Internet will have achieved at least one indisputable act of good in the world. It will not make up for the existence of 4chan, but it is a start. Good day.
MrGuy
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Crock: Private Whateverhisname is clearly fantasizing about a slightly less miserable existence. Unfortunately, everything is still terribly drawn.
BG&SS: After violently commandeering the town, Snuffy will likely attack the Library of Congress in a misguided attempt to stifle Book-Larnin’.
Mr. O'Malley
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
122. Buck Ripsnort
I find “Kapok fiber is a silky, cotton-like substance that surrounds the seeds in the pods of the Ceiba tree, primarily found in Asia.”
Kapok was used as a filler for life jackets. See http://www.rathbonemuseum.com/GERMANY/GER2SumSuit/GERM2SumSuit.html, for example.
I’ve always thought that “kapok” was a legitimate English word based on these kind of usages.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I can read some Finnish but I’m not equipped to deal with sophisticated wordplay in that language. Hungarian has a good translation of Jabberwocky (more than one, but that one is the best known), but it is less impressive than Karinthy’s virtuoso translation of Winnie the Pooh, the joys of which I wish I could share more widely. And what can be said of Michael Kandel’s translations of Lem, besides – sheer genius.
kallista
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:28 pm
bourbon babe: Yeah, six-and-a-half minutes is pretty good if we’re just talking about keeping the wheels greased. What I object to are certain ex-husbands (not all) who regularly play for only three minutes, two minutes of which are oral treats only for them. Those men become ex-husbands fast. Which suits them.
Uncle Lumpy: I’m pretty sure Snuffy has teef not teeth, though I would have predicted toof.
vanya
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
It snowed once in the Sahara in recorded history, on Feb 18, 1979.
http://www.distant.ca/UselessFacts/fact.asp?ID=103
Lou Shumaker
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Amen, Bats. I read that strip a couple times (I went back after reading the article to refresh my memory), and oy was that life ill-spent.
She seems to have a worse grip on humor than “Crock.” She jams the panel with word humor that can’t be reproduced in a newspaper strip, and can’t seem to come up with a basic punchline.
Complaining she’s down to 50 papers? She should be ecstatic she found that many suckers to carry it!
commodorejohn
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
#124 Lou S – Yep, it’s those dastardly intertubes, all right. I’m sure it has nothing to do with either the fact that the newspaper industry is in the middle of strangling itself to death, or the fact that, you know, Dinette Set sucks.
Uncle Lumpy
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:01 pm
#132 kallista –
I know! But the post is titled It Came From The Hills, not It Came From T’Hills, so I went with it.
Lou Shumaker
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:04 pm
commodorejohn: well, if you want to get picky.
Meanwhile, Jughead seems to have a bag of holding in his suit to pull out “the grabber.” I wonder if that’s anything like “the shocker”?
mr 12 oz can
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
#132 sounds you have dated or married a couple wildlife writers
kallista
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:23 pm
mr 12 oz can: yeah, and they’re all frenzy!
Uncle Lumpy
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Oh, here’s a gem: Jabberwocky in all the European languages, including Finnish.
dyslexic dog
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
io kapoko
tu kapoki
lei/lui/Lei kapoke
noi kapokiamo
voi kapokete
loro kapokono
Past Participle = kapokto
Sheila Sternwell
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
#34 bourbon babe: If you weren’t even moving enough to jostle the pen and paper while making your list, I think being unbuckled is a very good thing.
#122 Mr Ripsnort: KAPOK is a sound effect, maybe. At the very least I’m going to print out yesterday’s Jumble and keep it in my Scrabble set. Haven’t had a good Scrabble argument since I played “WYVERN”.
One-eyed Wolfdog
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Kapok is also a perfectly good Hungarian word, now that you mention it. Mindent akarok, semmit sem kapok.
Filthy Assistant
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:54 pm
I like how the patented Google-Eyed Horror look in Shoe is also used for premature ejactulation.
Dji
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
#117, I know a good Finnish linguist. (No, I’m not trying to make the world’s most awkward cunnilingus pun. I actually know one.) If you scan it & post a link to it in this thread, I’ll ask him to take a look.
If that doesn’t work, I know a Finnish punk rock fan. That should do the trick.
If that doesn’t work, I’m fresh out of Finns.
dyslexic dog
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
#144 Félszem? farkaskutya–
Nem fogok vásárolni ezt a lemezt, akkor karcos.
dyslexic dog
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
#147
Thanks, Internets. The question mark is supposed to be a “u” with a tilde.
Yeesh.
bourbon babe, unbuckled
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
118 Uncle Lumpy: Oooh—one of my long-time favorite poems, and now I can love it in French, too! Thanks!
hukka
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
#117 Finn here if you want an attempt at translation. From what I can recall of the local translation of the comics it was very good quality.
Chance
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 pm
I nominate today’s Crock as the absolute worst thing ever created by a human being who got paid to create things people were supposed to enjoy.
And yes, I’m including that Marvin where he looks lecherously after a girl baby who has nice-smelling diaper rash cream.
Mibbitmaker
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Jabberwocky… in “MAD”
It’s crackers to slip
A rozzer the dropsy
in snide
Osszefogva potrzebie
Veeblefetzer ride
Frugies and Max Korn
Axolotl, halvah
Smurdley Sturdley
Melvin and a hoo-hah!
Arthur! Freen!
Queeg Ozgood Z’beard
potrzebie, potzrebie
Furshlugginerly weird
Furshlugginer!
Fershlugginer!
3-Man Squamish — HAH!
Farshimmelt and zorch
Mel Cowznofski? Nah.
Mickey Bitsko, Mel Haney
Alf E. Neuman schmuck!
Moxie, Fonebone
And, omigod, I’m stuck…
Okay, so it ain’t Jabberwocky! I just couldn’t resist. Ecch.
Mibbitmaker
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
#152: Only the “potrzebie”s were supposed to be boldened! Skip preview ONE furshlugginer time….!
bats :[
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
143. Sheila Sternwell: wyvern? You got dissed for wyvern?!? Gads.
Stij
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Crock: You know, I have a feeling that the fact they live in the Sahara desert and are complaining about snow is the joke. It’s a self-denial thing. “I love this time of year! It’s certainly not filled with scorching hot days that sap our strength and destroy our will to live! Nope!”.
…Nah, that’s too clever for Crock. The most likely explanation is that the tropical sweatshop workers that produce the strip don’t understand the concept of seasons.
Hank
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:41 pm
RE: Carbunicle, November 23rd, 2009 at 2:44 pm question about Crock. I’m ashamed to admit I know this (or anything about “Crock”), but I read years ago that Poulet is based on Peter Sellers. Minus the humor and talent, of course.
The Spectacular Spider-Brick
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Attention, all: After what seemed like years but for most of us felt like decades, Pibgorn begins a brand-new storyline today. This, then, is the perfect opportunity for those of you who have been on the fence about the strip to stop reading Pibgorn.
zerowolf
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Mary Worth: Several weeks later? WTF? I was looking forward to several months of plodding plot line centered around Mary visiting Scott every day.
zerowolf
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
#124 Sorry Julie, it’s not the internets fault that your work sucks.
zerowolf
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:06 pm
#156 Pigborn had a plot line?
Vince M
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Nov schmoz kapok?
Kapok is a perfectly good word – I use it as much as ‘copra’.
commodorejohn
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:24 pm
#156 The Spectacular Spider-Brick – Holy raptor Jesus, I started reading Pibgorn during that same goddamn plotline over two frickin’ years ago. By the time I said “fuck it” and stopped reading this February, I honestly didn’t expect it to ever end.
CanuckDownSouth
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 pm
#156-spider-brick.
It’s too much to hope for that the wall o’ glurge is supposed to be introducing a narrator whose foibles will be skewered, isn’t it? *sigh* run, run for the hills!
Jimmy Fingers
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:43 pm
I guess Lady Bird could have said “inches” instead of “minutes.” I bet THAT would have gotten a rise out of the various news organs.
mollificent
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:55 pm
#118 Uncle Lumpy: That. Is. AWESOME.
NoahSnark
November 24th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Today is the start of a very special story arc in Shoe: How to create a lesbian in six and a half minutes.
Poteet
November 24th, 2009 at 12:02 am
# 156 Spectacular — Thanks for reminding me that there really is one strip from which I managed to completely disentangle myself. I may still be reading certain strips against all the laws of self-preservation, sanity, and logic, but by golly, I haven’t read Pibgorn in many months. Yay.
Joe Blevins
November 24th, 2009 at 12:04 am
I can’t be the only one hoping Roz’s eyeball flies away of its own accord, forcing Roz to go blindly chasing after it. Well, maybe I am the only one. So what?
Carrie
November 24th, 2009 at 12:06 am
@60 yellowjkt: Oh god no. I don’t WANT Brooke McEldowney to start reading Vonnegut. The bastard has already ruined beautiful, beautiful film noir for me with that atrocious Pigporn comic. I don’t want him to get into Vonnegut too and start spewing some warped, semi-understood version of that back into his work.
Lou Shumaker
November 24th, 2009 at 12:10 am
There there, Carrie. Remember, as Kurt would say, “So it goes.”
Aviatrix
November 24th, 2009 at 12:16 am
@156 Spectacular Spider-Brick So you’re not saying it’s a good time for people who have always assumed everyone was mistyping “Pigborn” to start reading?
Aviatrix
November 24th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Disregard the above question. I read the prologue and all desire to know any more about it evaporated from my soul.
Niall
November 24th, 2009 at 12:34 am
145. Dji: while I know one song by one Finnish folk metal band… Tsurisas’ kick-ass version of Rasputin. (And my half-assed dancing to it. Half-assed because of the injury. Hopefully one day I can make a comparison with how I really wanted to dance to it…)
bats :[
November 24th, 2009 at 12:47 am
172. Niall: I watched your video (it never gets old). Then I watched chimpanzees Irish step-dancing. Then I watched a guy get sprayed by a tiger.
Gosh, I love You Tube!
commodorejohn
November 24th, 2009 at 12:50 am
#172 Niall – I saw Turisas in Minneapolis early this year (they were opening for DragonForce, of whom my brother is a big fan.) I was impressed. They have three things distinctly lacking in most metal: women, accordions, and violins (honestly , King Crimson conclusively proved that violins could rock the fuck out over thirty years ago; how come there are so few rock violinists?) Good stuff!
Poteet
November 24th, 2009 at 12:51 am
# 172 Niall — Since it’s late at night, I’ll go OT for a moment. A friend who visited Italy brought back some higher-class higher-cocoa chocolate than the grocery-store milk chocolate I usually eat, and I actually kind of liked the better stuff. Maybe I’m making progress. (The box says Perugina NERO, if that means anything.)
Toronto
November 24th, 2009 at 12:58 am
Kapok and Copra are the only things I remember from Grade 5 social studies class.
But kapok life vests were great. You *knew* you had one on.
Niall
November 24th, 2009 at 1:04 am
175. Poteet: Well, yes, quality does count… start with something that has an expiry date, and frankly, if it gets within six months of that date, it’s already doubtful; if it’s unopened, it’s good, but eat quickly. And really, you can go with the higher-class milk stuff too, it’s also much nicer. Darker depends on one’s tolerance for bitterness, really. Glad to hear you found you might like some, though! :)
174. Commodorejohn: Oh yes, Turisas (my apologies to the band for constantly misspelling them!) and Dragonforce are such a logical match… and yet they have oft knocked the socks off better than DF after them. Women can rock out and that’s been proven nearly as long as King Crimson did it for the violin. Accordions? WHY NOT! :) I’d love to see them, but my foot right now would probably snap off…
Niall
November 24th, 2009 at 1:05 am
176. Toronto: …all I want to do now is yell “COPRAAAAAAAAA!!” while wearing a tinfoil mask over my face.
Aviatrix
November 24th, 2009 at 1:07 am
@174 commodorejohn Because it takes actual skill and practice to play a violin, not just good hair and tattoos. By the time they have invested the time in learning to play the violin, it’s too late to hang out with the wrong crown and become a rock musician. They are doomed to become classical musicians. Or scientists.
Aviatrix
November 24th, 2009 at 1:13 am
@175 Poteet Chocolate is never OT. My new years resolution this year was to “eat no bad chocolate.” I did out pretty well until October when I ate my way through what probably amounted to several kilograms of Hallowe’en candy. Sigh. Packs of fun sized chocolate bars are to chocolate what modern Saturday Night Live sketches are to humour. You consume them because they are marketed as the real stuff but in the end they aren’t, and you wish you hadn’t.
True Fable
November 24th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Yeah, but Dinette Set is as unappealing as a cold clammy hand. Maybe Larson needs to learn to draw and come up with a punchline.
Nekrotzar
November 24th, 2009 at 2:19 am
It’s so obvious I don’t know why to took me so long to come up with it: the punch line of Shoe should read six and a half centimeters.
queek
November 24th, 2009 at 10:16 am
“lively” and “profound” are perhaps the last two words that I would have used to describe the unutterable banal “Dinette Set.” It’s not the Internet, Ms. Larson, its your strip. Pluggers does “Midwest humor” better, and don’t even get me started on the art. Along with “AAAKthy” and Argyle Suckitude, it was a strip that I wouldn’t read even when it WAS in our paper.
sully
November 24th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
The guy that draws ‘Shoe’ and ‘Pluggers’ has been canned from his job as an editorial cartoonist. Great. Now he has more time to work on a bad strip that died with its creator, and a plagiaristic Jeff Foxworthy rip-off. Lucky us.