Battle of the bulge
Mary Worth, 5/7/06
STIRLING VS. STIRLING! BATTLE ROYALE! WHO WILL BE THE WINNER? As near as I can tell, it will be whoever can point the most vigorously. Kelly got into an early lead in panel two, with a triumphant index finger nearly poking out of the frame, but Lou comes back strong in panel seven with a point so powerful it leaves motion-line streaks behind it at two different angles. The sheer rage of this emotional combat is in fact reflect by the motion lines everywhere — trailing Lou’s hands, radiating from Kel’s spoon, and smearing off of the sides of her eyes as even nature takes sides against her.
That’s a pretty nice rant Lou’s worked himself up into by the final panel. “And I can’t follow you where you want to go with this!” Jesus, man, she’s not planning on murdering schoolchildren and then selling their organs for crystal meth money; she just wants to take a walk once in a while. Chill!
In other news, I’m going to have to revisit something I said last month. I claimed that a recent Phantom that featured Mrs. Phantom changing in a moonlit mountain clearing was one of the most gratuitous moments in newspaper comics history. But I clearly didn’t know the meaning of the word gratuitous until today:
The Phantom, 5/7/06
“There’s something out there, Kit … I’d better expose my breasts to it!” But just in case you get so hot and bothered that you forget that you’re reading the Phantom, panel five reminds you: it may be the first instance of comics erotica to feature this strip’s trademark interrobang.
Justin
May 7th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Big bottom, big bottom, talk about mud flaps, my girl’s got ‘em. What’s wrong with a guy liking his woman to have a big ass?
Frankie Machine
May 7th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
I said it in a previous thread, and I’ll say it again.
Phantom=Gil Thorp.
Chet McCord, Wildlife Defender
May 7th, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Mrs Walkeer needs to bring June Gale Morgan along on one of these aventures.
Marc
May 7th, 2006 at 9:14 pm
Like I said previously: KELLY STIRLING IS A WOMAN HITLER IN PANEL 2.
You know she means business when motion lines are eminating off of her spoon!
I’d love to see Kelly get bitchslapped by Lou and having them get into an all out brawl, while Mary Worth is listening through the duct work (like usual). Then three weeks later she walks in to their dining room with blood splatters all over the walls. Electric pink blood.
PS: That lightening is F’n scary!
PPS: It appears the Moy + Giella 5 – 7 signature is neutral.
Islamorada Girl
May 7th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
I can’t wait for the fun when Mary discovers Paulie Walnuts is in WITSEC and living right down the hall from her. To no one’s surprise, he’s a wife beater.
Will Our Meddler serve Tony and Carm Alpo Casserole when they come to visit?
Matt
May 7th, 2006 at 9:55 pm
But if you’re going to use an interrobang, use a real goddamned interrobang: ‽
Though I can see how drawing booty and implied breasts might be more fun than obscure typography.
Oriole83
May 7th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
I see both the Stirlings felt the need to change their clothes before getting down to brass tacks– she was wearing lime green during the week-long dinner, but now is in a hideously unflattering mauve; he changed his khaki shirt for a feminine powder blue.
ApricotGargoyle
May 7th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
I know it’s not on topic, but I’d like a formal correction for 4/20’s Drabble. That object was, in fact, a wrench, not a branch. I would likeJosh to admit this.
Chet McCord, Wildlife Defender
May 7th, 2006 at 10:11 pm
We’ve all had to accept Josh for what he is, and he is clearly not a Home Depotâ„¢ kind of guy.
Ronin
May 7th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
1) That is far and away the most action-packed, exciting installment of Mary Worth I have ever seen.
2) I like how, on the rare occasions that the Phantom is without both mask and sunglasses, his face is still obscured from the reader’s view.
3) The Phantom’s wife is seriously hot.
Len
May 7th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Well, Sunday’s “B.C.” taught us more than we needed to know about the apteryx, let alone the platypus. All we were missing was a close-up of one of the animals, and this could have passed as a Sunday Mark Trail!
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/bc.asp?date=05072006
mooselet
May 7th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Now I’ve seen everything – comics pr0n!!
Bwaou-chicka-bwaou-bwaou… or however “adult film” music goes. I wouldn’t know. ;-)
Joe Griffin
May 7th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Well, if you ask me, there isn’t ENOUGH nudity in the Sunday funnies…and I’m old enough to remember Blondie and Fritzi Ritz sitting around in their lingerie!(and don’t get me started on Daisy Mae!)
AppleGirl
May 7th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
FBOFW: That kid putting stickers all over the house doesn’t look sick to me. Apwil lied to Lizbreath. Her emails are a diabolical scheme to mess up Lizbreath’s life: lies about sick nephews to lure her back into the pathetically flaccid arms of Anthony.
First she kills Farley, then she’s out to ruin Liz’s good times with the boys up north. I’m feeling that Apwil-hate all over again.
lilybdcsa
May 8th, 2006 at 12:15 am
MW — And now Lou will use emotional blackmail on Kelly. She’ll fall for it, of course.
PBS — Laugh out loud funny!
mentarman
May 8th, 2006 at 12:31 am
They’ll do it Everytime: This guy is so into television that he has a subscription to the industry periodical “TV NEWS.”
Weasel Boy
May 8th, 2006 at 12:34 am
#1 – Lovin’ the Spinal Tap reference, Justin!
Howland Owl
May 8th, 2006 at 2:52 am
I don’t get Monday’s B.C., but it still made me laugh anyway. Now that Easter’s over, Hart must be in a funnier mood.
MT: The kid knows too much — Grampa’s gonna hafta fit him with a pair of concrete boots.
Irina
May 8th, 2006 at 6:17 am
14. Robin’s sick, not Mewwidef.
And I’m waiting on the edge of my seat after seeing the final panel of sunday’s MW — for Kelly to start in on a new rant: “Don’t you see?!! You’re yellow on the RIGHT side!!!!”
Ianscot
May 8th, 2006 at 7:17 am
Lous stands no chance in any eventual fisticuffs resulting from this “Whose path is right?” ideological debate. Kelly would have footspeed on her side owing to Lou’s lack of glacially-paced neighborhood strolls, to start with — and she’s also able to Harness the Very Power of Lightning Itself! I’ve seldom seen anything as frightening as panel six of this strip, in which the mere act of her turning from the window is enough to rend the fabric of the very sky. Boom! Crack!
One of my favorite examples of the terminal illness of the comic genre is sketchy exposition like we see here. Artists so often just don’t bother to flesh out their back stories (ahem, forgive me Kels). So, we get “your subordinates in the office you used to manage,” because any specific details about that would have required work on the part of the author, whose mental faculties have been consumed by making sure the term “power walking” was included in every strip for about a month.
Ianscot
May 8th, 2006 at 7:28 am
18. The only explanation for that “Bruckheimer” reference would be that (the execrable) Jerry Bruckheimer must’ve had something to do with Jurassic Park, in which DNA sampling resulted in… Nope. Jerry Bruckheimer had nothing to do with that movie.
Let’s see… Ah, Bruckheimer has something to do with CSI, the procedural cop show on TV. Evidently the few grey cells Johnny Hart has left are devoted to lurid faux-true-crime TV shows. This revelation doesn’t surprise me much.
Bigfoot
May 8th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Justin’s comment is #1 & not just “first.” It’s applicable to both the Stirling don’t-lose-your-fleshy-bits argument and to the emergence of Mrs. Phantom from the hot spring. Nice double-catch!
Big bottoms drive me out of my mind. How could I leave this behind?
[Tech difficulties posting comments. Arrgh! I feel like I've lost my voice. At .... long .... last .... SAY ... IT!!!]
Concerned Citizen
May 8th, 2006 at 8:10 am
Oh, yeah, the bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin’…or so I have read.
From the looks of panel 3, Kelly should think twice before showing Don Corleone disrespect. Well, maybe Lou just has his cheeks stuffed with that appetizing yellow gruel that makes him look so godfatherly.
Benicillin
May 8th, 2006 at 8:39 am
My anaconda don’t want none unless it’s got big…ahhh, nevermind.
I am an ass-man though. Especially after boot camp. And on the final panel we get buttcrack, oh sweet buttcrack, beautiful, special, buttcrack emerging from the waters like Chuck Norris in that Vietnam movie where he has rats on his head, ohhh, but this is no grizzly mustachioed he-man, this is an angelic, nubile, pillowy buttcrack cleansed in the waters of a hot spring rising like a flaming Phoenix. Let me touch it, just once, just once, mister phantom man, share your concubine’s exposed and washed booty my masked friend.
Yes, I am an ass-man.
dlauthor
May 8th, 2006 at 8:46 am
Fuzzy: Satchel’s subtle smile speaks volumes. He’s not just being friendly; he recognizes an excellent opportunity.
Monty: Oh, we’re on the express train to derangement, all right. I really, really hope that Ladybugman goes completely off the rails.
Prickly: Like many young Republicans, the girl-shaped scribble is OK with the concept of military enlistment while we’re at war … unless it’s someone close to her, like the coyote-shaped scribble. Then you get the facial expression in Panel Two.
Mallard: You could also make the same joke about why Fox News calls itself “Fair and Balanced.” _You_ could, but Tinsley never would. And what’s with the random woman’s downright creepy zombie-eyes in the colorized version?
Spidey: SOLVE SOME CRIMES.
Inafunk
May 8th, 2006 at 8:48 am
gotta love Les’s comment in Monday’s FW.
“Sometimes” life stinks.
Boy, he is a sympathetic guy, ain’t he.
Yeah, life stinks. Your wife has a relapse and has to go back to the hospital. All those hours sitting there waiting. All that chemo. Losing her hair again. Not knowing what your fate is going to be.
But, on the other hand, I get to hit up the cute nurses. You know, she might just not pull through and I will be looking for someone to clean my house and stuff.
What a loving husband.
2quik2c
May 8th, 2006 at 9:29 am
My money is on Kelly, in the last panel she is already sporting the braveheart warpaint.
superdickery
May 8th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Pibgorn- As hot as Pibby is, I was much distracted by the fact that Oberon just doesn’t. seem. to. care. However, I’m sure many people appreciated the boob shot in the last panel….
mere cog in the machine
May 8th, 2006 at 9:45 am
I met her on Monday, it was my lucky Bun day, you know what I mean….I am going to have to use that “I can’t follow you where you want to go with this” line that next time my girlfriend asks me to help her do the dishes or take out the trash.
Zorba the Geek
May 8th, 2006 at 9:59 am
No, Lou, your actions haven’t been about “our” best interest, but only about your own wishes. Lou needs to stop being such a control freak (with anger management problems, yet), and Kelly needs to stop pusing Lou to exercise with her, and just get on with her own fitness plan, without Lou. Sheesh. Nobody can be pushed into dieting and exercise- they have to want to do it on their own. And, Kel, if Lou keeps trying to browbeat you into eating more and not exercising, leave the SOB. He’s a bully.
Benicillin
May 8th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Zorbie…you are talking directly to the cartoon characters…in fact, you’re yelling at them…it’s freaking me out.
Treadwell
May 8th, 2006 at 10:38 am
MW caption in the first panel: as gratuitious as they come. As soon as we read the first word balloon we can see there are heated words flyin’. Still, the “gotta make ‘em removable” first two panels do flow nicely with the rest of the strip while still being exisable.
What stiff poses on these characters. Looks like Kelly’s head has pivoted on an action figure neck seam in the fifth panel.
Phantom: yowza.
Chaz
May 8th, 2006 at 10:52 am
In MW panel four, she’s looking over her left shoulder.
In panel five, her head’s coming around from the right.
Appaerently her head has spun completely around ala Linda Blair.
She doesn’t need a fitness program, she needs an exorcist.
Mysterio
May 8th, 2006 at 10:58 am
#25-That’s not a random woman in MF, that’s Chantelle-Tinsley’s attempt at a sympathetic liberal character. She doesn’t appear very often, as Tinsley prefers tweedy, bow-tied straw men with names like “Limpley”.
Lyman Returns
May 8th, 2006 at 11:03 am
MW-the whole “subordinates in the office you used to manage” line has to be the most awkward bit of expository dialogue since FBOFW’s “Look, there’s Farley…THE DOG!” horrendousness.
Geez, there’s more finger-pointing in this installment of Mary Worth than a Harrison Ford movie! Congrats to Kelly who managed to hold her spoon at an angle that is not parallel to the floor.
Also, in Sunday’s Dilbert…future Wally materializes inside of the no-name coworker and the coworker dies with a big hole in his torso. Shouldn’t this have killed future Wally, too? Just wondering.
roydrink
May 8th, 2006 at 11:14 am
In this Phantom we get to see that Mrs. Walker* is hot, not just from the hot spring. However it destroys my theory how the next Phantom is decided upon (their skin turns purple). I’m still waiting to see Heloise become Phantom in the skin tight purple spandex…
* for the yadda that yaddas, but where did “Kit” come from?
Moss_Moses
May 8th, 2006 at 11:15 am
Yes, Lou likes plumpers. “The slacker the waistband the deeper the quicksand”, he often says. He’s having a ball on choleseterol. C’mon y’all, fat don’t matter at all. Kel’s got a shape that makes him drool. Lord knows, Lou’s just a fat girl’s fool.
Kelly will eventually be allowed to pursue her exercise program but only because of Mary Worth’s meddling and unsolicited advice.
dlauthor
May 8th, 2006 at 11:27 am
35: Presumably, time travel in the Dilbertverse causes the displacement of the matter that occupies the same space as the traveler when he appears. So somewhere out there (perhaps at the spot where Wally traveled from), a large chunk of torso and the backrest of an office chair suddenly appeared in midair out of nowhere, to land with a wet splat on the ground.
On that note, off to lunch!
King Folderol
May 8th, 2006 at 11:43 am
I like how no one noticed that Phantom used gratuitous cheesecake to distract us all from the left-wing, tree-hugging message in panels 3-4. Yeah, like your nature enclave is really going to disappear. Global warming’s a myth, you lefty losers!
Fox Trot – “Gas prices” is going to replace “technology” as the annoying unfunny comic strip du jour this summer.
FC – Well, you see Dolly, we old farts had these things we used to call libraries. We had to actually go outside into the world, enter another building, and use these things called books – you know, like you get at your school – to look up all we needed to know about Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears. Of course, back then we were more interested in Madonna and Tiffany, but you get the idea. Now excuse me while I go in the basement and try to pound out this old man smell all over my clothes, you miserable little runt.
FW – Yeah, Les, but this is one of those sometimes. So shut up.
BC – #21, thanks for the explanation of the Bruckheimer reference, though I would have prefered to think that Hart’s church somehow has a Book of Bruckheimer that we’re best not knowing about.
Justafoob
May 8th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I bet that widdle Robin is severly allergic to cigar smoke.
Mike is going to find out and go down and tear the cigars form Mr. Kelpfroths lips and tear him a new one for endangering his precious children.
Then he is going to keep on his rip snorting tear and go after Deanna’s mother for having the gall to bring STICKERS for Mewedeath. Doesn’t she know that they have no discipline and that the stickers are going to wind up everywhere?
mentarman
May 8th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Nah, it’s Munchausen by proxy..
Hogenmogen
May 8th, 2006 at 1:13 pm
I have a constant battle with my wife. She thinks the Foobs are the best strip out there, and won’t even waste her time with Dilbert. Yesterday, Sunday, we should have seen a clear winner. I thought Dilbert was the best in a long time. I don’t really know why other than that it was funny throughout. FBOFW, on the other hand was a non-joke. It didn’t even advance a story. I have two small children. Sometimes the house is a mess. If it’s not stickers, it’s blocks, plastic Easter eggs, various plastic alphabet letters, toy animals, puzzle pieces, Cheerios, socks, whatever. So, take your pick. If I accidentally step on a Duplo Lego piece, how much of a laugh would I get if I told my wife “Stop giving the kids toys. They’re everywhere. Damn kids.” Her argument is the FBOFW(usually worse) is just like real life. But real life, as noted in Funky Winkerbean, sometimes stinks.
Goober
May 8th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
MW: The Frau Hitler look in panel 2 is a direct result of crypto-Nazi Mary’s intervention. Panel 3 confuses me – did Lou make his employees eat fatty foods? The lightning and thunder are a direct rebuke of Kelly by God himself, causing her head to swivel 270 degrees. Even though Lou totally made up the rain reports, God backed Lou because Mary is one of Satan’s henchpeople. Poor Lou still thinks of himself and Kelly as a couple, and is just now realizing that Mary has already got Kelly to start thinking of herself as a separate person (a really fat separate person who needs to start working out). Lou may be acting out, but it’s just because he dreamed of an old age together with the big-bottomed woman he loved. How can he leave that behind?
Today’s MW shows Lou in his self-pity phase. Now Mary can step in to help Lou feel as bad about his appearance as Kelly does.
Can we hope for a sweeps week hot tub scene with Mrs. Phantom, June Morgan & Chesty?
Moss_Moses
May 8th, 2006 at 1:35 pm
Hogenmogen: at least you argue with your wife over comics and not over her fitness program.
FOOB Real World
LizardBreath + Granthony = Wedded Bliss
Hogenmogen
May 8th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
#44 Moss, no, we argue about the fitness thing, too, but she’s trying to fatten me up. I’m afraid a little. Didn’t the witch in Hansel & Gretel have sinister motives behind her ample culinary delights?
The artwork in panel #2 and #8 is a little different for MW. #2 especially. It’s a little dark. My take on panel #8 is that the blue and yellow halves of Kelly Stirling from Building B represent her dichotomy. She’s torn between her desire not to become a fat sow (too late) and her love for the maniac Lou who is about ten seconds from holding Kelly Stirling from Building B’s face into his “lovingly made” pot of strangely yellowish mutton stew.
Hogenmogen
May 8th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
My baby fits me like a pink tuxedo
I wanna sink her with my pink torpedo
Old Fogey
May 8th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
>>How can he leave that behind?
Hogenmogen
May 8th, 2006 at 2:09 pm
Phantom is purple until he takes a bath. So, does that mean he’s really just covered in purple makeup? If so, then the only things he really wears is a mask and that crazy striped Speedo. Eeeww.
The only thing that keeps me tuned in to Spidey is the hope that after hanging out for a week with a bunch of doofy reporters, J Jonah Jameson is going to blow a fuse on Peter Parker for getting scooped. I’m hoping for bloodshed, but I’ll settle for throwing things in a tantrum of epic proportions. If the strip had 3 solid weeks of a JJJ tantrum with Parker standing at attention with the hot, scalding wind from Jameson visibly blowing his hair back and turning it grey, I’d suddenly be the biggest Spidey fan they ever had. He’d use all kinds of words like &^&^!! and !@@##$^ that could make Sarge from BB blush crimson.
Library Cat
May 8th, 2006 at 2:15 pm
Well, I don’t know where my other post went but it’s probably for the best. Basically it boiled down to Sunday’s FBOFW strip was another way to highlight the Lynn=good; Deana’s Mom=bad storyline that occasionally rears it’s ugly head. Some nonsensical stuff about Deanna letting her kids sticker the entire hovel before noticing and redirecting them and that’s probably when the bolt of lightening tried to hit me and got the post instead. And then there was a plug for Similsan. If your child has an ear infection give it shot.
Okay, I have tried to post this three or four times, no dice.
Library Cat
May 8th, 2006 at 2:18 pm
And we have contact! I was beginning to think Josh had blocked me.
Howland Owl
May 8th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
40: I thought the Kelpfroths were evicted quite a while back — don’t Weed and his gf live down there now? Weren’t he and Michael talking about buying the building from their landlady? Am I insane?
Benicillin
May 8th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
“Phantom Rap”
My name is the Phantom an I fight crime
I live in the jungle – rent less than a dime
After a hot day gettin in big fights
I jez wanna lose my purple tights
I like to bathe in da hot springs outside
Me an my baby damn her ass be wide
I play on dat booty like a water slide
Dat butt on my lady be a source a pride
People say “Phantom damn yo girl be fine”
When you dress in purple you don’t need no line
Otha suckas gotta use money, gold, and wine
Out here I’m da only playa swingin a vine
I brand her booty like a cattle wit my ring
Now all dem suckas know dis girl be my thing
So when I wanna piece I don’t have to ask
I jez give dat look from behind my mask
People gimme trouble try to gimme shit
cuz my parents went an had to name me “Kit”
But dey don’t know what really caused me pain
was when Hollywood had me played by Billy Zane
wiggety wiggety wiggy wiggy
wiggety wack wack
My tights be purple
my mask be black
(repeat 72x)
lilybdcsa
May 8th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
I was having trouble posting eariler too.
lilybdcsa
May 8th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
Awesome rap. :)
superdickery
May 8th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
Dinette set made me bleed inside today.
Old Fogey
May 8th, 2006 at 2:47 pm
What happened to the rest of my post? What I said was:
>>How can he leave that behind?>>
Good one, Goober,
and BTW:
Would there be any objection if female members of this distinguished assembly began commenting on male body parts in the same spirit in which female body parts are currently commented on by males?
Ketil Flatnose
May 8th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
Sunday’s RMMD “A Woman comes out of the bathroom.” Why couldn’t it say “Punk Woman comes out of bathroom”? I lost track of the whole Troy McClure Davis saga, and now I find .38 specials (which seems out of the 30s or 40s, I thought it had to be a 9 mm held sideways,) and punk chicks. First it was homosexual innuedno, but now there’s an entire multiverse of alternative lifestyles. Huzzah!
Ketil Flatnose
May 8th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Oh yeah, and one more thing, if the Phantom is heading in this general direction, then I would like someone to get Frank Cho to start doing the Sunday panels. I mean come on, everyone remebers Brandy, don’t they?
Justafoob
May 8th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
After checking the ultimate foob source (www.fbofw.com) it appears that the Kelpfroths are still living below the saints.
I guess it is allegory, man.
Hogenmogen
May 8th, 2006 at 2:56 pm
Phantom, the cool superhero didn’t see a thing because he was staring at Mrs. Phantom’s hot bod. Mrs. Phantom saw it, though. Note to future criminals – hire a stripper.
“What was that?” she asks as she walks up to it wearing nothing but a smile (in the freezing cold). Phantom, tough guy that he is, hides deeper in the water behind her. Who would you rather have protecting you?
Y’know what I just noticed? Mom & Pop Walker* have jet black hair, but the kids are blonde. Whassup wit dat?
*For Ghost-Who’s-Wife-Parties-Naked
Hogenmogen
May 8th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Meanwhile, in Foobville:
Deanna’s Mom: MORE STICKERS, MULE!!
Lou Stirling
May 8th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
My wife is out to get me, I tell you! WHat’s wrong with watch TV all day?
I’ll just make her fatty foods everynight, because man, I just love my plumpers.
Why did I leave my ever-changing dining room in a hurry? Because I said so, that’s why!
treadwell
May 8th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
#56: turnabout is fair play.
Gershwin
May 8th, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Can someone explain today’s Doonesbury to me?
Moss_Moses
May 8th, 2006 at 4:18 pm
“Would there be any objection if female members of this distinguished assembly began commenting on male body parts in the same spirit in which female body parts are currently commented on by males?”
The topic of “female members” is kind of kinky for a family message board like this but sure, go ahead. Do you think the Phantom has a ghostly tubbie chubby going in the hot springs?
Marc
May 8th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
Gershwin-
I guess Joanie is the grandmother Alex was staying with. The joke is that she is soooo smart and that college really wants her to be their student.
dlauthor
May 8th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
64: It’s an ongoing thing that Walden’s declined so much since Mike and company went there that it’s lost its reputation and is getting increasingly desperate to attract students. Today’s strip is an extension of that.
Howland Owl
May 8th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
59: Here it is: http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001431.php
The landlady gives the Kelpfroths an eviction notice, and over the next few days, Michael talks to Weed and his gf about moving in, and then the landlady offers to sell the building to them.
I guess the whole storyline was dropped after that week and ignored thereafter.
Zorba the Geek
May 8th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
#60: Hogenmogen, the genetics of hair color have been discussed at length in the past. Short answer: black is dominant, blond is recessive, so two black-haired people can, indeed, have blond kids. The other way around would be extremely rare. Not unheard of, because hair-color isn’t quite that simple, but rare.
Ferd Berfel
May 8th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
9CL – McEldowney has always been a better artist than writer but does anyone else think he’s simply tired of late? Although Pibgorn has been cut back to bi-weekly updates, he’s merely cribbing Shakespeare for a plot there and not even writing his own stuff. On 9CL the Father/ex-Sister story has just limped along since its launch. McEldowney needs a ‘verbiage re-charge’ or, better yet, a collaborator to help with the story arcs.
A3G – Ted bailed to his office as quickly as he could while still being polite and Lucy the Shrew is still cutting him down. Gee, Lucy, I have no idea why your husband spends so much time away from you. Earlier Tommie, you were wishing for a husband, 2.3 kids, a house with a picket fence, and all the other trimmings. Look at your old chum Lucy and be very careful what you wish for!
DT – How has this story arc not kicked off serious protests from Arabs and/or Muslims? Have you seen Al Kinda? Or the AK-47 toting man with no nose in Afghanistan? Believe me, Goebbels would wince. Does anyone know if the strip is carried in the Detroit Free Press?
FBOW – Cheese and Crackers! This strip was bad enough but turning into a multi-panel version of The Family Circus is low even for the Patron Saint of Patronizing! Evil Prediction Time – Little Robin will become deaf due to his ear infection problems so that Lynn can bludgeon us with months of information regarding the ‘hearing impaired culture’. Order your ’strip-sickness’ bags now folks.
GF – Anyone else think that Satchel may have an ulterior motive for offering the cat in a bowtie a drink?
(DT)GT – “M” is for the many things she gave me… No matter what you do in life, no matter what others think of you, you can always count on your mother reminding people you’re too fat and slow to go to college. Happy Mother’s Day, Mrs. Raptor, smile for the bazooka! By the way, after seeing Ma Raptor in the 1st panel, did anyone else flash back to the Heat Miser in that 70s Rankin-Bass Xmas special?
MW – Don’t you understand Kelly? Lou invested in adjoining plots and wants you both the stroke out at the same time.
RMMD – Skank Alert in panel #1. Lovely exposition block too for those who don’t get the Sunday strip. You know, if she hadn’t explained how she hid in the bathroom we’d all be grousing about how Doc McCheesey should have seen her! Score one for Wilson and Nolan.
Monty – Ladybugman. This is not going to end well.
SF – Drat, drat, drat! We’re looking at a week of Sally’s/Ted’s/Hilary’s Summer Guide strips. First the Ralph story gets sidestepped and now the ‘Get to know the neighbors’ story gets sidestepped. sigh…
TDIE – Thanks to the people here I am now reading this strip. I am not at all happy about that.
Mooncity
May 8th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
I hope you all caught the peek behind the curtain that today’s DTGT offered us… A look at the TRUTH about DTGT! Panel 2 reveals that he is none other than one of the villains who constantly threatened society on the “Batman” TV show from the 60’s! You can tell from the funky angle, always a staple when they showed the villian’s lair!
But… which villian is Gil Thorp, exactly? I mean, could he be The Joker, giving the collective audience the equivilent of a joy buzzer and whoopee cushion every time he appears to actually care about Rap-dog’s future? Could he be The Riddler, posing the unanswerable conundrum of, “Riddle me this! WHY do we read Gil Thorp?!” Perhaps he’s really Mr. Freeze, which would explain his frozen-in-time hairstyle. Is Coach Thorp secretly The Penguin, quietly murmuring a sarcastic “Wahg, whag, wahg!” under his breath when faced with Mrs. Raptor’s bizzare reaction to having someone from the school system complementing her kid?
I dunno. He couldn’t be Egghead, what with that flat top haircut, but Flat-Top was a Dick Tracy nemisis.
I guess that leaves only Catwoman. Yeah, I could see Gil Thorp peeling away his clever disguise as atheletic coach to reveal Julie Newmar… or Eartha Kitt… in this comic, it’s so hard to tell!
Bill Peschel
May 8th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
64: And the quality of all other colleges have declined so much that they can’t get enough students, so they’re all after her.
This makes as much sense as MF.
Vince M.
May 8th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
70: Thanks to the people here, I am *not* reading FBOW *even more* than I haven’t been reading it before. Thanks, everyone!
AwfulArt
May 8th, 2006 at 9:44 pm
That sounds like a yogi-isms…
mumbles
May 8th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
Fred Berfel, you beat me to it. A “Mother’s Day” tie-in with (DT)GT would be perfect.
I guess it’s too much to hope that Gil turns on the patented “Gil Thorp” charm….”Surely there must be a Mr. Raptor, no?”
Howland Owl: good catch on FOOB. Apparently the Kelproths stuck around to fight with Deana’s mother in January. Ah, good times:
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001608.php
deeeeeeeeelightful
May 8th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
I’m surprised the censors didn’t yank that phantom comic out by the ears. I know its a soap, but sheesh! Can you imagine if The Forth’s had this kind of moment?
Lupin the 3rd
May 9th, 2006 at 12:40 am
Just to jump back to the “interrobang” thing, I’ve always said it to myself as the “bhuwWHH?” noise Scooby-Do makes when he’s surprised. Try it. It works extremely well in that Phantom -er- strip
BigJoe
May 9th, 2006 at 9:16 am
#70 -Fred said, DT – How has this story arc not kicked off serious protests from Arabs and/or Muslims? Have you seen Al Kinda? Or the AK-47 toting man with no nose in Afghanistan? Believe me, Goebbels would wince. Does anyone know if the strip is carried in the Detroit Free Press?
Nope, it’s not. It used to be a long long time ago. I haven’t read it since they dropped it. And please don’t make me start again either. The Detroit News, the other major paper, does not carry it either.
Lyman Returns
May 9th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
#52-that rap made me laugh out loud, Benicillin! Well done.