When method acting goes horribly wrong
Spider-Man, 7/26/06
I’ve been trying very hard to ignore the slow-motion train wreck of idiocy that is this week’s Spider-Man, but I can turn away from it no longer. See, they’re filming the climactic elevator battle scene between Marvella (played by Mary Jane) and $1.99 Walgreens Plastic Halloween Cat Mask Woman (played by washed-up has-been Narna Lamarr) in a novel fashion: they’re putting them in a real elevator, with no microphones of any kind (otherwise Narna’s bitchy off-script taunts would be picked up) and having them improvise some fisticuffs. (I hear this is exactly how Robert Altman filmed most of McCabe & Mrs. Miller.) Apparently there are multiple cameras filming from multiple angles, with the fight being edited on the fly and fed directly into the VIEW SCREEN that Beardo the director and Peter Parker are watching. This is, it goes without saying, so bonecrushingly moronic that I fear that I’ve dropped five to ten IQ points just by typing this paragraph.
Note Peter’s thought balloon in panel two: he clearly has the relative inability to suspend his disbelief of a spider.
Crock, 7/26/06
So “Trooper Megan” appears to be not the butt of a one-off joke but a new addition to the lovable and poorly drawn Crock cast. To which I can only ask: why, why, why, for the love of God, why. I’ve just started reading this comic again for the first time in 15 years, and before Megan sashayed sexily onto the scene, the cast was exactly the same as it was when I graduated from high school. Is this supposed to be like Beetle Bailey, where a new “relevant” character gets added every five years or so? If so, this implies that the creators of this strip have just now discovered that women exist who don’t wear burqas. C’mon, Illegible Signature Crock-Writing Dude Whose Name It Is Not Worth My Time To Look Up: you’ve earned the right to cruise on with the same group of ham-handedly named Frenchmen that you’ve been cruising along with for decades now. Don’t make more work for yourself for no good reason — and trust me, this isn’t a good reason.
Ziggy, 7/26/06
Note to Ziggy, Inc.: The 35 Years of Ziggy Classics must amount to better than 10,000 cartoons; thus, I’m pretty sure you can get through the length of Tom II’s vacation without reprinting one that contains a totally dated current events punchline that wasn’t even funny when it was topical. I know it’s cheaper to use a robot arm to just select a comic out of the file cabinet at random rather than have someone use editorial judgement, but you might want to change that process, for quality-control purposes.
Apartment 3-G, 7/26/06
Man, look at that sad face in panel three. Because if it weren’t for totally-not-actually-happening-and-only-implied-by-a-totally-unrealistic-series-of-events-and-sitcom-style-misunderstanding action, she wouldn’t be getting any action at all.
Dave
July 26th, 2006 at 9:48 pm
Yes … crazy
Da Scrodfather
July 26th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Only the second comment, and I got nothing. Nothing, except that today’s Hagar the Horrible looks like it was drawn on a cocktail napkin. And what self-respecting man, let alone barbarian warrior, wastes time fantasizing about a woman in her underwear? Lingerie fetishist?
Ron
July 26th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Inside Tommy’s head, Gnarls Barkley begins to sing.
catastrophile
July 26th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
I choose to believe that Ziggy and the news vendor are employing a new, slangy term for the crisis in Lebanon . . . Olmert’s Jihad!
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
Dingo
July 26th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
Regarding Hagar the Horrible and our dear Tommy from 3G: has anyone, anywhere, ever fantasized about Tommy? Sure, as a gay man I’ve thought about what I could do with her hair but sexually? Ewwww…
Hagar seems like it was drawn by someone else. Plus, in my history books I don’t recall many women circa 1000AD wearing undergarments that resembled a 1950s bikini, let alone Viking women. If Hagar’s going to build up some duck butter, wouldn’t he imagined her au natural?
Marc
July 26th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
3 – I was thinking the same exact thing.
I remember when
I remember, I remember when Tommie lost her mind
There was something so pleasant about that phase
Even your emotions had an echo
And so much space
Hmm mmmm
And when you’re out there
Without care
Yeah I was out of touch
But it wasn’t because I didn’t know enough
I just knew too much
Mmm…
Gozar
July 26th, 2006 at 10:40 pm
Tommy gets no play – she’s on a long list of comic characters that seriously need to get their ashes hauled.
Alley Oop – asked Oola to marry him about a year ago – she’s thinking about it. A caveman has needs ya know.
Jeremy in Zits – I didn’t know he broke up with Sarah ’til today. Not that they ever did it, I don’t think.
Garfield’s Jon – big news in today’s strip!?
Monti – maybe the space alien guy could hook him up?
The rabbit in FBOW.
Aunt Fritzie – The woman has been pent up for years – it would be like making love to a runaway nuclear reactor. God let it be me.
Any other contributions?
iburl
July 26th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
Comments in parentheses mine, the rest is from king features syndicate
Crock is by Bill Rechin and Don Wilder (still can’t tell you who draws it. Still can’t guess who is signing it. I guess neither one wants credit.)
Crock was created in 1975 by Bill Rechin, Don Wilder and Brant Parker, and has become the greatest and longest-running parody of the Foreign Legion classic, Beau Geste. (So many other recurring parodies of the Foreign Legion classic Beau Geste have fallen by the wayside, like “Lt. Commander Jerkwad” and “Bo Guest.”)
The genius(!) of the off-the-wall strip is that it manages to turn the established conventions of the Foreign Legion melodrama upside down (genius!). A group of luckless legionnaires live in a fort in the middle of the desert under Commandant Vermin P. Crock, a tyrannical leader who is known to “hang people by their thumbs for the silliest mistakes.” (titter, titter!)
Crock chronicles the adventures of Vermin P. Crock (I know!) and the other characters (uh-huh…) stationed at their grim desert outpost including the cowardly Captain Poulet, the simple-minded Maggot and camp-follower Grossie. (I hope their thumbs are OK.)
Crock was recently introduced as part of Universal Studios’ new theme park, “Islands of Adventure” in Orlando, Florida. (really?) Crock’s fort is one of the anchors for the park’s “Toon Lagoon” attraction, joining other nationally syndicated comics in the three-dimensional displays. (Ooh! Sounds awesome! I wonder if “Family Circus” is featured in this wonderland?)
Crock is distributed worldwide (somebody translates these jokes? Maybe the jokes are better in Italian.) by King Features Syndicate to more than 200 newspapers worldwide.
treedweller
July 26th, 2006 at 11:10 pm
I don’t know what is less likely: that Jeremy would ba allowed to have a girl in his bedroom alone, or that an ex-girlfriend would be willing to go up there. Probably the latter, in these modern times, though his parents seem pretty old-fashioned to me.
David
July 26th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
Waiting on a post about Garfield’s newest and most odd obsession with story-arcs and perspective…
Marc
July 26th, 2006 at 11:22 pm
MW – Okay, so in panel one they’re in the middle of the road or path, and then in panel two they’re magically back on Toby’s patio. I wish that squirrel had rabies and would bite Mary. I’d love to see her foaming at the mouth…..we’ll learn Mr. Stalker took this same exact squirrel and set it loose on his late wife.
Mibbitmaker
July 27th, 2006 at 12:08 am
The “Crock” Brant Parker wannabe is Bill Rechin, and I’m terribly sorry I know that.
Not only is the man’s signature illegible, so’s his drawing.
mfdshan
July 27th, 2006 at 12:12 am
7/27 Foob: And so it begins…
Mibbitmaker
July 27th, 2006 at 12:16 am
#12: Just saw #8. That (#12) is what happens when you watch all of Letterman and half of Ferguson while still online on the comments page!
#7: I was thinking maybe Scott and Borgman didn’t know they’d broken up Jeremy Zits and Sarah either, the subject vanished so suddenly.
Jerome
July 27th, 2006 at 12:18 am
I love it when alternative cartoonists take aim at newspaper strips. That said, if you haven’t already seen it:
http://xkcd.com/c100.html
Dave
July 27th, 2006 at 12:32 am
#8 — Perhaps “mayo pit” has some funny meaning in Italian?
Mibbitmaker
July 27th, 2006 at 12:53 am
2/27:
FOOB: So are ours, Lizardbreath, so are ours.
A3G: Is that Margo? She looks different… pointier nose (panel 1), older looking features (panel 3). Could it be that she’s been off the strip too long? Naaaahhhhh…!
(DT)GT: Get the hint, squarehead? Btw, from panel 1: “Speaking coach to coach – and coach…” The rest of the strip should’ve read: “….I fly coach.”
“Aw, you’re coaching him”
“Surely you coach!”
“Coach-chase a car, coach”
“Did you see ‘Coach’?”
“Coach, coach, coach, coach, coach….”
SF: Play 20 Questions? Where the hell are the 20 QUESTIONS??? (I know, just paraphrase the responses to my Garfield snark 2 threads back…)
Spiderman: And now, MJ will also show her true actressdom by making herself look like a real dead body… while Spidey rescues her like FEMA going to Lebanon for Americans (to mix a topical metaphor).
FW: Next panel, Les: “…YOU MEAN LIKE WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER AND YOU– Sorry, man… outta line…”
FC: About as much as “Jeff and Bil Keane” is worth, Jeffy. Sorry.
Garfield: Liz ‘n’ Ellen: the Betty and Veronica of “Garfield”.
Dilbert: That’s why the Secret Service keeps her away from President Bush.
Baby Blues: Well, let’s not get into *that* debate again.
Hi & Lois: Kids, you’re wanted in today’s “Baby Blues”, pronto.
Dave
July 27th, 2006 at 1:21 am
FOOB: Enter Granthony! Break out the barf bags!
mentarman
July 27th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Today Trooper Megan explains women’s lib to either a) B.C.’s Fat Broad in a burka the color of my grandmother’s coach or b) a female Grimace.
mentarman
July 27th, 2006 at 2:42 am
And sorry to double-post, but what the HELL is going on in Garfield. One day it’s lasagna jokes, and you check in a few weeks later and it’s some sort of disguise-amnesia love quadrangle plot reminiscent of soemthing you’d see on “Three’s Company.” Complete with wardrobe. And set at the Regal Beagle.
catastrophile
July 27th, 2006 at 3:34 am
mentarman:
Apparently, in honor of the strip’s impending birfday (the 28th), Arbuckle’s gonna get laid.
Okay, maybe not. But something amazing is going to happen. Or has happened. Or both.
Scumbaggioni
July 27th, 2006 at 5:54 am
I am SO not touching FOOB for a while. Just gonna kick back and watch hell unfold before my eyes.
But Garfield.
Jon is going to let Ellen waltz off with a total stranger. You’re a great guy, Jon. No wonder Liz has abruptly fallen for your idiot-geek-cum-stalker act. (Seriously, I actually remember – for some reason – the last time I saw Liz show any interest in Jon. That was yeeeeeeeeears ago. I’ve forgotten things much more important to me, but I still remember that strip. Brainmeats is funny that way.)
Of course, this total stranger is the only one in the strip making any sense; he clearly wants to ditch the train wreck crashing all around him and run off with the “vacuous blond” who probably won’t remember him in the morning (since Ellen seems to be suffering from some sort of Hollywood Amnesia).
There’s still Friday’s strip. C’mon, stranger – ask Jon how he got his CAT into the restaurant. And WHY. (And that’s coming from a guy who frequents RateMyKitten, DailyKitten, and CatsInSinks.com.)
Scumbaggioni
July 27th, 2006 at 5:57 am
Duh, me meant to write “Jon is going to let Ellen waltz off with a total stranger in spite of her condition.” Durrrrr. Human brainmeats. I eats ‘em and eats ‘em but I don’t gets no smarters.
Seriously, I’m surprised Ellen remembered which table to come back to. In the last panel SHE’S FORGOTTEN JON AGAIN.
CROdell
July 27th, 2006 at 6:13 am
Two thoughts on the Ziggy:
1) Anyone else find it kind of freaky that the dialogue bubble actually seems to have a physical reality in the panel. In the Ziggyverse, you don’t actually hear anything, but just see giant word balloons form out of the blue.
2) Tom Wilson gives a master class on how to undercut your own joke: most of the doodles that make up the magazine covers don’t look anything like O.J. Simpson.(I think I see a paper clip, a dog, and a coffee machine.)
GotFuzzy
July 27th, 2006 at 7:05 am
Today’s PBS tempts us with a strip crossover that I so want to see. If that can’t happen, then I am rooting for Marc’s idea of a rabid squirrel.
iburl, thanks for annotating Crock. I really doubt the jokes are funnier in Italian, though. Maybe spoken German, with all those gutterals, plosives and fricatives, would do the trick.
dji
July 27th, 2006 at 7:14 am
PBS: I support steroid use.
Agnes: I don’t think that’s your butt.
jess a.
July 27th, 2006 at 7:18 am
#8: Not to be self-aggrandizing, but I give you this photo of myself with Mark Trail & Billy.
The King Features Syndicate portion of Islands of Adventure was… interesting. There were lots of these weird “photo op” things around (including a Marmaduke one that let you take a “trick” photo of Marmaduke running away with you flying in the air), and A Dagwood sandwich shop (coming soon to a strip mall near you).
I have to admit, I would not have enjoyed myself in that area of the park at all, if it hadn’t been for this blog. But I did have an good time, even if I did so ironically.
JoJo
July 27th, 2006 at 7:30 am
Oh for the love of … Peter Parker. Whattya mean “how do I know she isn’t?” USE YOUR FLIPPIN’ SPIDER-SENSE, you moronic arachnoid!
TheMagicMel
July 27th, 2006 at 7:32 am
Scumbaggioni, don’t forget http://www.stuffonmycat.com! I should get paid for all the advertising I do for them, digress.
Can you smell the cinno-stash stalking begin? Keep fantasizing about Dudley Do-Paul, Lizardbreath, and run run RUN away from Milquetoast Granthony. For our sakes, if not your own.
Justafoob
July 27th, 2006 at 7:59 am
Liz says wait.
And the shoe she is going to drop is that she is pregnant with Dooright’s baby, but he has dumped her like a ton of bricks. She doesn’t want to be an unmarried mother, so what is she going to do?
Granthony will then sweep her off her feet, take her to the justice of the peace and marry her this afternoon. Making an instant family with baby Doo on the way.
Dan B
July 27th, 2006 at 8:06 am
#27: is it like a museum, or is it fun?
anyway, once again into the crap…
A3G: i have to admit grudging respect for a strip that incorporates beatnik art shows and a reference to Google. i coulda sworn it took place in the 60s. anyway, is “hat man” a punchline? why do i bother?
MW: that squirrel is totally humping the tree. it’s the most action Mary Worth will ever see.
Pluggers: i find something somewhat disturbing here. first of all, obese Plugger bear is married to what, a kangaroo? that’s just unnatural. second, they own and walk a dog but in all likelihood obese Plugger bear spends his free time hanging out with an obese Plugger dog. does bear have to spell out words when he’s hanging out with that guy? wouldn’t you just want to punch obese Plugger bear when he’s like “Hey Plugger dog, want to go d-r-i-n-k some b-e-e-r?
PBS: wow…Stalkeraldo is gonna have to kill Rat in order to protect his precious Mary Worth. fun.
GodWithFire
July 27th, 2006 at 8:23 am
So I’m pleased to see that someone else has realized that Spiderman’s film set experience in no way reflects the way films are made. After a dozen features or so under my belt, plus more commercials, PSAs, tv shows and music videos than I can count, I simply can’t imagine a first AD saying “Ok, let’s put the talent on an elevator, send them to the top of the building, shoot them with two (or more) robotic cameras, with no lighting, no sound, no PA’s, no way to communicate with them, and tell them ‘just start fighting when the elevator hits the top.’ I’m sure they’ll know where to finish, where their marks are, and even though we haven’t rehearsed this scene at all, they’ll know how to cat fight. And this of course ignores the fact that one of the characters has her face covered by a mask, so we could easily use a union-scale stunt double instead of our expensive actress — Quiet please! Rolling… and ACTION.”
Oh Yeah!
dimestore lipstick
July 27th, 2006 at 8:28 am
I am so in love with Rat.
Frank Drackman
July 27th, 2006 at 8:28 am
The Crock character is another I’ve noticed that has a scrotum attached to his chin. Theres also that old guy from FBOW and the dad from the Family Guy.
Hogenmogen
July 27th, 2006 at 8:39 am
#8 – iburl – I don’t know which would hurt America’s image abroad worse:
The continuing disaster in Iraq
The continuing disaster that is labeled “Crock” and exported to foreign countries.
If any of these countries have ever had French foreign troops, a desert, or anyone wearing a burqua, I can see how they’d become so deeply offended that becoming a suicide bomber is the only option left.
Barfield: Why do Liz and Ellen have exactly the same face? That’s an easier question to answer than “Why would anyone voluntarily date Jon?”
#22 – Scumbaggioni, that is a good question. Why DID Jon take Garfield out on his date? He usually goes solo and then comes home bitter and dejected. Here’s a tough question – can the strip survive with Jon actually happy? Or, maybe Jon and Liz will marry and their marriage will soon decend into Cathy-style sniping, then down to the depths of Lockhorn-like depression.
#27 – Jess A. – Did you notice the squirrel in your picture is the exact same squirrel who wants to bite Mary Worth?
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20060727&name=Mary_Worth
Speaking of Mary Worth, I’d like to take a trip on her magic table. It seems to move around Charterstone with the greatest of ease. In the TEN DAYS that we’ve been subjected to Mary & Toby’s not-so-exciting conversation, we’ve seen them from every angle imaginable. No one can claim that the appearing and disappearing buildings are only a matter of perspective. July 18, these elements were in a line:
Viewer, Toby, Mary, Building. Same on the 19th.
However, on the 20th, it is Viewer, Toby, Mary, Trees. On the 21st, the building is behind and to the left of Mary and behind and to the right of Toby, which implies that Mary has been moving away from Toby, but Toby has scooted her tight little set of buns over to stay close to Mary. http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20060718&name=Mary_Worth
I’d believe that someone would fall for Tommie in A3G before I’d believe that Trophy Toby had the hots for the Worth Widow. But hey, Capt. Stalkeroo saw something there. Maybe it’s her glowing Aura that we caught a glimpse of on Sunday.
Hogenmogen
July 27th, 2006 at 8:56 am
Lio: Shouldn’t this theme of costumes and dead things be better reserved for Halloween season?
Crock-o-nasty-sh!t: Trooper Meagan is all smiley when she’s talking to the guys, but look at her sour puss when the great burqua pumpkin comes around. I’d grit my teeth, too if I had to look at that monstrosity, too, but I wouldn’t make it even more painful by turning my head 180 degrees to see it.
http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20060727&name=Crock
treedweller
July 27th, 2006 at 8:57 am
#31 a. Does it LOOK fun?
b. Pluggers can spell?
Pozzo
July 27th, 2006 at 9:02 am
I’m glad you explained the Wilson-on-vacation aspect of Ziggy. At first, I thought it was trapped in a “Red and Rover”-style time warp. (Does anyone get this strip? Red has a crush on Marcia Brady and likes to watch “Combat”. Probably has an uncle in ‘Nam.)
TheNewGuy
July 27th, 2006 at 9:02 am
Re #22 – Scumbaggioni lest we forget the July 7th strip where Jon lied about his calendar being chock-full and Liz was kinda let down. Then there’s the July 8th strip where she looks like she’s looking forward to his obvious admission of love… if he hadn’t choked.
Dan B
July 27th, 2006 at 9:03 am
#37: Brookins is advancing that myth, although I’m not sure how far that extends. I hear the winner of last year’s Plugger Spelling Bee successfully got “P-B-R” to win. Their prize was a Betamax and a six-pack of Genny Cream Ale.
Also, has “six-pack” ever been broached in Pluggers? Maybe “the Plugger’s six pack abs” could be the obese Plugger rhino with six cans of Keystone resting on his stomach.
And yeah, it looks fun. I could learn to mold my hair just like Mark Trail.
Matt
July 27th, 2006 at 9:04 am
Is it just me, or does Tommie go from appearing to be 25 years old to appearing to be 55 years old in the course of one strip?
Dan
July 27th, 2006 at 9:06 am
Beardo the Director? Hmmm . . . take of those glasses and I think it’s George Lucas!
Matt
July 27th, 2006 at 9:18 am
Sorry to post back-to-back, but I finally figured out what bugs me so much about Mike’s friends in FBOFW (I mean besides the obvious): they all went from regular post-high school/university students to dumpy, late-40ish age in like two years. Mike still looks like a regular 25 to 28 year-old, and all of his high-school buddies are wearing frayed sport coats and 1970s porn-star mustaches to compensate for their bald spots. I can’t recall the last time we saw Lawrence, but when we do I’m sure he’s going to be hosting a dinner party in a high-rise condo, wearing a shiny red smoking jacket with matching fez. What gives?
Snapdragon
July 27th, 2006 at 9:19 am
FOOB: In tomorrow’s strip, they’ll pull the Crevasse over and Liz will go on a roadside test-drive of Granthony’s mustache.
Pat Faraday
July 27th, 2006 at 9:24 am
Phantom: How exactly were Chatu and turban guy expecting to parachute out of their helicopter? It appears to be no more than 20 feet above the treetops.
MW: “Some rumors are based on fact, Mary. I’ve heard that…” Still waiting for the facts.
A3G: I don’t know if anyone has addressed this before, but why are those women still living together?
TDIET: Migraina should be a little more concerned for “friend hubby”. I don’t know how much sick leave he has, but if he’s anything like a plugger, she’ll probably find cash a little tight before “a month or so” passes. Oh yeah!
Peanuts: Amen, Linus. Amen.
D.A. Pennington
July 27th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Since they’re randomly picking Ziggy reprints, here are the rest of the weeks Ziggy panels:
Friday: Ziggy with boarding pass to cruise ship. Purser at boarding ramp says, “Sorry sir, I can’t upgrade you to 1st class.” Side of the ship shows the ship to be the Titanic.
Saturday: Ziggy sitting in front of the teleision with the thought ballon, “I love fireworks!”
T.V. is showing a CNN broadcast of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.
Sunday: (In color!) Ziggy with fishing gear and in hip waders. Thought ballon: “I wonder if it’s better I catch a fish, or fill up my tank?
Exxon Valdez is seend half submerged in the background.
treedweller
July 27th, 2006 at 9:34 am
#40 Sure, it looks fun in that photo. But remove the pretty girl and you’re left with a clueless park ranger holding a black dash and calling it a footprint, while nearby a disturbingly buff and just-as-clueless Billy tries to decipher his Dad’s instructions to urinate in the woods.
Don’t believe the hype.
Dan B
July 27th, 2006 at 9:42 am
#47: I mean, I ain’t saying I’m going to Florida anytime soon, but it can’t be all bad. If nothing else, the kitsch value is through the roof.
BigJoe
July 27th, 2006 at 9:43 am
45 – I love how the Phantom shot the parachutes out of their hands and they fell out of the helicopter. How did the bullets knock the parachutes flying? Not only was that some miracle shooting, but some bizarre Phantom physics must have been involved as well.
And yeah, I was thinking the same thing, how could they parachute out of a helicopter that is barely above the trees? And why even bother to parachute, why don’t you just tell your pilot to land the damn thing and walk out?
rich
July 27th, 2006 at 9:45 am
FBOW: Can I hold out hope that this train wreck might end in a car wreck? I know that Lynn wouldn’t kill off Elizabeth, but might she be about to put Anthony out of his obvious misery? Is it possible that Lynn Johnston isn’t such an incompetent Foob, after all?
Pat Faraday
July 27th, 2006 at 10:02 am
49: “Phantom makes his own laws. Even those of physics” – old jungle saying
Tony Stash
July 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am
#50 No, it isn’t. If your scenario actually came to pass, Anthony would be in a full-body cast for weeks, and Liz would feel so guilty that she would be at his side every day until he was released, and then she would nurse him through months of painful “physical therapy” until finally she would realize there’s nothing more saintly than sacrificing one’s happiness for the good of another. They would marry and she would “hand him his cane” whenever he needed it.
But The Incompetent Foobs would make a good band name.
Hogenmogen
July 27th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Spidey: The strip is obviously not done by the top level pro’s who do story boards for graphic novels or movies. But, do the higher-ups like Stan Lee read the strip in the papers every day? Or, is that like asking if McDonald’s corporate board sends up Big Macs & Fries when they get together over lunch?
But at least in the 7/26 strip we got to see Ms. Lemarr’s ass in tights. Woo-hoo!
Pat Faraday
July 27th, 2006 at 10:29 am
53: I’ve been told that Stan Lee is the one who has been handing us this insanity. From what I’ve heard (it may be rumor, but that would never stop MW), the comic syndicators told Stan that if he didn’t continue to personally do the Spiderman comic strip they would cancel it. It’s very possible that the poor man has finally snapped.
Pelagius
July 27th, 2006 at 10:47 am
#8 Toon Lagoon? OMG, we need an expose on this! Flickr is some help. Nancy is splayed, legs wide, above the “Comics Cafe” (all of a sudden, I’m not so hungry) in this flickr set. It looks like Heathcliff, Marmaduke, Beetle Bailey, Hagar, Snuffy Smith, Brenda Starr (?), and Popeye make appearances. You can see Crock in the corner of this pic. Strangely enough, it isn’t an oft photographed attraction…
Comics Curmudgeon field trip?
BigJoe
July 27th, 2006 at 10:55 am
55 – That’s Cathy, not Nancy with the crotch shot. I thought it was unlikely that they’d promote kiddie porn at a family theme park.
rich
July 27th, 2006 at 10:56 am
55: That’s Cathy of course, not Nancy, spreading ‘em for the folks. (Notice how they put her way up high, to dissuade people from using that shot for, um, creative poses?)
Smitty Q. Smedlap
July 27th, 2006 at 11:24 am
I have nothing to add to today’s funnies — so instead I’ll just report that last night Mrs. Smedlap and I took a ride on “Garfield’s Nightmare,” which is a ride at Pittsburgh’s Kennywood Park.
I think it’s safe to say that the ride lives down to the quality of the comic in every respect.
dimestore lipstick
July 27th, 2006 at 11:43 am
I think the key to Migraina’s behavior in today’s TDIET is clear. The guy on TV is taking the bad news in stoic silence, like a real man. Whereas “Friend Hubby” is being a whiny-assed crybaby, and working his wife’s last nerve.
Deckard Canine
July 27th, 2006 at 11:48 am
#38 – Brian Basset, in an online group interview, got for his first question, “When does ‘Red and Rover’ take place?” He replied that it’s an amalgam of past decades to evoke a general nostalgia.
In truth, I hadn’t considered until that moment that it wasn’t modern. The same thing happened in Rick Detorie’s interview on “One Big Happy”: it turned out to be a vaguely set nostalgia comic without me noticing. But OBH is worse that way, because in the same interview, they brought up a 9/11 tribute strip, something that would have made no sense in the ’60s.
rich
July 27th, 2006 at 12:17 pm
58: Other than the Pepto-Bismol colored Garfield lying on some sort of gurney in the foreground, I’m not seeing the nightmare part of this “Garfield’s Nightmare.” No spaying? No newspaper cancellations? No losing what little sense of humor he had and becoming a tired embarrassment?
Smokey Stover
July 27th, 2006 at 12:31 pm
I’m going to put “VIEW SCREEN” on my monitor right now.
Library Cat
July 27th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
#55 etc. Besides the obvious reason; it so weird to see Cathy with her legs apart. Okay there is no way to make that un-innuendoish, believe me I tried. Unless she’s walking, her legs are always drawn cemented together. Why on earth would Guisewite depict her in such an unnecessarily vulgar way at Universal Studios? Dear God, won’t someone please think of the children? Scarred for life by Cathy’s crotch. I weep for them.
Pelagius
July 27th, 2006 at 12:44 pm
Oops – Cathy, indeed. AAUGH!!
Ballard Fremont Edmonds
July 27th, 2006 at 12:45 pm
The Seattle P-I’s print edition of Crock appears to be printed on a daily basis from a second generation fax. The lines approach the late-run Peanuts for general fuzziness. If it weren’t for the images herre at CC, I would have continued to think the artists(?!) were attempting a heat mirage effect. Oh, the disillusionment hurts.
And now they’re running a month long test of FW. There’s a strip that screams out for the classics format, if it must be printed at all.
catastrophile
July 27th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
62 — it looks as if they wanted to make her as large as possible while still fitting her on the building facade, so they spread her legs to make her shorter and wider.
She’s wearing what looks like a bathing suit, so I guess she’s supposed to be jumping into a pool or something. And holding a spoon. For some reason.
Yeah, somebody sure as heck better have been fired over that.
TheMagicMel
July 27th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
#44: Egads, how & why did I visualize that???? *yucky shivers*
mentarman
July 27th, 2006 at 4:04 pm
#66 “And holding a spoon. For some reason.”
Cocaine.
catastrophile
July 27th, 2006 at 4:32 pm
“Cocaine.”
You don’t know that.
mav
July 27th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
I believe the store in question is “Cathy’s Ice Cream.” Which explains the spoon, though nothing else about sordid picture.
catastrophile
July 27th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
So, Cathy is jumping, um, “feet” first into some sort of sundae?
Man, it’s soooooo hot out . . . and now I can’t even enjoy ice cream any more.
jess a.
July 27th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
It is so unfortunate that if I get to feel like the “resident expert” on something, it has to be the King Features Syndicate section of Islands of Adventure. Alas… anyhow…
I don’t know if you could call it “fun”. Mostly, it’s big 3D images/cutouts of comics characters, including comic strips I’d forgotten about a long time ago (I think I heard my dad say, “Hey! Tumbleweeds!”). There is a vaguely lagoon-ish theme, in that there are fountains and many of the characters appear to be enjoying the water in some way. There are maybe 2 comic themed rides (a water ride and… maybe some kind of train for kids? I’m not sure). Mostly it’s eateries, gift shops, and 3D life-sized (kind of) cutouts of King Features most beloved strips. (Mary Worth was sadly absent.)
And hey — that does appear to be the same squirrel! Comics plagiarism, or homage? You be the judge.
Marion Delgado
July 28th, 2006 at 12:43 am
we need a petition campaign. this is simply too cruel to let stand.
The writers of A-3G are OBLIGATED to have at least one gay sex scene with LuAnn and Tommie, even if the LuAnn character is completely not gay.
Justice for Tommie! Some things won’t heal easily, LuAnn. What’s more important, an hour of your time or Tommie never smiling again, for the rest of her life.
Marion Delgado
July 28th, 2006 at 12:46 am
oh, and jeremy gave up a “10″ named Tawnie to chase after Sara, who treated him like dogshit for a year.
it starts young.
Talia
July 28th, 2006 at 4:01 am
A few years ago I was actually looking into the possibility of joining the French Foreign Legion, but turned out they didn’t take girls. I don’t know if that has changed, or if the current author of Crock just doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Musicfan
July 28th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I need to say something about this and can’t think of a better place to say it… for the last two weeks I’ve been traveling on business and/or pleasure, basically living out of a suitcase and not having a chance to keep up on the comics (or even The Comics Curmudgeon for that matter), but I finally had two nights in a row at home and last night read the comics for the first time in a while.
Sure enough, friggin’ Spider Man and Rex Morgan are pretty much exactly where I left off. I missed nearly two weeks worth of panels and I didn’t miss a thing. Rex still has two people in a car blabbing away and Spidey is still dragging itself through this idiotic Mary Jane murder “plot.”
Trees should be insulted that they are cut down and turned into paper in order to carry such dribble.
ACTORSandCREW
July 20th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I couldn’t agree more. Top-flight analysis of the funny pages, BTW.
The Addict
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
The Ziggy panel isn’t actually old, just misspelled. Clearly, it’s supposed to say M.J.