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B.C., 1/8/05

I know, it’s been literally weeks since I last tore into B.C. So, at the risk of making a mockery of my be-nicer New Year’s resolution, I offer this strip up for you consideration. I’m not even going to bother dwelling on the ostensible joke of this strip, which (1) isn’t funny, (2) doesn’t really make sense, and (3) is about three years late, assuming it’s a stab at “topical humor.” Rather, I’d like to point out the prevalence of B.C. running gags that the call for the same art time after time. The “you know” jokes are a good example, though they have the slightly amusing conceit of some sort of stone-age, pedal-driven mechanical system for dispensing witticisms from a hemispherical stone. “The book of phrases,” meanwhile, just involves a book on top of a rock. Strangely, despite the fact that the humor in this strip would work just as well if the image of Peter looking at the book were cut and paste from the first panel to the second, if you look closely you can tell that this bland scene was in fact drawn twice. I suppose I should respect Johnny Hart’s old-school dedication to the fine art of manual art-creation, but, really, if it’s in the service of lame-ass Enron jokes, I must withhold my approbation.