Gertie is possibly already drunk. Trouble brewing
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Andy Capp, 8/7/25
You would think that Andy sustaining an injury at “punk rock night” would send me down my usual rabbit-hole of “in what year does Andy Capp take place?”, but in fact I’m honestly more interested in “at what time of day does this specific Andy Capp strip take place?”, given that Andy is returning home from “punk rock night” when it’s broad daylight outside. This sent me down a new, exciting rabbit-hole, and I learned that Andy is canonically from the northern English city of Hartlepool (they even have a statue of him!), and, England being further north than most Americans realize and Hartlepool as mentioned being at the north end of the country, sunsets in June there can be as late as 9:45 pm. So, yes, if Andy were to get injured at punk rock night and then come home afterwards when it’s still sunny, the punk rock part might be anachronistic, but the sunlight part would not necessarily be.
Dustin, 8/7/25
I genuinely love the big smiles on everyone’s face in the conference room in the final panel. “That’s Ed Kudlick, the firm dipshit, coming in and saying utter nonsense again!” they’re thinking. “He’s a terrible lawyer, but we keep him around because he’s usually pretty funny — not on purpose funny, obviously.” The fact that the coworkers we see are all women is a nice touch.
Gearhead Gertie, 8/7/25
I’m sorry, man, if you know Gertie well enough to engage her in conversation about NASCAR, you should know that you’ve just crossed a line that can never be uncrossed, so don’t look so shocked. Do look horrified, though, because today is your last day alive on Earth.
Pluggers, 8/7/25
Pluggers has run for 32 years, and the question on all our minds for all that time has been: “Do pluggers know that they’re hideous man-animals, nightmarish freaks of forbidden science who shouldn’t exist?” Well, they didn’t before. But it looks like they finally figured it out.
69 replies to “Gertie is possibly already drunk. Trouble brewing”
I await the panel where Ed lies, savagely pummeled and bleeding out on the office floor, Dagwood standing over him with a dripping tire iron.
“Get your OWN bit, fat man,” he snarls.
Dustin-There really is a waffle station somewhere in the office. His coworkers just don’t like him eating all the snacks before they can get any so they are lying to him.
MW-Next up “Olive models a swimsuit for Mary”.
I’m betting Andy Capp was really into the Damned back in the day.
At some point, a Plugger realizes that they’ve used “all” too many times in a sentence.
This “bar and grill” intrigues me, as apparently its sole parking space out front is nearly blocking the door. No wonder it’s sparsely populated. By older people talking about a driver who’s been dead since 2001.
MW: The waiter sighs in exasperation as he hovers nearby with the pitcher, knowing from long experience that the tiny glasses at the table hold only enough water for two small sips before they need to be refilled. Again.
@Pozzo:
Them, and I’d see a whole lot of Anti-Nowhere League going on.
My own explanation was that Andy’s returning home from hospital/ the jail the next day.
AC I’m just curious if Andy is talking about literally pogo-sticking on the bar, or if that’s a kind of English punk rock dance? Like ‘skanking’. Remember skanking? I think I’d rather skank than pogo, honestly.
Dustin “Don’t interrupt us again” “Donuts, Mrs Butterworth and ham? Sounds like an odd combination but i’ll give a shot!”
GG Oh, because Gertie like Dale Earnhartd? I get it.
Pluggers homes are infested with various feral animals that shed constantly.
FC:
“I’d try to outdo your pun by fashioning one involving the beach toy I’m holding in my right hand, but anything I attempted would ‘pail‘ by comparison!”
“Michael Schumacher is the greatest driver of all time.”
Dustin: Dustin hasn’t earned the artistic credibility to get away with unreliable narrator set-ups. Those women clearly said “It’s a waffle station” in panel 1 just to fuck with him.
Also Dustin: Honestly, this is a best case scenario. He’s lucky he didn’t pull this greedy grinning idiot schtick while barging in on a sensitive discussion of an “awful situation” or maybe even “molestation”.
Andy Capp: My wife is from the next town over from Hartlepool, so I can officially confirm the chronology of this strip is wrong. Hartlepool won’t discover punk rock for another decade at least. They’re just starting to hear about these funny chaps from Liverpool called “The Beatles”.
GG: She’s wrong, you know. It’s Richard Petty.
But if you really want to troll her, tell her Dale Sr. isn’t worthy to call “Shotgun” to ride with Jimmie Johnson.
JP: Later….
“‘Ted Forth Age 4’? WHO THE FUCK IS TED FORTH?!?!?“
Dustin:
“You’re waffling on what you just said in there, aren’t you.”
A Plugger realizes her ‘non-shedding’ spouse was a gross misrepresentation
Rhymes with Orange:
“Interesting fabric your dress is made of, All-Knowing One! — what is it?
“Seersucker!”
Gearhead Gertie:
“There’s a purely malevolent clown sitting at the end of the bar, Gertie. What should I do?”
“You want to take It outside?”
GG: I’m sure he didn’t mean it, Gertie. It was just the can of soup talking.
@Ukranazi Stepan:
I would have gone with Gilles Villeneuve, and when Gertie protests go with “Why not? He’s famous for the same reason Dale Earnhardt is.”
MW: Olive: “Yes, I have learned to swim, and I have a diabolical plan to drown everyone who has bullied me.”
Mary: ” That’s nice, dear. I can give you some pointers. Go, Team Kindred Spirits!”
DUSTIN: The fact that the coworkers are all women tells me that had there been waffles, Ed would have expected a plate to be made for him.
GG: The bar owner wonders if introducing Punk Rock Night would keep annoying characters like Gertie away.
MW: Befitting her youth, Olive eats her cut up hotdog pieces with a shrimp fork.
I should’a known she meant “tube” steak; thinks Mary
GG — Sure Gertie is a close-minded fanatic, but you should really expect this kind of confrontation when you start mouthing off in the Get Bent Bar and Grill. . .
AC: I haven’t thought about pogoing since I saw Repo Man in 1984 which means it’s the perfect reference for someone Andy’s age. Score one for Andy Capp.
JP People especially lock stuff in rentals, Reena’s going to be even more upset when she exhausts herself to wreck the cabinet door and finds it’s the expensive wine bottles plus a lady bits personal shaver.
GT Some mudges have said the new artist can draw much better and it looks like a (poor) artistic choice or deadlines but good grief… the colorist is the hero to make the darn lake vista comprehensible for this Serious Emotional Moment. Look, anyone who followed my FOOB fix-fic years and years ago knows I’m no great shakes at backgrounds, but after maybe two minutes I’d be doing bits of bush details on the opposite side rather than those black smears, clumps of reeds or a few rocks by the water, a few clouds to show which bit is the sky…
Pluggers: A Plugger bear realizing that she has androgenic alopecia caused by iron deficiency that can only be cured by radically increasing meat in her diet may be the most menacing thing in the comics this week. A Plugger bear realizing she’s going through menopause is a close second.
Andy Capp: Honestly, the funniest part about Andy being from Hartlepool is the way the city name is pronounced: not Hartle-pool as an American might expect, but Hart-le-pool, in a “French” style. The idea that Andy is a monkey choker and/or quite possibly stood for office in a H’Angus costume is also pretty damn good.
Oh, uh, sure, punk rock, pogoing, that too.
Dustin: I think the lady did actually say “waffle station” on purpose because she bet saying that would make the dad come run into the conference room.
MW – Oooooh. A white wose. How womantic.
Gearhead Gertie: One of these two ladies drove to the Bar and Grill, and I don’t think it was Gertie. I think Mr. Gearhead needed a break so he could clean the house and go to the grocery store in peace, and can’t afford adult day care. It’s a decision that may (ahem) backfire on him.
Dustin: A French-blue shirt and acrylic tie with diagonal stripes? If this isn’t 2003, can confirm, Ed is a terrible lawyer, probably specializes in drunk driving and Department of Natural Resources law.
@CanuckDownSouth: Nah, this is leading to one of two scenarios going into the Sunday spread. Either we’re about to hear offscreen ‘Yeah Reena, be careful. You wouldn’t want to *break* anything! Muahahahahaha!’ and we see Leah cackling like the Joker (she already has the Bozo the Clown hair for it) and pointing a huge gun at our ‘heroines’.
OR, the Reena cracks open that cheap IKEA cabinet and the skeleton of the landlady comes spilling out, followed by offscreen ‘Oh Reena, and I liked you SO much…’ and we see Leah cackling like the Joker (she already has the Bozo the Clown hair for it) and pointing a huge gun at our ‘heroines’.
In both cases Askel the Accomplice is standing next to Leah, his hands all over her like he’s Harley Quinn.
What would either of these scenarios have to do with CIApril purposefully walking into a trap like an self-righteous idiot? Nothing whatsoever! That’s the twist! These storylines would be completely unrelated! CIApril was never seen again, Randy dissolved into utter madness, his raspberry-haired brat was put into foster care, Sophie and Reena were also never seen again, Leah N’ Askel are still at large, and Neddy? Neddy went back to bed and never gave any of these morons another thought again. The strip cuts to black like the end of ‘The Sopranos’ and Ces can finally find the time to attend that ‘How to Tell an Engaging Story with Endearing Characters’ workshop he desperately needs.
Whaddya think, sirs?
Andy Capp: It adds an extra layer of humor for me to imagine that Andy is only just coming home well after sunrise, having spent most of the night in hospital or, more likely, unconscious behind the bar. His wife is only a little curious about what happened to him having resigned herself to the fact that he’s never going to die.
MW: “No…I have never again gone near that demon spawn you call a swimming pool…and one day Mary, my…kindred…spirit…one day, I will have my revenge.”
No, no, no! Whatever else is true about Gertie, she’s not wearing bootleg Earnhardt shirts in public! She’s going to shell out the money for a decent font with a border, not this teal-and-black nightmare!
GG – The Socratic Method, Lesson One: What Not to Do
@Schroduck: Yes, law firm conference room doors are closed for a reason, and those reasons don’t include so that you can barge in unexpectedly to ask about waffles.
For one panel Ed looks almost happy, and I don’t like it. No, I don’t like it at all. It’s like watching a cat and mouse playing checkers. It’s unnatural and confusing and, phew, he looks like he’s ready to be an asshole again in the last panel.
***
Now I’m curious if Andy has been hiding a blue Mohawk under his cap all these years.
“No, I said ‘it’s a lawful station,’ now get the hell out of here and bill some hours in whatever type of law it is you do.” Door closes, everyone waits ten seconds. “Anyway, Justices Frankfurter and Warren Burger had some interesting opinions on bakeries in Lochner.” Door flies open, sweaty drooling Ed leans in. “Get the fuck out, Ed!” Everyone tries to stifle their laughter.
Andy Capp at a punk rock show makes no sense, but for cultural reasons. Like their American equivalents, the Lockhorns, the Capps are vaguely reactionary when it comes to social trends. As teenagers, they probaby held onto rock music while disdaining punk and disco and new wave, and Taylor Swift is probably the extent of their knowledge about newer music. Andy’s reaction to punk might resemble a Plugger’s.
Pluggers: This raises some disturbing thoughts. Are some Plugger manimals allergic to others’ hair or dander? Is developing an allergy to one’s spouse grounds for divorce? Are there hypo-nonallergenic Pluggers?
A Capp – Bet the song they were pogoing to was The Rezillos “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonite”
(Which, unlikely as it may seem from the title, was a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song!)
“Adam Driver is the greatest Driver, lady, and I think you’re in the wrong bar. This is the bar for stereotyped movie critics; the bar for stereotyped NASCAR fans is down the road.”
Dustin: Look at that brief moment of happiness on Ed’s face. Dustin is going to relish in crushing it when he steals those frozen waffles out of the toaster and takes a bite right in the middle.
MW: All witches melt in water so Olive still can’t swim and now she’s going to have to bluff her way through Mary wanting to see if she’s “growing properly.”
Pluggers – All this time, I thought they were called Pluggers due to their fecal output ruining toilets. Now I learn it’s simple hair impactions. Get some damn Drano and maybe buy a Tubshroom! Quit bitching.
Dustin Let’s leave aside the fact that I have been a lawyer for 40 years, have never used the expression “lawful statement” and don’t know why anyone would. American law is different, I never did much civil litigation, maybe it’s a cromulent expression, I dunno. Let’s focus on the real issue: It doesn’t sound remotely like “waffle station “.
MW: I was going to take swimming, but my tummy brain told me not to.
Andy Capp. It’s funny how one’s “head canon” can inform their reading of a comic strip. To me, Andy Capp has always seemed like an old drunk, late fifties or early sixties. So the idea that he might have been at a pub that was holding a nostalgia night for fans of the Sex Pistols and the Clash, and that it ended early because the audience is elderly, seemed perfectly reasonable to me.
@Ken: I having far more disturbing thoughs than that. In a world where sentient humans are human-animal hybrids, how come cats are still pets? Dogs, bears, kangaroos, and stupid *chickens* got to merge with humans, but cats didn’t? Why? And who decided this? Is this how bigotry manifests itself in the Pluggerverse? Is a simple house cat now a disturbing relationship, like “the gimp” from Pulp Fiction?
By the way, I have the same questions about Slylock Fox. And why the blue bird in Shoe is always naked when no one else is.
@Astroboy: I absolutely want to hear the Fleetwood Mac version of that song.
DtM: “His heart’s so bad he can barely walk from his chair to the couch. In fact, he may be dead right now.”
@Rube: Did you say croissant? Oh, cromulent. Never mind.
CS: my tummy brain tells me the Bombers will win and Crankshaft is offered a job as team mascot.
Dustin: They’re finally gaslighting him. Good for them.
MW: Saving your life was the least I could do. But I’m afraid we’re even now, Mary. Next time death comes for you, I won’t lift a finger.
GT: Considering it’s a song about getting boned in the grass, I think “Afternoon Delight” would be appropriate background music for the last panel.
Dustin: Hey, girls. This twenty says that if I say something about food loud enough that fat blimp Kudlick will run in here within five minutes licking his chops.
Dustin: Notice that when the partners of the firm are having an important conference meeting they leave Dustdad out of it.
Pluggers: Over at Henrietta’s house it’s feathers she’s sweeping up.
9CL: Besides the fact that this series of actions is impossible and stupid, how did this strip get passed the censors? Are there censors anymore?
H&L: What’s with the…mustache?…stubble?…on the mailman’s face?
BG&SS: I’m glad we have the words “handsome Ledbetter boy”. Except for gray and white hair, or balding, there’s no way for me to tell how old any of people in Hootin’ Holler are. Is the woman (girl?) in pink supposed to be his age?
Fact is, you cannot mishear something if it is written down in a balloon, text does not allow for such ambiguity. This means that the female partners at Dustin’s Dad law firm have decided to take revenge on him by gaslighting him. Honestly, this delights me!
Some might say that Lewis Hamilton or Michel Schumacher is a better pilot — because they drive races where you actually need how to turn the wheels. But my vote is for Juan Manuel Fangio, who won five championship — unbeaten until Schumacher — in just eight years and SURVIVED at a time dying was pretty common
@pugfuggly: the “Pogo” was a punk rock dance long ago, in the late 1970’s-80’s, when I was a wee anarchist lad.
HORRIFYING REALIZATION: Dear Gawd, I’m a PLUGGER!
@Banana Jr. 6000: Take it up with Pluto at Disney.
@Buck Ripsnort: You are a Plugger if you used to fight the system and still you fight the system! The circulatory system, the respiratory system, etc.
@Tonio: So was Andy a Mod or a Teddy Boy?
@Buck Ripsnort: Is it better to be a Plugger or to be Andy Capp?
GT panel 4: “Which one is your dad?”
“The sapling on the right.”
Well, I think the law firm has finally figured out how to keep Ed from eating all the snacks- station a few people in front of said snacks discussing legal matters. Works like a charm!
PLUGGERS: ….And that means some no-good tramp is having an affair with that female’s cat-man husband! And right there on the kitchen floor, too, going at each other like animals or something! Now poor dog-woman has to both figuratively and literally clean up after their mess (tsk, tsk.)
GG: If you really want to get Gertie going, express your admiration for Jeff Gordon.
That REALLY gets the NASCAR dolts going.
(Also — Dale Earnhardt died while preventing another racer from catching up to the race leader…who was driving a car Dale owned)
@Buck Ripsnort: Maybe you’re the one leaving hair all over dog-woman’s kitchen, you naughty boy!