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.
170 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!
GG: Gertie conducts the first ever drawing-and-quartering by race car.
LUANN: Luann: “I think my boyfriend is toxic. This is certainly a sign that this relationship is going places (tee hee!)”
LUANN (2): Incidentally, Luann’s “theory” is crap because she’s been “19” for about 10 years now (and has the mentality of someone who’s 12) and has had two (actual) boyfriends. And despite “The Breakup that Shocked A Nation” (or however it was advertised on the old GoComic site) Luann and whatever Kangaroo-boy was named (“Quill” I think) were more “boring and insane” than toxic. And indeed the fact that Phil is so insecure about the relationship despite being older than 19 just demonstrates that point and makes him look even more embarrassing.
GG: The greatest driver of all time is Stirling Moss. I’ll stake my professional reputation on it. If you’re talking about cars that can turn in either direction, that is.
Andy Capp – I just assumed Punk Rock Night was Friday night and what we’re seeing here is Monday morning. Andy doesn’t remember anything that happened in between.
New theory: Gertie is not actually a NASCAR fan at all. She may have a race on TV and talk about technical details once in a while, but she really doesn’t care which sacks of meat are peddling their Go-Karts. She’s a member of a cargo cult that worships Dale Earnhardt as a fallen messiah, and unbelievers like this fool at the bar will wind up as roadkill under His holy wheels.
Dustin: “Oh no, he’s eavestroughing!”
Don Abundio, translated:
“I can’t stand to be apart form you, Don Abundio! Snif, snif!”
“I will count the hours until we see each other again! Snif!”
[On door: DRAMA SCHOOL]
“Not a bad audition, but I need someone who can show a little more emotion!”
SMMD-“I hope she’s not as annoying as my sister,Billie” said Finneas O’Connell.
@Buck Ripsnort: I’m thinking I should ask Goofy instead. History is written by the winners, especially when they can talk and the losers can’t.
MW-“Did you ever learn to swim? After lunch let’s go buy you a cheeky little swimsuit. You’ll look so good in yellow polka dots!”
@Dr. Larry Erhardt: I like it. It would also explain the overall shallowness of the comic strip. In a world where @SECStories can have 300,000 YouTube followers when all it does is poke fun at the different football fan bases, Gearhead Gertie is amateur garbage.
DUSTIN: Ha! Those ladies most certainly did say “waffle station” but didn’t want the schlubby curmudgeon to stick around eating up all of their food (and then loudly griping about it afterwards.) I bet they do this to him a lot.
Ed: “Did you say, ‘doughnuts‘?”
Female Lawyer: “No, I said they should ‘go nuts‘ on the legal defense.”
(All the other ladies snicker at Ed’s confusion at this obvious gaslighting.)
Gearhead Gertie-Bill Vukovich.
Andy Capp: Wait, is the Capps’ home at the top of a steep hill? It certainly looks that way from the curve in the street and entranceway. Which actually makes me admire Andy a little more — the fact that he has to hike up that incline every night while drunk and occasionally beat up, just so he can enjoy the company of his compatriots (both human and fermented).
Gearhead Gertie – It’s amazing that she left the house. If she isn’t watching a race on TV, I would expect her to be sitting on her tilted couch, staring blankly at the screen until the next race starts.
9CL – If there is an editor monitoring this garbage, he apparently checks only for ethnic slurs and ignores the soft-core p0rn.
Get help, Brooke.
Andertoons – No, no, no. It’s the Milne version that’s in the public domain.
Frazz – Of course, only Frazz and his exercise fanatic cohorts can determine who needs motivation and what the person should do to gain approval. What a pair of smug, superior assholes.
@Buck Ripsnort: He was a Mocker.
Sally Forth: Please kill every one of these characters. Maybe leave Sally as okay, but everyone else? Boom.
@wesccov: I was wondering about that yesterday with the Rachmaninoff comment, wondering if it was an allusion or metaphor to Amos’s (is that Amos – or Andy?) woody.
@Rube: res ipsa waffletor
@Unca Bob: Indeed. No law firm has a waffle station, the thing waffles itself.
@Bomb Lice:
I feel the same way about 9CL only i require no survivors. All must go.
@jnoble:
Intelligent Life. Kill those two dipshits, and the rest will be free. Also, I’ve never actually seen them.
Gravelhead Gertie: Toonces (the cat who can drive a car) is the best driver, as long as you keep him away from cliffs.
Dustin – Ed would have also rushed in for “offal station”, which reminds him of a shady food cart he ate at in Wuhan, China in early 2020 that served the best rare organ meats.
If we’re going to discuss qualifications for the Greatest Driver of All Time I would tend to think “didn’t die in a car crash” is really one of the most important.
@Doghouse Reilly (Minneapolis):
At this point, are we going to claim stuff like the Bear from that one episode of the Clerks animated series being the best driver? (And then, what next? A 3 wood being the best driver? That software you install so your printer actually works being the best driver?)
***********
@2+2=7:
On Luann’s “toxic” relationships : I dunno, maybe the relationship wasn’t toxic on the Luann side, but on the Quill side, he was expected to show constant devotion to her or else be accused of not caring about the relationship and of cheating.
“Luann, you’ve been ghosting me for a full month because I couldn’t go on a date with you because I was rehearsing that night. How was I supposed to know to not agree to go on tour with my troupe because you were going to invite me to a week-long vacation?”
“YOU HORRIBLE MAN! You ONLY care about your acting, you don’t care about me or our relationship, just like Toni said! And your ‘rehearsing’ is probably code for you cheating on me with Pru, just like Bernice said! WE’RE THROUGH I’M DUMPING YOU!”
A relationship that survived the guy moving away forever TWICE, but couldn’t survive him having to cancel a date because of professional obligations@UncleJeff: It is true that Earnhardt was blocking Sterling Marlin when he had his fatal wreck, though it’s worth noting that blocking and defensive maneuvers were and are quite common in stock car racing and are not against the rules of NASCAR.
@Richard: Well, you know how it is with these racetrack drivers. They want to graded on a curve.
@Peanut Gallery: *be*
Curtis: Are we going to learn what it was about this home that led King to spend two years thinking life on the street was preferable? Was it the “okaaaay-okay”?
JP: “We’re going to lose our security deposit, aren’t we?”
SH: Hmm. Setting aside the usual “Alex and Pam are going to end up together because Holbrook so wills it, even though he’s also writing Pam as decidedly cool on the idea” nonsense, this kind of looks like Palmtop railing against her creator for giving her an unnaturally long life without considering how this would seperate her from other cats. Except that this would imply that Holbrook has considered the possibility that Samantha Argus, a main character in one of his strips, is capable of being wrong, and I find that hard to believe. Bill Holbrook’s motto is the Terry Pratchett line “It can’t be bad if we’re doing it, we’re the good ones,” but unironically.
@Buck Ripsnort: Both the Teds and the Mods were FAR better dressed than Andy Capp. Aside from the one black suit and red scarf, the only clothes he owns are for footballing.
If my ADHD ass has to learn about Ultimate Andy Capp, Andy Capp 2099, Days of Future Passed Andy Capp and who can imagine how many others I am not going to be pleased about it.
@Some Guy against continuity in daily gag strips:
What, no Crisis On Infinite Andy Capps?
@The Quiet Man: beautiful! Glad to see you too wonder how Aksel can wander away from work during a crisis and just hang out. I know Scandinavia has generous worker rights but cmon – he has got to be in on something either as a part of the spy thriller plot or this horror movie plot.
Curious about how Curmudgeons consume the comic content: When you see a new Josh post which do you read first?The comic examples or Josh’s remarks? I hope I haven’t been doing it wrong all this time.
DT: At this point, the gun is a major character and deserves a name like Zappy. Roberta meet Zappy. Zappy meet Roberta. Zappy has as many loving close ups as the other bad gals.
MW: This dialog has to be trolling the fans. No one can be so obtuse. And is Olivia getting bigger during dinner?
Flash: Ok Flash is acting with the same confident bravado as Luke Skywalker did just before he, Leia and the droids escaped Jabba the Hutt. What is his angle? Hidden weapon? Robot helper?
GT: the off season clearly is where the new creative team shines. None of the pesky sports with the need to accurate depict uniforms rules gear scores and fields. None of that stuff.
Dustin: I see that the joke here goes beyond ‘Ed loves snacking’ and into ‘Ed loves snacking and is hard of hearing’. It’s this type of multi-layered comedy that keeps us coming back for more.
LUANN: Just a heads up, young’uns, your glasses should be raised but NOT touched for a toast
PLUGGERS: What kind of animal was this? She should be more horrified some of those hairs are GRAY.
CS”. Ed rolls with it and wins, as did Slim and Clovia in GA.
FB oFW uncles and dads are interchangeable.
@2+2=7:
It was called “the break up that readers in disbelief” but if anything it should be called “the break up anyone could’ve seen coming a mile away.”
@2+2=7:
It was called “the break up that readers in disbelief” but if anything it should be called “the break up anyone could’ve seen coming a mile away.”
@ValdVin: H&L: What’s with the…mustache?…stubble?…on the mailman’s face?
________________________
Indeed..at first, I thought Dawg was stealing the mail man’s truck.
CURTIS: Oh my gosh, Ms. Harris has a tear in her eye. But do everybody a favor and take King to vet to be deflead, dewormed, washed, and get his leg x-rayed.
I’m loving these summer stories. First year taught us of sea turtles and checking pay. Second year introduced us to Floral shops and the importance of being a problemsolver. This year we learned even young boys can be compassionate caregivers and solve mysteries.
RwO: focus, old seer, focus! My experience is that when I think I’m deteriorating, often im just using age to whitewash laziness and a failure to concentrate.
@CanuckDownSouth: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…
Absolutely. As one of the people who’s said that, I’d like to be clear that it was never a defence. If anything, it’s the opposite — this isn’t the tragic deterioration we saw with A3G, this is someone who’s just floundering because she didn’t realise a daily strip needed to be done every day.
Low & Hi-less: Nice to see Trixie has a humanoid “friend” she sees on a regular basis. At least this one won’t give her cancer if she stays in his presence too long.
6Cx: horrible customer service! Even wise guys must answer questions about parking, nearby sites, and location of restroom. No tip for him, and 1 star review.
@Treetown: DT: At this point, the gun is a major character and deserves a name like Zappy.
_______________________________________________________
How about a spinoff comic….”Zappy The Pinheaded Weapon”- everyone it zaps turns into a roadside character sign.
@A Grave Mind: Their dying words: “This is just like that scene in popular movie.”
9CL – Does Brooke ever look at his drawings, such as today’s, and say to himself “This is awful! Humans don’t bend that way. Arms and legs don’t detach like that. None of this makes anatomical sense outside of a mortuary. I should just tear it up and start over, rather than save effort by just sort of smooching over everything that doesn’t fit.”
MW:
Olive: YOU SAVED ME from drowning in the Charterstone pool when I was younger.
Mary: Have you learned to SWIM since then?
Olive: Have you learned to DROWN since then?
CS: Is this going to be a rerun of the Funky Winkerbean story where the Westview homecoming queen ran the winning touchdown but with Ed instead?
Dustin: My guess is that the others at the office take turns just randomly calling out food, and place bets on how long it takes for Ed to lumber in, panting and sweating heavily.
“You didn’t even give a shit about Dale Earnhardt until he died.” “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!”
MW: One of the many bizarre features of MW is how people who are allegedly good friends turn out to know so little about each other. Mary has been frequently talking online with Olive for years, we’ve been told. Why wouldn’t swimming be mentioned at some point? Does Olive, in spite of being bullied, have a schedule like Kate Middleton, so crammed with events that she can’t possibly remember all her various activities and commitments well enough to mention them to Mary?
The same kind of thing has sometimes happened with Mary and Jeff. But that’s more understandable, since Jeff is allowed out from his dungeon only occasionally.
@Astroboy: Bwahaha!
Dennis the Menace Spanish to English.
@JamesBont: I hope to see that again tomorrow.
The Family Circus Spanish to English.
DT: What’s with the little ZZT! in panel two? Is the ray gun leaking powerful and deadly electrical current into Tess’s bloodstream, or has she just been shuffling her woolly socks on the shag carpeting?
”No one threatens the work I care about! Namely DEATH RAY SCIENCE! The second I hear a threat I WILL DEATH RAY YOU!”
Popeye Spanish to English.
@Ukulele Ike: I suspect it’s partly because Costello thinks a lab that produced a poweful electrical projection gun would naturally have electricity just .. floating around the place. But also, I think it’s some thuddingly literal symbolism — as Tess talks about what she’d do for people she cares about, there are actual sparks between her and Roberta.
Oh God Mary is going to talk to Olive about her changing body, isn’t she?
Crank: Please let tomorrow’s strip have Ed being severely beaten by Security. Please.
Dustin: As you can see once again, the law firm would completely fall apart if they didn’t have Dustdad.
GG: WARNING: Any even slight denigration of Dale Earnhardt in Gertie’s presence will result in, well, a painful shin-kicking at least.
Pluggers: Since the cat lives in a whole other house it would be weirder if they were all his, wouldn’t it?
9CL: It is—praise God!—not often that I identify with the characters in this strip, but if my girlfriend’s idea of foreplay was standing on my johnson with both feet I’d be quick to point out wildlife too.
C-Shaft: Since Crankshaft still hasn’t hit the john, the headline will be “Elderly American Tourist Drops Deuce on Field at Princess Auto”.
DT: “…or my favorite coffee mug. So let’s not make that mistake again, shall we?”
H&L: You can tell that the mailman loves babies because he let his infant daughter draw on his clean-shaven face with a ballpoint pen.
JP: The more salient question is why Reena, having established that the cabinet is locked, continues to pull on the handle rather than either finding something to jimmy the lock or—failing that—just smashing the door with something heavy. She’ll never get to Narnia at this rate.
MW: “For those of you who came in this week and didn’t immediately flee in horror and disgust, here’s a bunch of stuff that happened beforehand.”
Phantom: Why did the Phantom leave the guard with an exposed belly button? On second thought, you know what?
RMMD: The ginger drummer never got over his prepubescent sibling rivalry. The Family Issues Jam Band, everyone. Let’s give ‘em a hand.
@Horace Broon: Re Curtis: I’m also on the hook to find out how missing your dog gives you telekinetic powers.
Why am I not shocked that Hank Ketchum LLC is using a rejected Lockhorns installment?
@Guillermo el Chiclero: SPOILER ALERT: Basically, yes.
Ed genuinely thinks it’s plausible that there would be an impromptu waffle station in the office, and is even ready to forgive his colleagues for not telling him about it right away. This is the first time he’s ever been drawn without a hint of malaise or bile, and it ends in crushing disappointment, sure to prompt Ed to cinch his cloak of protective cynicism even tighter. Who knows — if those waffles had been real, Dustin might have finally heard his father say he was proud of him.
@132 Artist formerly known as Ben: on GG
If you see Gertie raring back to give you a kick, take a step backwards and she’ll end up on her ass. You can then say, “You crashed just like Dale Earnhardt.”
@Horace Broon:
“My grandmother lived the latter years of her life in the horrible suspicion that electricity was dripping invisibly all over the house.“ — James Thurber (b. 1894); My Life and Hard Times
As to your second point: True, the Dick Tracy strip has never been terribly subtle when they introduce lesbian characters. See Hot Rize and Notta Chin Chillar, the bearded lady.
@Artist formerly known as Ben:
#133. PHANTOM: Kit needed only one guard’s uniform to change into. When he awakens nekkid as a jaybird, the real guard will slink back to his home village. Which unfortunately has been razed by his employer.
FG: Note that Flash is employing the Luke Skywalker Gambit, issuing a single warning, with apparently nothing to back it up.
9CL: I’m about two months overdue for my very occasional viewing of 9CL, and after seeing today’s previous comments, this seemed to be a good day to check in. Now I’m wondering when Maine dolphins learned to fly. (Apparently Brooke lives there now. Get help, Brooke.)
@Sequitur: Thanks for that Cheech and Chong memory on yesterthread. It has been decades, and I laughed hard.
@143 Poteet:
You were probably mouthing the words along with the characters. You don’t forget a Cheech and Chong bit.
MT: The more elaborate this resort turns out to be, the dumber Mark and Cherry look for not having noticed it being built “up the road,” apart from them apparently ignoring all the local media that would have carried news about the resort, not to mention the neighbors. Actually, Mark and Cherry, your combined brainpower is beginning to compare unfavorably with a bag of rocks.
RMMD: Are we ever going to see Rex again? Is he dead? Actually I wouldn’t mind following this story awhile longer, especially if it means not having to look at June’s hair.
@Artist formerly known as Ben: I didn’t have my glasses on, and I read that as skin-shucking.
In Dustin I think it’s pretty clear that the woman did say “Waffle Station” specifically to lure in Dustin’s Dad and make him look like an idiot in front of several people as a cruel prank, which, obviously, he has coming.
In most situations Gearhead Gertie would be considered unbearably repetitive and lazy, but thankfully for it, Alice and Six Chix exist.
@146 The Rambling Otter:
There are several comics that are better to read with your glasses off.
Late Thread Cuisine: I’m not sure what’s unsettling about this. It’s just meatloaf, right?
@White Rabbit: Pretty darn ballsy for Flash to issue a threat with his hands cuffed and a robot guard on each side. I like that boy’s gumption! Boola boola, and beat Harvard! (Waves white hankie)
Ah well, the TRASH PIT will sort him out. Wonder what the trash pit is. I assume something more than a trash pit.
@150 Baja Gaijin:
I’m sorry but I’m turning this over to Bob Tice.
@Poteet: Re MT: Agreed. It’s kind of like living a mile and a half from a Six Flags and not knowing about it.
@Baja Gaijin: Meat Loaf smothered under applesauce? That didn’t even happen to him in The Rocky Horror Picture Show!
@Baja Gaijin: That sauce looks like it should be reported to the EPA. Is that pimento in those green beans?
@Bomb Lice: How about the cat? Everybody else can go, though…
Pluggers Mashup: What if it wasn’t the big dog lady starring in this production?
@Baja Gaijin:
Dustdad: “Is it waffles?”
@57 ValdVin: It’s not a moustache; it’s a long sparse pubic wig.
@133 Artist formerly known as Ben: on Phantom: Why did the Phantom leave the guard with an exposed belly button? It’s been a long time since The Ghost Who Walks was The Ghost Who Fucks.
@152 Sequitur: I’m pretty sure Mr. Tice can do better.
@155 I speak Jive: It’s not pimentos in the green beans; it’s just dirt.
@158 2+2=7: Heh heh heh.
@GarrisonSkunk: Kinda hafta read the comics first to get any context for Josh’s snark. Or at least that’s how I see it.
In a few minutes, Gertie will have a horrifying new trophy to bolt onto her living-room wall. Her husband will look on with disapproval but say nothing.
@Baja Gaijin: The meatloaf doused in applesauce and mustard IS unsettling, I agree—if not before it’s eaten, then certainly after. But what I find particularly disconcerting is the presentation, with those bows and trails of blue and gold velvet ribbons. WTF?
@163 Charterstoned: The ribbons and bows are there to distract you from the meatloaf monstrosity.
@The Rambling Otter: Whatever that is, it sounds painful as well.
@Baja Gaijin: The ribbons and bows are there to distract you from the meatloaf monstrosity.
Huh. Well, there’s no looking away from it. Actually, that meatloaf looks exactly like the Horta from that old Star Trek episode. That doesn’t make it more appetizing. I wonder, if you moved that dish aside, would there be a message burned into the tablecloth that says, “NO KILL I”?
@166 Charterstoned: I’ll trust you. I’m not into Star Trek.
@Ukulele Ike: It’s a compactor. Ol’ Flash will have a lot on his plate very soon.
@Sequitur: “That worthless loaf needs to get off the sauce.”
(And it this shows up on the loaf-pun list, TFB. And if Tice already thought of it, I apologize).
@Baja Gaijin: That’s too bad. The Enterprise shipboard food processing device spits out Late Thread Cuisine shit, all day long. You could be inspired.
@Dr. Pill: Yikes! The big squeeze could be bad. I was hoping Flash would simply be covered with banana peels and coffee grounds. And tomorrow, with a mighty bound, he would be free!