It’s called “object permanence for relationships” and Tommy has yet to develop it
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Gil Thorp, 5/20/26
Somehow, this extremely long golf match that has pitted Gil and his ex Mimi against one another in a battle of golfing coaching acumen is still happening, but I have to say I really enjoy the sequence today. In panel one, Mimi and Anthony McKee flash thumbs-ups at each other: “Remember, you’re not going to fuck up this time, right?” “Right!” Panel two: Anthony fucks up. Panel three: “Whoopsie! Sorry I fucked up!” Only Gil can get away with this coaching technique, Mimi.
Pluggers, 5/20/26
I was going to do a “Ha ha, it’s funny…” bit here, but you know what? It’s not funny at all! Due to old age and ill health, pluggers’ mobility is in decline, and they haven’t taken measures that will allow them to live safely in their own home. Don’t be like pluggers! Stay in shape as long as you can, and be aware of your limitations before it’s too late!
Mary Worth, 5/20/26
“Anyway, thank God she’s in a normal, healthy relationship now with me, a guy who can’t distinguish between ‘my girlfriend is in another city’ and ‘my girlfriend dumped me!’”
55 replies to “It’s called “object permanence for relationships” and Tommy has yet to develop it”
Maybe if pluggers didn’t live in an Escherian hellscape the stairs would be easier to climb?
Anthony’s shot was so bad he’s apparently morphing into post-stardom John Daly. Damn, kid, Daly had to have a whole drinking/gambling problem for that! You really suck!
Pluggers-“So it’s one step at a time?”
MW-“Wait a minute. You’re crying because Brandy left town to find out some family history? I thought she finally decided to leave you for good.”
FC-Oh my god! They killed Dwayne Johnson and buried him in the backyard!
To be fair, somehow this extremely long golf match is still happening is how I feel whenever I play golf.
Pluggers: This Comics Curmudgeon has been brought to you by your local stair lift installer. Remember: Medicare can help you to finance it.
GT: But “pin high, just off to the green” sounds good? Am I going to have to learn something about golf? You bastards.
“I’m sorry, Tommy, I can’t really talk right now, I’m posing for a Grant Wood painting.”
GT Man, I’m pretty bad at golf, but I’ve never fucked up a stroke so bad that I somehow ended up waist deep in a water hazard.
Pluggers I like how Chicken Lady doesn’t seem sad or defeated, she’s concentrating on strategy. “If I make base camp on the landing I should be able to reach the bedroom by tomorrow afternoon…”
MW “Anyhow, now that I’m done recounting all of her personal family affairs, is there anything else you’d like to know? Her bathroom habits? Ooh, let me tell you about this one thing she loves in bed.. ”
GT: Why is that kid standing in the middle of the water hazard?
S4th: Somewhere, Mrs. Ted Forth heaves a sigh of relief as she senses her moron of a son, his nimrod of a wife and their neurotic daughter just found a reason not to join her on a summer road trip.
JP: Is there a Kelrast Kurve in Kavelton?*
Luann: Hey! You don’t even know the guy! I’m sure his Ken-doll smoothness is just as healthy as anyone else’s in this strip!
*[Krusty the Clown voice] KKK? *That* isn’t good!
GT I wouldn’t be too hard on the VT golfer, the poor guy was set up on a hole where they have to tee off from a sand trap.
Mark Trail Mix: Mark’s upset his dad isnt engaged to an actual catfish.
I really hope Mary’s about ro rip Tommy for being this oblivious.
GT: Anthony screwed up so bad that his hairstyle changed. Also, he’s trying to drown himself.
MW: Either Mary’s gotten Dr. Jeff to write her a prescription for the good stuff, or she’s more interested in a random passing cloud than Tommy’s inability to understand travel.
BG&SS: That’s right, Snuffy, don’t look so smug! The paraffin in your lamps is made from the same oil that’s not getting through the Straight of Hormuz right now, and don’t tell me you’ll just switch to corn oil! We all know that 100% of Hootin’ Holler’s agricultural surplus is turned into “likker”!
MW: If Tommy is fully aware of and can express the reasons Brandy left, why is he schlepping all over town, boo-hooing like a little bitch?
GT: No worries, Anthony. Mimi has already found a way to blame it on Gil.
S4th: Ah! Bird of Ill Omen! Where the hell did you come from?
BF: How did Maeve get phone messages from her fuckboys before her ex moved in? Answering machines were considered evil mojo in 1990s Toronto?
GT: ”Pin High for the Pin Head!”
FG: But what about the King’s dog? Is the dog all right? I just hate it when bad things happen to comic strip dogs, like being in exploding palaces.
Pluggers: Don’t be sad, Henrietta: the meaty thighs it would take to climb those stairs easily present their own challenge to longevity, especially around Andy Bear, if you catch my drift.
“Keep talking….keep standing there talking….don’t move…. don’t look up and notice the air conditioner teetering on the ledge over your head…”
Wrecks Moregone:
“I’m gone! My moustache got me a better offer on Mark Trail to be a scam centre manager anyway!”
Mary Worth: The sun may also rise, but Mary’s hoe has a distinct droop.
Murky Tail:
His girlfriend the catfish? No, that was two girlfriends ago, now it’s his girlfriend the sturgeon.
Pluggers – Glass half full, Henrietta’s sensible footwear matches her equally sensible ensemble. And they tie! No velcro!
@I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: Is this the creators’ way of signaling us that Brandy ditched Tommy over a bad case of Peyronie’s? Inquiring minds will not be consulting Google images!
Tommy’s current story arc reminds me of the “Missing Wives Docuseries” sketch on SNL.
Curtis: As a middle-aged woman, Miss Nelson, it’s more likely to go right to your butt.
DT: Today we learn that Mumbles the bow tie-wearer also favors suspenders over a belt. In for a penny, in for a pound.
@Old School Allie Cat: Ooh, those appear to be the slip-ons they make to look like lace-ups. The matching shorts and compression socks are a nice touch, though.
MW: The Patented Mary Worth story writing method:
1) Think of something cool and dramatic for a character to do – tour the world interviewing disaster survivors, track down their estranged mom, dig into their abusive family’s dark history.
2) Have that character leave Santa Royale to do the cool, exciting, dramatic thing.
3) Keep the narrative fixed in Santa Royale and show the character’s neighbors ambling casually around town and having low energy conversations in grocery store parking lots.
Pluggers: I love how quizzically Chicken Lady is eyeing up those stairs. Were they always there? Where do they lead to? They stretch far out of sight, defying the geometry of the house – perhaps they really are higher than Everest. House of Leaves eat your heart out.
GT — “Pin high. Just off to the green.”
That’s “Just off the green.” No one who’s ever played, watched, or talked about golf has ever said “off to the green.” You were soooo close, Gil Thorpe writer!
And frankly, pin high just off the green is not a bad shot–I should be so lucky when I go out to spoil a long walk. . .
The Familliar Mucus: Come a listen to my story bout a kid named Jeff/a cartoonist’s kid with just one brain cell left. And then one day, while digging for some bling, up from the ground came a bubbling nothing.Nada, bupkis that is.
Mary Worth, alt joke: Hey look, Mary’s eyes rolled so hard they bent the top of that hoe backwards!
To be fair, the creative team behind Gil Thorp has done a bang-up job of depicting how boring a round of golf really is.
Mary Worth:
“Will she be back, Tommy?”
“I think I have to keep a close eye on her pet burro that we were talking about when she also broached the topic of her departure. ‘Cause when I confidently proclaimed that she’d eventually be back to take care of it and me, she said, right, and monkeys might fly out of it!”
@21 I’m Not Cthulhu, But I Play Him On TV: Mary’s hoe matches her meddle-priapism, drooping once she found that Tommy’s got a problem that’s barely meddleworthy.
RMMD If your owner thinks 4 people getting out of a car is a “rush” the original staff can’t handle, even having an ex-movie-star waitress isn’t going to save the cafe from terminal mismanagement
Luanna “and maybe that – and by ‘that’ I mean the pinky you use to represent Luann has more knowledge of adult relationships than Little Miss Smooth-Barbie-Dolls-Are-too-Racy-to-Explain-the-‘Bits’-in-Sex-Ex-Class”
@26 Ukulele Ike: She may like that if she’s trying to attract Sir Mix-A-Lot.
@matt w: If you do, you’re one step ahead of Henry…
Gil Thorp:
“Coach, why is this called the ‘Distorted Face Invitational,’ anyway?”
@pugfuggly: Tommy made the rookie mistake of making eye contact with Mary, succumbing to her hypnotic “reveal everything” command. Of course that only works on the particularly weak-minded, with others she has to use her scopolamine-laced muffins.
@Schroduck:
4) Issue more or less resolves itself without the involvement of what passes for the protagonists.
5) So-called protagonists remember they had a vague, desultory, low-information conversation about the issue one time a few weeks prior and spend more time talking about the now-resolved issue than they did when it was still an issue.
Marvin lifted the line today “what a dumb idea” from the response of every person when they see the comic strip Marvin.
Also you know Marvin is definitely going to be urinating in the pool by the end of the week.
The art in Gil Thorp is obviously terrible, but I think they might be making Mimi look fatter and older on purpose? I assume it’s some sort of narrative punishment for Divorcing Gil And Also Gay.
GT- I didn’t see any water in the first panel. Did he mess up so bad that Mimi chased him into the water as punishment?
When did the idea that pluggers went from “people who just go about their business without flashiness and get the job done” to “people who are old”?
Pluggers:
“I’m too ‘chicken’ to try to ascend this entire height!”
MW: “Oh shit. Now that I hear myself say it out loud, her story is complete crap and just an elaborate excuse to leave me, isn’t it?”
Is Tara telling Phil to use his pinky to fingerbang Luann. Personally, I prefer the dual ring/middle finger approach. But Tara probably knows what works best.
Gil Thorp: Visually, there’s a fun little story here, but some weird stuff is going on in the margins. Mimi used to be as slim and curvy as Gil is manly. Did her attraction to a female partner make her gain, I don’t know, 50-100 lbs?
Meanwhile, it’s clear Anthony was distracted when his hair grew into a mullet in between panels! Many such cases, he should be allowed a do-over.
Mary Worth:
‘I think her dad might have gotten accidentally bombarded by too much gamma ray radiation. It made him turn big and green, but on the plus side, it also made him want to beat up bad guys!”
RMMD – Lonnie leaves peacefully, despite clearly being ready to Kung Fu fight. Or possibly do The Robot?
You buy the House of Leaves, you gotta expect a few infinite staircases. Don’t worry; running from the minotaur will keep you in shape!
@Victor Von: Like all lesbians, Mimi and her partner indulge in pastrami Reubens, pork rinds, and hot fudge sundaes after sex. There are those who say the sex is just an excuse. Pass the horseradish mustard.
I have a sneaking suspicion that spending more of one’s time needing to climb stairs than needing to climb Everest is not a trait exclusive to pluggers.
RMMD: I hope Lonnie learned a lesson. Don’t be greedy just send that photo to Hollywood Today.
@CanuckDownSouth: In these two panels, the number of customers drops from two to one, while the number of employees increases from two to six. Profit will remain elusive, especially when it turns out all those people calling about the video were checking the story before they tried to sell it to “Hollywood Update,” and won’t be showing up to eat there.
Rex Morgan, M.D. gets a new writer and the stories shift from medical drama to roots country shenanigans. Gil Thorp gets a new creative team and we still get high school sports play-by-plays. Never in life has it pained me this much to say something, but… *sigh* be more like Rex Morgan, M.D., comics people.
***
Pluggers will buy a chair lift for their large house that they bought for $50,000 back in the 70s before they downsize into something that would be a better fit for their health and current lifestyle, damn it.