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It’s the Comics Curmudgeon Fall Fundraiser!

9/22 Update: If your contribution arrived before 9:00 (e) yesterday, your “What Would Margo Do?” bracelet is in the mail! Thank you!

Click the banner above to contribute any amount — and receive your “What Would Margo Do?” bracelet with our thanks! Full details here.

Mary Worth, 9/22/09

Shots ring out in the seedy Santa Royale warehouse district as Operation H-Town goes down! Detective Scott Hewlett seems determined to shoot his own team leader there in panel 1 — maybe because the guy’s hiding in a box, or maybe for his shaky grasp of the concept of “arrest.” But the ’70’s thugs in panel 2 aren’t waiting for Scott’s move: they may not be “reasonable men and women”, but they know how to act on “an expectation that they are free to leave.”

Operation H-Town Update: Faithful reader 8th Man Fan has generously created Scott’s Drug Bust Pool spreadsheet, where you can track such issues as:

• What day will Scott arrive at the hospital?
• What will his condition be?
• When will Adrian express her shame and self-loathing?*
• What is the final outcome?

* for the events of this story line, not the Ted Confey story — no cheating, you rascal!

Play along using the awesome Scott’s Drug Bust Pool Form. Thank you, faithful reader 8th Man Fan!

Crankshaft, 9/22/09

Ed Crankshaft: not just old and nasty — old, nasty, and weak. Though in fairness, that may be stiffer wood than he’s seen in a while.

Zippy the Pinhead, 9/22/09

Zippy discovers Twitter!

Ziggy, 9/22/09

Ziggy discovers blogs!

Margo Moments — a Fall Fundraiser special, part 2

Apartment 3-G (panels) — 3/22, 3/26, 4/8, 4/16, 6/11, 6/28, 7/27, 9/18, 9/23/2006

What would Margo do? Contribute to The Comics Curmudgeon? Well, probably not — but you can! And we’ll rush your “What Would Margo Do?” bracelet to you right away, so you can unlock the power of Margo in your life!

— Uncle Lumpy

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Mary Worth, 9/19/09

Some cops slip a spare gun in their boot for extra protection. Jason of the Argonauts lashed a Gorgon’s head to his shield and turned adversaries to stone. Confusing the two, Detective Scott paralyzes his foot.

Crankshaft, 9/19/09

Crankshaft‘s old-timey photo reminds us: generations come and go; only pain and loss endure. After that fateful game, Grimace abandoned his dead-end mascot career and opened discussions with McDonald’s.

The Phantom, 9/19/09

Long into the night, Chatu stares at his pinups and spins elaborate, violent fantasies. Not so special after all, are ya, pal?

And in other news:

Rhymes with Orange, 9/19/09

Hey lady — pills for that now, they have!

9 Chickweed Lane, 9/19/09

Juliette Burber, who bullies insecure college students and trustees, chides her mother for bullying a sales clerk. Next: Edda kicks a Cub Scout!

Hey, Josh is off for the week — if you have any trouble with the site, etc., reach me at uncle.lumpy@comcast.net. You can still reach Josh at bio@jfruh.com, but expect a wait.

Uncle Lumpy

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Gil Thorp, 9/15/09

Yes, Gil Thorp’s fall sports action is about to begin, and it looks like the coaching staff (including seldom seen non-Kaz Assistant Coach Beardy McBeardster) has already pretty much written the whole season off, because they’ll still be paid the same win or lose, so why bother? Sure, let’s put known snitch and killjoy Robb Larue in as running back, why not; after all, the offensive plan will mostly consist of the terrified quarterback hurling the ball downfield at random as he runs towards the sideline, shrieking in terror, so he can’t hurt anything. At least Robb will be able to impress some girls with his new starting position — girls who aren’t repulsed by DISLOYALTY, anyway.

When I saw the reference to a pass-happy offense, I assumed that the team would be going with the crazy Wing-T offense they used as a last-game bit of showmanship from the previous season, but it turns out the Wing-T storyline was from two years ago, and it’s actually a running offense, anyway. I’m much more embarrassed about my inability to instantly recall Gil Thorp narrative chronology than by my lack of football smarts.

Funky Winkerbean, 9/15/09

Not that I’ve seen either of these plays, but Broadway musicals generally have enormous casts and elaborate sets, and require musical accompaniment of some sort; they are, literally, huge productions, and would be an enormous pain in the ass for a high school drama department to put on. Pulitzer Award-winning drama, conversely, can generally be put on with minimalist staging, because it’s artier that way. But, you know, go ahead and defend your choices on the grounds of “cancer is awesome, embrace death before it embraces you,” if that’s what does it for you.

Mary Worth, 9/15/09

Oh, well, I guess serial fiancée Adrian Corey decided that she finally felt ready to merge in complete wholeness with Officer Scott after, what, a whole hour and a half of soul searching? Or maybe she just wanted to taunt or possibly blind Mary with the ring, who knows. Anyway, I sure hope she got around to telling Scott that she had decided to accept his rash, ill-thought-out proposal before he headed out for the inevitably botched “Operation H-Town,” because explaining things to his bullet-ridden corpse is going to be awkward and unsatisfying.