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Gil Thorp, 8/18/10

I feel like I’m turning into one of those old people who are always whining about how much better things used to be in the Old Days, when you could get drunk at lunch on weekdays and children were allowed to work in garment factories, but: summer used to mean something in Gil Thorp, man. It meant total madness. Remember 2007? Coach Kaz pimped himself out as a freelance badass and Gil taught a one-legged kid to box, in the same year? The seasons used to follow a predictable, stately rhythm: football, basketball, baseball/softball, lunacy.

But in 2010, this has now been downgraded to football, basketball, baseball/softball, golf. This summer hasn’t even had a hilarious b-plot to distract us from the annoying overbearing-father-cheating-on-golfing-son’s-behalf bull hockey we’ve been subjected to. Today’s the first time in nearly a month I’ve felt any compulsion to comment on the strip, and it’s just to note that Gil, having against all odds defeated the evil overbearing dad with his usual half-assed psychological warfare techniques, has decided to reward himself by getting blotto and watching the young people he’s ostensibly supposed to be coaching from the safe distance of the golf course’s clubhouse.

Mary Worth, 8/18/10

Wow, remember yesterday when I made a very silly and totally unrealistic joke about Richie getting gunned down in a drive-by? Well, it turns out that I can kill comics characters with my mind. Whom shall I mark for death next? Marvin? Brad DeGroot? Marvin and Brad in some kind of murder-suicide pact?

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Mary Worth, 8/17/10

Mary Worth has definitely been missing a certain something lately, and that something is frolicking. Earlier this year we got a few delightful days of Wilbur and his not-son frolicking in the woods; today, we are treated to a flashback of Dr. Mike’s dad and his cousin Richie proving that one can frolic in urban settings as well. As we all know, the best way to show that you’re having a good time is by means of ludicrously exaggerated gesticulation. Unfortunately, the thug driving that car will see them waving their hands and arms about, mistake the gestures for gang signs, and spray them with bullets. Watching Richie bleed to death in front of him will send Lonnie into the emotional tailspin that ended with the shattered man we saw lurching out of the bushes last week.

I notice that Richie is wearing the Han Solo-style outfit so beloved by characters in Apartment 3-G. I wonder if this is a message of solidarity from Mary Worth artist Joe Giella to A3G artist and fellow eightysomething comic book artist turned soap strip toiler Frank Bolle during the fashion escalation that is the makeover storyline. “Stay strong!” the vest is saying, symbolically. “Vests are cool, and people do wear them in real life. Margo will wear that vest again, some day!”

Luann, 8/17/10

Normally Mrs. DeGroot is on high alert to protect her children’s chastity, but the fact that Luann and Quill are sequestering themselves in Brad’s old room puts her mind at ease. On assumes that the pall of apathy and self-loathing that Brad left behind him still hangs thick in the air. It’s where erotic urges go to die.

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Here’s your comment of the week — the best of a particularly strong bunch this time around:

“Fare thee well, Cathy. I will pour a 40 of Tab on the curb in front of the Weight Watchers for you.” –Plinko Commie

And the hilarious runners up!

“What your husband is too sensitive to tell you, Beth, is that the government put up the fence in an attempt to keep your progeny from ever meeting the Trails’ adopted troll. The end result of a mating between the two would be too hideous to contemplate.” –terrapin

“Notice how Rabbit jumps gracefully over the Elrod ball. Careful, Rabbit. That Elrod ball is sharp! Why, it is at the cutting edge of humor.” –The Check is in the Male

“Is that an actual morgue? In the Tracyverse, ‘MORGUE’ is probably a commonly-used name for a nightclub.” –Baron Bizarre

“I confess that I am in love with the delicate, moneyed, pinky-extended way Mrs. D’Buckworth holds a cell phone. I kind of wish cartoon millionaires would start holding everything like this … not just wine glasses and brandy snifters — pencils, chopsticks, steering wheels, fruit roll-ups, hamsters … the effete, plutocratic possibilities are endless!” –Dan

“The wife in Pluggers is obviously performing a cost-benefit analysis in her head: ‘I could stab him in the throat and claim it was an accident. But he’d bleed all over the place, and I just mopped the linoleum.'” –jvwalt

“Is Pluggers such a hard strip to draw that you need a vacation? All you do is copy out a suggestion from a reader, draw some obese animals in plaid, and die a little inside.” –Citric

“Say what you will about Cathy but she never killed her dog, finger-banged a Nazi, or used time travel to spread misery and cancer.” –Ed Dravecky

“What exactly is ‘Spotlight on…’ meant to signify in Pluggers? Because I’m thinking that when a plugger shines a spotlight on something, he intends to shoot it.” –wagmore

“I kind of wonder if this A3G strip is the writer’s way of screwing with the artist’s head. ‘Here, design a fashion show! That’ll teach you to draw my characters in Han Solo outfits!'” –JB

“Lu Ann has learned that asking ‘What does that mean?’ buys her a little time and, if she’s lucky, a one-syllable recap or simple diagram.” –Uncle Lumpy

“It looks like everyone sees a different celebrity in the Rorschach test that is Dr. Mike’s dad, and my vote is for the skin of Chevy Chase as worn by Willem Defoe.” –bunivasal

“No, really, what does that mean? Sorry, I’m having trouble comprehending. The speed just kicked in and life just kind of blue-shifted for a second there. I CAN SEE THE UNIVERSE.” –Erin

“Isn’t that sad. Jeffy thinks a pair of discarded boxers is his mother.” –Mac

FW: “When life gives you lemons, move your mouth over to one side of your face.” –This Guy

“I look forward to Kat and Kitty attempting to break Margo by forcing her to wear an outfit constructed exclusively out of designer handbags.” –Windier E. Megatons

“Is Margo planning to grab six pairs of shoes, or twelve pairs of shoes? Or is she going to just grab twelve random unmatched shoes on the principle that the last option would be the most likely to enrage Mama Kat?” –Poteet

“Josh, at first I thought you may have slipped up by not writing ‘outfitting a child in a urine-soaked banana suit,’ but then I saw the clever drain hole at the bottom.” –Red Greenback

“I think that outfit is perfect for Tommie’s job. She does work as a whore on a 19th century riverboat casino, right?” –Joe Blevins

“It’s always fun to return to Mary Worth’s downtown. It’s even more fun than Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown,’ with its smashed store window, littered sidewalk, handy 2×4, and awkwardly-posing yet stylishly casual rubbies in matching pants. Even the lamp post and residential-style garbage can (or perhaps it’s the world’s fattest fire hydrant) go together. Truly, everything’s waiting for you!” –Mooncattie

“Thursday Kit-Kat threatens to dye Lu Ann’s hair. Today Lu Ann complains that Kit-Kat wants to cut it. Those … those aren’t the same thing, honey.” –Anonymous

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