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Apartment 3-G, 2/24/08

Too often, drunks get bad raps in the comics, and, for that matter, in life in general. But in panel three of today’s Apartment 3-G, Alan shows his serious side, exhibiting the grim determination needed to get as drunk as possible as quickly as possible, and blot out whatever ill-defined pain he’s trying to blot out. He’s showing that no matter what obstacles he’ll have to overcome in the process, he’s going to drink the hell out that booze, and he will get blasted, as God as his witness, and he’ll never … be sober … again!

Funky Winkerbean, 2/23/08

Speaking of drunks, I’m pleased that all pretense of Funky Winkerbean title character Funky Winkerbean being sympathetic are finally being cast aside. I look forward to future installments in which we see the dark secrets behind Montoni’s successful rise to nationwide megachain: slave labor conditions, pizzas preassembeled in factories in Laos then frozen in liquid nitrogen for shipment overseas, and “pepperoni” made out of God knows what, intercut with scenes of Funky lighting cigars with hundred-dollar bills.

Shoe, 2/24/08

Ha! It’s funny because … oh, wait, did I say “funny”? I meant “vile beyond description.”

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So many items of interest to you, the faithful reader, have built up over the past few days that I have bundled them together into a maga-metapost! Perhaps most important: I remind everyone who lives in, or who will be near to, the Tucson, AZ, area on March 7 that you will have an opportunity to meet me! And the lovely and talented Mrs. C.! And Bob Weber, Jr.! We’ll be meeting up at the Kon Tiki lounge at 6 pm (an hour earlier than my initial announcement). (UPDATE: Mrs. C. wanted me to make it clear that we’ll be having dinner.) Here’s the thing: I’m going to be making reservations, so if you plan on meeting up with us, it is imperative that you let me know so that I can make the reservation for the correct number of people! I’m going to make the reservations on Monday, so please e-mail me at bio@jfruh.com before then! Please? Pretty please?

Now, on to the other random bits o’ info!

• Most of you are familiar with the outrageously awesome Reynard Noir, which reimagines Slylock Fox as an ongoing old-school noir film. The site’s creator, Rob MacArthur, was recently interviewed by Kittysneezes.com. A fascinating look behind the scenes! The second part of the interview is where he starts really talking about his site.
• Speaking of Slylock Fox, Bob Weber, Jr., now has his own store at CafePress! I don’t get a cut of any of this stuff, but you should check it out anyway!
• I’ve been hearing rumblings for some time about the coming Luann-based musical, but it all seems to be coming to fruition; apparently there’s going to be a staged reading at San Diego’s New Village Arts Theatre this coming Monday. (Does a “reading” of a musical actually involve singing?) Any faithful readers in the area are desperately begged to attend and report!
• Finally, I’ve been meaning to share this picture and note for a while. Faithful reader Barry encountered Mark Trail himself in the comic strip section of Universal’s Islands of Adventure!

  

  

  “It felt blasphemous to turn Mark Trail’s mighty fist of justice against him,” Barry reports, “but the only way to pose the shot in its rightful Mark-Trail-beatdown-handing-out context would be to have him punching me in the crotch, and Mark keeps his punches above the belt. As any good naturalist should.” Barry also notes that “just up the street was the Spider-Man ride. I tried to stage something there, but couldn’t find any bricks or TV sets handy.”

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Herb and Jamaal, 2/22/08

Yeah, Herb! Those jeans are much beloved by people Ezekial’s age! You know, people younger than 18! People who are still in school, and live at home, and aren’t yet legal adults! If only there were some kind of handy word that could describe people who fall into that category … but what could it be?

Actually, this weird circumlocution is yet another instance of Herb and Jamaal’s quest for total timeliness. When I watched It’s A Wonderful Life again this Christmas, I was struck by just how damn high up Jimmy Stewart wore his the waistband of his pants in the scenes where he’s supposed to be in his early 20s — just like old men puttering around nursing homes wear them today. It made me realize that the ludicrous styles your parents make fun of when you’re 16 are the exact same ludicrous styles your grandchildren will be making fun of when you’re 75. In other words, come 2050 or so, all the legacy Herb and Jamaal artist will need to do is erase the mustache on Herb and add it to Ezekial and WHAM! Instant up-to-the-minute relevance, with all the dialog the same!

Mary Worth, 2/22/08

It’s a good thing Mary is such a master meddler, as no mere tyro could have possibly pulled off this awesomely convoluted platitude. Seriously, it took two panels to execute in full. I’d love to see it in cross-stitch.

Dick Tracy, 2/22/08

Ha ha, Louise Brooks, the jig is up! You should have known that by selling supplies to so-called “artists,” you’d eventually attract the attention of an honest lawman like Dick Tracy! He’ll make you pay for enabling the depiction of the human form in somewhat abstract ways!

Six Chix, 2/22/08

Most pointless second panel ever. That … that’s pretty much how a frequent buyer card works. Yup.