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You may think that you’re a dedicated fan of this blog: you comment on the front page, you comment in the forums, you wear your Comics Curmudgeon gear in public to the embarrassment of your spouse. But have you sent me an umbrella decorated with comic strips? No, of course you haven’t — unless you’re Sam Garst, that is.

Sam claims in his e-mail signature to be a “VP of Engineering” at a company that shall remain nameless to stave off its humiliation. Apparently, once you’re at the VP level, you’re just made of umbrellas. Many thanks, Sam, for helping me keep dry and watch Ziggy get all wet at the same time.

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Mark Trail, 8/23/05

Mary Worth has taught us that a few hours in the horror show that is a women’s shelter can cure alcoholism; now Mark Trail is here to illustrate that some clean, honest fun in a canoe is a sure-fire cure for sociopathy. Mark my words, Lady MacAscot here is going to love fishing so much that she’ll forget all about her plan to murder Boyd. Great Outdoors 1, Evil 0.

Fortunately for this storyline, there’s still no cure for rabies. Each day I pray for the first flecks of foam on El Presidente’s lips. Please, Elrod, make it soon, I beg of you!

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Gasoline Alley, 8/22/05

Gasoline Alley is at it again with the realistically-drawn characters dropped into a highly cartoonish milieu without explanation. Check out the extreme close-up in panel two. I swear the artist is working off of a photograph here. Who is she? What is her relationship to the strip’s creators? And does she object to her portrayal as a Vegas cocktail bunny serving drinks in what appears to be a bathing suit?

This current Gasoline Alley plot deserves pretty much the same amount of attention as the last five or six, which is to say none, but I admit that I like the little halo floating over Lil’s head in panel three as she attempts to cute-old-lady her way out of a serious beating from the casino’s security staff.