Comic Strips 2020: Sumpin Arful

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > BSS: Bisexual Super Son > Comic Strips 2020: Sumpin Arful

Powered Descent: Jul 13, 2008; We haven't had that spirit here since 1969.

Green Intern posted:

Something that's been bothering me: how long ago did this plane crash? Everything looks to be in remarkably good condition. No dirt, even. I was under the impression that Lucinde had been living here for at least a year or few.

She said she was born around the time of the crash.

And if it had only been a few years ago, then she'd have been an adult (or at least a teenager) and scarcely a "child" who needed adopting. Also she'd know what an airplane is and wouldn't believe that she magically fell out of the sky in response to an old woman's wish.

# ? Aug 12, 2020 22:34

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# ? Feb 8, 2025 05:45

Selachian: Oct 9, 2012

Green Intern posted:

Something that's been bothering me: how long ago did this plane crash? Everything looks to be in remarkably good condition. No dirt, even. I was under the impression that Lucinde had been living here for at least a year or few.

Powered Descent posted:

She said she was born around the time of the crash.

And if it had only been a few years ago, then she'd have been an adult (or at least a teenager) and scarcely a "child" who needed adopting. Also she'd know what an airplane is and wouldn't believe that she magically fell out of the sky in response to an old woman's wish.

As I mentioned a few days ago, that particular model of plane had only been in production for a few years, so yeah, nothing about Lucinde's story lines up. With a better writer, it might be a hint that she's lying, but this is James Allen here.

# ? Aug 12, 2020 22:43

BigDave: Jul 14, 2009; Taste the High Country

EasyEW posted:

FINALLY. HELLSCAPE WINKERFLAME!

"Note: ~~Poochy~~ Mason died on the way back to his home planet."

# ? Aug 12, 2020 22:46

fun hater: May 24, 2009; its a neat trick, but you can only do it once

Vargo posted:

This is... this is weird. I don't know what Dick Tracy is supposed to represent here, given that he's shown rushing in with guns blazing, and is also known for murdering bad guys left and right. Are we supposed to take him as a "good cop" for not killing Lio?

this is a very bizarre read of what i thought was a straight forward comic. the reader assumption that dick tracy is on his way to face a dick tracy villain is subverted when the "villain" is a human rights protestor and not a faceless goon. its commentary on who and what is considered a "bad guy" today using tracy as the cop stand in because he's recognizable.

i would prefer not seeing him shoot the kid to demonstrate he is a bastard cop. the message is "ALL cops are bastards" because of how they misframe reality to suit their needs. not "dick tracy is a bastard"

# ? Aug 12, 2020 22:48

FrumpleOrz: Feb 12, 2014; Perhaps you have not been to the *Playground*.
The *Playground* is for Taalo and for Orz, but *Campers* can go.
It more fun than several.
You can go there for too much fun.

The Lockhorns

Brewster Rockit Space Guy

On The Fastrack

Safe Havens

Kevin & Kell

Mother Goose & Grimm

Hagar The Horrible

Sherman's Lagoon

Ella Cinders

Zorro

# ? Aug 12, 2020 23:21

Julet Esqu: May 6, 2007

Imagime seeing a fire that big and that close and thinking, "It is reasonable to assume that my girlfriend and my other girlfriend are both in there partying, blissfully unaware. Women just don't know how to behave in an emergency, right?" No. No. With a fire that big, you notice.

Batiuk, you lovely, lovely cartoonist.

# ? Aug 12, 2020 23:32

Vox Valentine: May 30, 2013; Solving all of life's problems through enhanced casting of Occam's Razor. Reward yourself with an imaginary chalice.

1: gently caress Tombat.
2: gently caress Holbrook.
3: gently caress Holbrook a second time.

# ? Aug 12, 2020 23:35

Murdstone: Jun 14, 2005

EasyEW posted:

9 ICK-weed Lane

Not too sure which bugs me more, the "passion" face that looks like a fish gasping for air or the ranger using her mountaineering training to scale a doughy elderly man in overalls.

Brooke ran out of characters to have hook up and has already introduced too many new couples these past few years and that's the only story he tells so this is what we get. This is, in my opinion, totally out of whatever character Thorax has been depicted to be up to this point, and it is also stupid and gross.

# ? Aug 12, 2020 23:44

Professor Wayne: Aug 27, 2008; So, Harvey, what became of the giant penny?

They actually let him keep it.

Julet Esqu posted:

Imagime seeing a fire that big and that close and thinking, "It is reasonable to assume that my girlfriend and my other girlfriend are both in there partying, blissfully unaware. Women just don't know how to behave in an emergency, right?" No. No. With a fire that big, you notice.

Batiuk, you lovely, lovely cartoonist.

I think they called the movie star guy. Still a bad comic though

edit: Nevermind. I actually checked, and he called them

Professor Wayne fucked around with this message at 00:10 on Aug 13, 2020

# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:02

Calaveron: Aug 7, 2006

Why is the corporate lickspittle hanging around the detectives presumably doing their jobs

# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:25

Ardeem: Sep 16, 2010; There is no problem that cannot be solved through sufficient application of lasers and friendship.

Johnny Walker posted:

Brooke ran out of characters to have hook up and has already introduced too many new couples these past few years and that's the only story he tells so this is what we get. This is, in my opinion, totally out of whatever character Thorax has been depicted to be up to this point, and it is also stupid and gross.

I think he needs to take a sabbatical, write the truly awful and wordy Pipgorn porn he clearly wants to, and maybe remember what made his comic bearable 15 years ago.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:36

Vox Valentine: May 30, 2013; Solving all of life's problems through enhanced casting of Occam's Razor. Reward yourself with an imaginary chalice.

Ardeem posted:

I think he needs to take a sabbatical and stop.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:37

Ghostlight: Sep 25, 2009; maybe for one second you can pause; try to step into another person's perspective, and understand that a watermelon is cursing me

Calaveron posted:

Why is the corporate lickspittle hanging around the detectives presumably doing their jobs

the police were created to enforce the property rights of the rich.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:39

Calaveron: Aug 7, 2006

Ghostlight posted:

the police were created to enforce the property rights of the rich.

Yes absolutely but why is the alopecia skeleton hanging out with them

# ? Aug 13, 2020 00:40

Pigsfeet on Rye: Oct 22, 2008; No thanks to Lizzo..

Hostile V posted:

1: gently caress Tombat.
2: gently caress Holbrook.
3: gently caress Holbrook a second time.
4: gently caress Brooke McEldowney

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:12

Some Guy TT: Aug 30, 2011

Alhazred posted:

ACE

I don't know why this one bothers me when the whole strip is just about this woman making quirky bad decisions. I guess the sex joke just caught me off guard since the comic seems pretty asexual in general, nudity notwithstanding.

Vargo posted:

This is... this is weird. I don't know what Dick Tracy is supposed to represent here, given that he's shown rushing in with guns blazing, and is also known for murdering bad guys left and right. Are we supposed to take him as a "good cop" for not killing Lio?

Lio having the right ingredients to make a good joke only to fail in a very perplexing way is pretty much the calling card of Lio. I still can't get past the time Lio made a joke about good dead comics compared with bad comics that never die yet inexplicably declined to depict the undying comic characters as zombies.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:12

catlord: Mar 22, 2009; What's on your mind, Axa?

Uh... this took a weird turn Jun. 23rd- 29th, 1980

I probably wouldn't have timg'd these if not for the psuedo-Japanese gibberish, but uh... yikes. I can genuinely say, I did not expect this at all. In the Howard originals, the furthest east we ever heard about was Khitai, not shockingly based on China. Conan never visited there in the Howard canon, but in various stories assassins, wizards, and artefacts from Khitai showed up. Honestly, I'm a little surprised Howard didn't at least try a Conan story there, but I'm gonna be honest, I am 100% sure it would be rough as gently caress so I'm a little glad he didn't (even if the thought of Conan loving up Three Kingdoms China sounds awesome as poo poo). Anyway, a quick look shows that "Yamatai" was introduced in Marvel's "The Savage Sword of Conan #194", in the story The Witch Queen of Yamatai. No, that doesn't explain what's going on, but I assure you, I'm just as baffled.

I'm not sure why, but Dan-no-ura is a name that sticks in my head. I think I first heard it in Sukiyaki Western Django and it's stuck with me ever since. Guess wherever he heard it from, it stuck in Roy Thomas's head too because I have no idea why this guy is yelling it. Conan has a knack for picking up languages, so hopefully he learns enough that we don't have to deal with... this the entire storyline?

Also, ignore that I messed up the month yesterday, you saw nothing.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:19

EasyEW: Mar 8, 2006; I've got my father's great big six-shooter with me 'n' if anybody in this woods wants to start somethin' just let 'em--but they DASSN'T.

Okay, part 2-ish...

Out Our Way (December 27-29, 1934)

Dok's "Xanadu It Ain't (Thank God)" Duck (March 25, 1913)

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:36

ikanreed: Sep 25, 2009; I honestly I have no idea who cannibal[SIC] is and I do not know why I should know.

syq dude, just syq!

EasyEW posted:

Out Our Way (December 27-29, 1934)

Alright, I need to swallow my pride and ask.

What on earth is the punchline in "born thirty years too soon" strips. The adults being too immature? The kids being overmature? Some "Oh the times, oh the customs" old man wailing that falls deaf on modern ears?

I can never see the joke in any of them, and I largely don't have that trouble with other Out Our Way strips.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:40

Mister Olympus: Oct 31, 2011; Buzzard, Who Steals From Dead Bodies

ikanreed posted:

Alright, I need to swallow my pride and ask.

What on earth is the punchline in "born thirty years too soon" strips. The adults being too immature? The kids being overmature? Some "Oh the times, oh the customs" old man wailing that falls deaf on modern ears?

I can never see the joke in any of them, and I largely don't have that trouble with other Out Our Way strips.

In this case: Born thirty years before individually packaged foodstuffs that don't get cat hair on them.

Generally it's "this entire problem would be solved by basic household technology at the time of the strip's writing, but not at the time of the writer's childhood"

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:48

Kennel: May 1, 2008; BAWWW-UNH!

ikanreed posted:

Alright, I need to swallow my pride and ask.

What on earth is the punchline in "born thirty years too soon" strips. The adults being too immature? The kids being overmature? Some "Oh the times, oh the customs" old man wailing that falls deaf on modern ears?

I can never see the joke in any of them, and I largely don't have that trouble with other Out Our Way strips.

"Hey, remember how bad some things were 30 years ago?" In this case shopkeepers not caring about hygiene.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:49

Kennel: May 1, 2008; BAWWW-UNH!

A modern example would be someone becoming frustrated because a family member keeps hogging the phone.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:55

ikanreed: Sep 25, 2009; I honestly I have no idea who cannibal[SIC] is and I do not know why I should know.

syq dude, just syq!

So, born thirty years too soon

"Gosh I'm sure ashamed to be buying pornography"

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:57

Evil Mastermind: Apr 28, 2008

The Dinette Set is oddly relevant.

Working Daze thinks this is workplace humor, I guess.

Super-Fun-Pak Comix is TMI.

Cul De Sac makes friends.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 01:58

Ghostlight: Sep 25, 2009; maybe for one second you can pause; try to step into another person's perspective, and understand that a watermelon is cursing me

Calaveron posted:

Yes absolutely but why is the alopecia skeleton hanging out with them

she's the house servant of the rich person concerned.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 02:13

Drimble Wedge: Mar 10, 2008; Self-contained

Scary Gary

# ? Aug 13, 2020 02:25

Green Intern: Dec 29, 2008; Loon, Crazy and Laughable

Powered Descent posted:

She said she was born around the time of the crash.

And if it had only been a few years ago, then she'd have been an adult (or at least a teenager) and scarcely a "child" who needed adopting. Also she'd know what an airplane is and wouldn't believe that she magically fell out of the sky in response to an old woman's wish.

Thank you for the clarification. Good to know the comic is even worse than I thought.

Edit: and Selachian too!

Regarding that Conan strip: yikes!

But the Dan-no-ura is probably a reference (or wholesale word-appropriation of the Battle of Dan-no-Ura: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dan-no-ura)

Green Intern fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Aug 13, 2020

# ? Aug 13, 2020 04:26

Ghostlight: Sep 25, 2009; maybe for one second you can pause; try to step into another person's perspective, and understand that a watermelon is cursing me

Green Intern posted:

Regarding that Conan strip: yikes!

But the Dan-no-ura is probably a reference (or wholesale word-appropriation of the Battle of Dan-no-Ura: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dan-no-ura)

It's weird because tomo and tanto are definitely the correct words for the context, then you have like "Az-zo Dez-ko!" which could be someone approaching "ah, so desu ka" by ear alone. So it's like Roy Thomas picked up enough by osmosis that he thought he could just wing the entire thing rather than ask anybody.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 05:12

davidspackage: May 16, 2007; Nap Ghost

The Bloop posted:

Greta has broken Madi's spirit and is now using her as a tool to spread chaos, Loki-like.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 05:13

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Zelda

# ? Aug 13, 2020 05:16

catlord: Mar 22, 2009; What's on your mind, Axa?

Green Intern posted:

Regarding that Conan strip: yikes!

But the Dan-no-ura is probably a reference (or wholesale word-appropriation of the Battle of Dan-no-Ura: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dan-no-ura)

Oh, absolutely (the two gangs in Sukiyaki Western Django are based on the Heike and the Genji, which is why it came up in that movie), but frankly it just makes the whole thing weirder to me. Why? Where did he hear it? Did Roy Thomas read up on the Genpei War and just drop that in there? Hell if I know.

Ghostlight posted:

It's weird because tomo and tanto are definitely the correct words for the context, then you have like "Az-zo Dez-ko!" which could be someone approaching "ah, so desu ka" by ear alone. So it's like Roy Thomas picked up enough by osmosis that he thought he could just wing the entire thing rather than ask anybody.

Yeah, my admittedly extremely rusty high school Japanese helped me recognise some bits as actual words, but then there's words with 'v's in them and way more hyphens than I'm used to and I have no idea what "na-takk" is supposed to be? I'm a little surprised they didn't just bust out an English-Japanese dictionary and give us some ridiculously broken Japanese, honestly.

catlord fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Aug 13, 2020

# ? Aug 13, 2020 05:47

My Lovely Horse: Aug 21, 2010

Maybe it's supposed to be phonetic spelling for the benefit of the reader, in order to convey what this strange language sounds like to Conan, rather than strive for an accurate representation.

My Lovely Horse fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Aug 13, 2020

# ? Aug 13, 2020 06:15

Strontium: Aug 28, 2009; Dexter didn't much care for the party.

Daddy Daze

Take It From the Tinkersons

Dark Side of the Horse

Fort Knox

# ? Aug 13, 2020 06:25

Mikl: Nov 8, 2009; Vote shit sandwich or the shit sandwich gets it!

Classic Kevin and Kell (January 22-26, 1996)

First appearance: Candice/Candace. Yes, she gets two names: she's introduced by name as Candice in the next strip, but that name gets dropped fast and after a few appearances she's renamed Candace.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 06:37

Bruceski: Aug 21, 2007; Live, laugh, kupo!

Julet Esqu posted:

Imagime seeing a fire that big and that close and thinking, "It is reasonable to assume that my girlfriend and my other girlfriend are both in there partying, blissfully unaware. Women just don't know how to behave in an emergency, right?" No. No. With a fire that big, you notice.

Batiuk, you lovely, lovely cartoonist.

It appears that fire was just a few inches wide across the road, while a completely different part of the fire is creeping up to the house like some B-movie burglar.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 09:16

My Lovely Horse: Aug 21, 2010

Was going over some old posts when something struck me, and, I mean, we already know Detorie is an idiot, but

Manuel Calavera posted:

One Big Happy

... I'm just picturing him trying to come up with a name that really evokes how this school he's come up with is an affront to everything that's good in American culture, like it's really supposed to drive that point home, and the one he settles on has both Mexican and Jewish connotations.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 09:27

Kennel: May 1, 2008; BAWWW-UNH!

Surgeon's Tales

Nancy

Dustin

Mandrake

In this case there is a good reason for that pose (wheeled robo), but I always like when limited animation films and such do that kind of running with people wearing robes/dresses.

# ? Aug 13, 2020 10:10

Selachian: Oct 9, 2012

Rhymes with Orange

Get Fuzzy 8/12/00

Brenda Starr 7/12/42

Get the lesson, 1942 girls? Pursue your man with singleminded dedication, no matter what he says or does, and he'll eventually give up and ask you to marry him!

Norma Gilmartin's design is ideal for when you have to go straight from a dinner party to lead a marching band.

Smokey Stover 2/14/37

It's a bit hard to read, but the jug Smokey has in the first couple panels is labeled "POLE POLISH."

Edge of Diagnosis

"An obvious broken neck as the head is slightly detached!" Get a load of Dr. House here.

And if you were hoping for something that might clarify the time line of Lucinde's back story, this is absolutely no help. Unless she's actually something like eight.

Selachian fucked around with this message at 10:50 on Aug 13, 2020

# ? Aug 13, 2020 10:35