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ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

davidspackage posted:

I'm trying to parse what Boyce is going for but getting distracted by the deer hoof on the shirt

I think he's going for "it's a weird feeling going into a bank looking like you're dressed to rob it"; at least, that's something I've felt a few times!

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ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Tiggum posted:

If she'd just kept on that nightshirt she was wearing in panel one, instead of the much shorter one she's wearing in panel three, she wouldn't have needed pants at all.

It's tough being a college student--can't even afford clothes that stay on-model!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Bruceski posted:

Lio's what raised my eyebrows. Is the author saying the NIH's recommendations are a trap to make Covid worse?

I think it's just presenting an amusing situation in which a comically oversized coronavirus has baited a trap with something desirable to potential victims.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

EasyEW posted:

How To Read 9 Chickweed Lane

I'm really enjoying these posts!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

computer angel posted:

I'm sure Billingsley is aware of OnlyFans insofar as it's "some gizmo", and not it's association with porn, but this is still gunna be a yikes from me.

I am even more sure that 63-year-old comic strip creator Ray Billingsley is not aware of OnlyFans at all (not least because his idea of what is generating Michelle's ostensible viral popularity is still "a blog") and that the line "...millions of fans watching me, me, and only me" is just a coincidental expression of Michelle's narcissism.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

sweeperbravo posted:

I only read the strip now and then, thanks for mentioning her name now I get the joke :)

Loris Slothrop, no less!

FrumpleOrz posted:

Ella Cinders


Really enjoying the chatty narration boxes. Hope tomorrow's is like "Hachi machi!!"

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

sweeperbravo posted:

I dunno, it was just such a weird, mishandled thing

Yeah that's just Batiuk's writing. It's happening again right now with this completely incoherent wildfire story!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

ikanreed posted:

Thirteen years. Thirteen loving years of moping about dead cancer wife.

For the character, 23 years! The thirteen real-time years also included a ten-year time skip.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Howard Beale posted:

The updates about Blackie are really intriguing because I remember Frank King did that for ages in Gasoline Alley during a storyline where Skeezix was kidnapped. Someone spotted the kid in Louisiana and Alabama! Police report false lead in Indiana! I think it adds something neat to the serial format and most likely drew in kids, too. I'm just not sure when the Gasoline Alley storyline ran so I don't know which strip predated which here, or if they were both working after someone else.

I like the Ella Cinders version of this a lot better, because interesting stuff is also happening on-panel--as I recall, most of the actual strips during that Gasoline Alley storyline were "Walt paces around saying 'gosh I sure hope Skeezix is okay, where could he be'", for several weeks.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

FrumpleOrz posted:

On The Fastrack


Psst! Holbrook! Dethany's reaction doesn't follow from Dethany's mom asking that question, which is an entirely reasonable thing to ask of one's daughter and would not require any CIA-derived foreknowledge!

(also the only thing resembling a punchline is currently in the second panel, so just have her say "I see you've stopped contacting your vendors, are you postponing or doing the wedding online?" in the first panel and then try to do something funny at the end of the strip)

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

EasyEW posted:

Crankshaft



So this is interesting: normally this extremely tired joke format is a drawn-out setup to Crankshaft babbling out some malapropism as Jeff and Pam look on in disgust/goggle-eyed horror/despair, so you'd think maybe the idea here is that Crankshaft has misinterpreted a "roughing the passer" call as the linebacker's name. But! This is Tom Batiuk, who loves giving minor characters incredibly stupid punny names like "Hershey Barr" or "Bubu Zayla" (or, more obviously, "Les Moore"). So maybe the joke here is that the linebacker's name is actually Ruffin Depasser! But if that's the case, why the standard malapropism setup, and who could possibly think that name alone could be a punchline for an entire strip, let alone a Sunday strip? There are many possibilities here, but at the end all we really need to conclude is that Batiuk is a loving hack.


In this issue of Life: Flapper Yardstick Seppuku!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

hahaha jesus christ

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Professor Wayne posted:

Because there are bound to be GAURDS!

First he was worried that there'd be GAURDS!, but then he realized that they were actually just guards. A sensible comic.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Julet Esqu posted:



Hey, were you wondering how Bets's soup came out, considering she never heard of vegetables before yesterday? Too, loving bad!



That is what you are writing in your essay. For Psych class. Well, I guess I have to blame the professor here. You ask a kindergarten-level question, you get a kindergarten-level answer.



Yeah, I'm sure your prof will really appreciate that extra touch, Luann.

Just when you think they might stop writing all of their characters as middle schoolers...

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Haifisch posted:

https://twitter.com/julesrivera/status/1317094660968304640
As a freshly minted 31 year old I'm kinda floored Mark was supposed to be this age all along.

Yeah it's pretty startling to be told that Mark Trail is my age!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

rannum posted:

I think I've lost track of who is married/dating who and who is/isn't expecting a baby

Same, I've been a bit lost over the past few strips and would really appreciate a recap, if anyone wants to provide one!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Evil Mastermind posted:

Today, Sean Connery passed away.

I'm bringing this up now to prepare everyone for the inevitable Working Daze tribute.

That said, THE QUESTION IS: which nerd property will WD reference?
1. James Bond
2. Indiana Jones
3. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Place your bets!

Maximum cursed: Melvin dressed as Connery's character in Zardoz.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Pretty good encapsulation of Holbrookian thoughtlessness here--all those dead bodies are people!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Zerilan posted:

This comic is probably a direct response to that, yeah. First it was a bunch of layoffs and paycuts for the people they kept when they got rid of commission bonuses in 2003, and then they did exactly this in 2007 while lowering the starting pay by $1.35 an hour. Both times it backfired horribly for the company and by 2009 the company was defunct.

Yeah this was part of a series of impressively stupid decisions--before the layoffs and the pay cuts, they decided to stop selling large appliances in 2000 despite being the second-largest such retailer, causing them to immediately miss out on all the appliance revenue generated during the housing bubble.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

As ever, the story they think they're telling is "Millennials are lazy" but the story they're actually conveying is "Dustin has depression and narcolepsy."


I don't mind if this story really is "this relationship ends after both participants wildly overreact to minor hiccups", I just wish it would go faster or be weirder.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

FrumpleOrz posted:

On The Fastrack


I hate this.


I really hate this!

FrumpleOrz posted:

Safe Havens


Are we sure they got rid of the shapeshifter? These two unsightly flesh-lumps can't stay on model from one panel to the next.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Green Intern posted:

I made sure to mention Milholland specifically in the additional comments section.

Me too, except to say that I specifically do not want to see it (as far as I know he is a very nice man but the comics world does not need a dozen more instances of his one character voice). I did say "no new Krazy Kat" though.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Slammy posted:

Gay and Her Gang (November 24, 1928)


Finally, this strip delivers the out-of-context dialogue gold I've been hoping for.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

EasyEW posted:

Crankshaft



A rare sight: Crankshaft isn't the rear end in a top hat!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

same, melonhead, same.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

FrumpleOrz posted:

Kevin & Kell


If you idiots all keep carrying your laptops around by the front corners you're going to warp the cases!

FrumpleOrz posted:

Ella Cinders


Bet you couldn't get away with saying "a barrel full of bung-holes" in the paper today.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

ikanreed posted:

There's a lot of smug to hate in funky winkerbean, but these "look at this cool comic book cover I drew" strips are the worst smug

They're not even that! They're "look at this comic book cover I got two of my comic book friends to draw"!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Johnny Walker posted:

Rex Morgan MD



I know it's boring, and I am constantly thinking about dropping it, but some posters here seem to like it, and I keep thinking someday something interesting will actually happen in the story, so I keep it. Nothing ever does though. Not since Sarah got hit by that car. The glory days of stripper vacation homes and bimbo karate are far behind us. :(

I think my favorite thing about turbo-dull Rex Morgan is how it still uses dramatic soap opera strip text formatting even though there's absolutely nothing of interest happening, so all the dialogue bubbles are like "I think I'm going to take a nap."

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Johnny Aztec posted:

Think the joke is " Caspar is easily taken in" as the salesman convinced him to go from a pair of dumbells to that thing

yeah I think it's just "talked up from dumbbells to something elaborate and expensive"

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

PetraCore posted:

Especially because both Summer and what's her face should be over 20 here. Cayla can't actually like... force this on them...?

Also, as far as the audience knows they're still college basketball players, and this is right in the middle of the season!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Tiggum posted:

Why are you typing with your thumbs on a smartphone? That seems really awkward and inconvenient.

...how do you type on a smartphone?

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

PetraCore posted:

Feels like two very human reactions to whatever backstory we don't know yet.

I like a fair amount of what new Mark Trail is doing and am willing to give it substantial benefit of the doubt, but I do wish it wasn't trying to rush into separate conflicts involving the unknowable backstories of every single character at once. Take some time, establish and let us get to know the current nature of these versions of the characters a bit, then maybe do the "here's why they're like this" arcs individually?

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Haifisch posted:

Same here. This entire conversation has been extremely confusing to me because it sounds like Tiggum uses his phone the same way and goons are all 'what, nobody uses a phone like that, what the gently caress'.

Yeah I think I phrased my initial confusion overly harshly--I use both the one-finger swipe and two-thumb touch typing, so it's really "seeing either one as especially odd" that is baffling to me.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

haha, sure, what, she's gonna gently caress the--


:mad:

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

Ghostlight posted:

yeah i think the wage is intended to be exorbitant because he's intimidated by the large angry man. i think you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody willing to even pay half that amount today for the same work, let alone hand out a free dinner on top.

I think the actual amount of the wage is a secondary element of the joke--the initial offer was "I'll work for my dinner", and Caspar is so intimidated that he throws in money on top of the dinner.

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

FrumpleOrz posted:

Kevin & Kell


A masterclass in subtly incompetent art: Fiona starts on one side of the couch in the first panel and ends up on the other side by the last panel!

ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery
they could've avoided so much trouble by simply 3D printing a new spaceship after escaping from the old one

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ukonvasara
Aug 16, 2012

a mixture of gravity and waggery

FrumpleOrz posted:

Kevin & Kell


Well, you and your peers seem to be anywhere from 16 to about 35, depending on whatever narrative whims are passing through Holbrook's head at the time, so I can't really blame you for feeling confused!

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