kidcoelacanth posted:

If you want to trawl the archives for Gene and Mary Lou's whole deal, I'm digging through now to pin down some dates (instead of doing my actual work job):

BigglesSWE posted:

I look forward to seeing how Luann will underwhelm our nonexistent expectations yet again.

Crab Dad posted:

Lol Bets dumped his sorry rear end.

Stultus Maximus posted:

He wouldn't agree to livestream pegging for gas money.

Schwarzwald posted:

A lot of good stuff here, but I particularly liked:

readingatwork posted:

OK, part 2 of What the Actual Hell is Going on in Blind Alley:

The Cast and Their Subplots:




Sweatpea:


Some kind of hippie and Pod's BFF. She seems to share some sort of psychic link with nature, Sweatpea, and also the baby for some reason. She's been having ominous dreams but otherwise hasn't done much beyond talk to trees and idly muse on nature and being human.


Wander:


See!? I wasn't kidding when I said he he takes orders from birds! Wander is a wandering hobo who's traveling with his bindel demon to find Blind Alley for reasons that are still not clear. He seems nice enough and is kind of dumb in a shounen protagonist sort of way (complete with being obsessed with food). He is currently trying to not get murdered by a pack of wasteland children.


Oliver:


A very strange child and possible egg waiting to hatch. He used to get treated pretty badly by his best friend Ten (and still kind of does) but these days their relationship seems to be becoming more healthy. He also seems to have joined whatever weird nature cult Sweatpea and Pod are in.


Ten:


Ten is an awful little poo poo who lashes out at everybody and everything because he's not dealing with his sick mother's prolonged illness well. While he particularly enjoyed picking on Kaye and Oliver, everybody was on the receiving end of his bullshit to the point where he was eventually booted from the friend group. This (and the guilt from murdering an innocent and very real bird) have caused him to do some introspection and try to make up for his mistakes. Most of the friend group has been receptive to this but Kaye still hates his guts.


April:


An aspiring magician that hangs out in the periphery and hasn't done much yet. May have actual magical powers.


Pip:


A pajama aficionado and irredeemable monster who thinks stealing is good and has probably already stolen your car while you were reading this. Pip was feeding chocolate to the local sewer monster and was eventually kidnapped and dragged into it's lair. Fortunately the sewer monster turned out to be Acme, who was friendly and seemed to just want to be friends. Acme showed Pip around his subterranean bachelor pad where Pip spotted "Pika Pete", a plush Pikachu doll belonging to April which had gone missing at some point in some traumatic way. Pip also seems to have almost immediately begun regretting his friendship to Acme due to getting some bad vibes and is now contemplating stealing the doll back.


Kaye


A budding otaku and comic book artist as well as Elroy's sister. Really loving hates Ten after having to deal with his bullshit for what I assume is several years. She recently learned through an old photo album and Elroy's psychic powers that the reason Ten kept calling her "Betty" was because she used to have a twin sister with the same name that Ten was friends with who disappeared at some point. It's still not clear what happened to her.


Elroy


Elroy is a super-intelligent baby that is also psychic.


Pod


Sweatpea's other half. She does all the same things Sweatpea does but is kind of morbid and dark about it. She and Sweatpea were fighting for a while off-screen at one point but whatever it was about was also resolved off-screen so...


Red


Blind Alley's resident computer wiz kid currently trying to get to the bottom of why the town is full of robot birds. He seems to be particularly good friends with Crane but has been spending more time with the rest of the cast now that his parents took away his computer. He shares my feelings on participating in sports.


Crane


Crane is sad that his dog is missing and will tell you this in 9/10 conversations you have with him. Aside from being aloof and helping Red with his investigation he is also trying to learn how to skateboard by using an old board he found in his parent's closet. For the life of me I can't tell if the above comic is supposed to be lore or a joke about how the times change.


Penny


Penny is a dog who fled town in shame after he knocked a couple kids over while chasing a stick. While kind of dense, Penny is also very loyal and is currently trying to get back home to his owner Crane.To this end he has formed an alliance of convenience with Wander's demon-on-a-stick (???). The current plan is to find Wander, who they got separated from when they fell off a cliff. However Penny is still not sure if he trusts them enough to actually help them get to Blind Alley.


Lula


Honestly, I'm just kind of assuming she's a real vampire at this point based solely on how weird everything else is. Though if that's the case she doesn't seem to be feeding on people for real for some reason. Aside from doing vampire stuff she has also been forming a legitimately adorable bond with a local stray cat she has named "Uncle Michael".


Acme


There is a very good chance that Acme's arc won't end with him killing Pip and hanging his corpse in his murder basement. I have a good feeling about this one.


???


Wander's partner and the smart one of the pair. While kind of creepy and a bit of an rear end in a top hat he doesn't seem to be malicious. ??? can read minds which has allowed him to team up with Penny to find Wander. Pretty much everything about him is still a mystery at this point.


Uncle Michael


I also love Uncle Michael.


There, I hope that helps. Also that took forever so you'll get new comics tomorrow morning.

Hippocrass posted:

Comic Strips 2023: Archie! Why were you born?

Selachian posted:

Brenda Starr 7/15/51

Doomykins posted:

I hope the Phantom really dies this time and we change scenes to Mozz passing his daughter the skull ring with a smug internal monologue!

catlord posted:

I have to admit, I just can't help but feel that Team Evans has been trying to write Bets out of the strip for a long while, despite or because of her being probably the best character in the entire comic.*

*Yes, yes, I know, damning with faint praise and all that

Hostile V posted:

Howard Beale posted:

Sounds like Gunth will be on the hook for the auto repair, if getting it covered was part of his fantasy.

Tiggum posted:

What? Why can't the tree complete the captcha?

Green Intern posted:

No Eyes.

Green Intern posted:

No Eyes.

Some Guy TT posted:

Crab Dad posted:

drat Luan is finally interesting. Usually I’m only in it for Tiffers.

readingatwork posted:

Crabgrass






Miles and Kevin are about to be those kid's you would point to and say "well their parents let them see it!". There is no higher honor.

readingatwork posted:

Peanuts Through the Ages (Jan 13-18, 1964)

davidspackage posted:

Love that last panel.

Hippocrass posted:

Diatryma is now Gastornis

Strontium posted:

Take It From The Tinkersons

Tiggum posted:

readingatwork posted:

Peanuts Through the Ages (Jan 13-18, 1964)