pencilhands posted:

Giant Ethicist posted:

We Are Reproducing

I AM GRANDO posted:

Although it’s not technically possible, it seems very plausible to me that Wilbur is a goon who’s been reading the Invisible Scarlet O’Neil strips posted in this thread in real time.

Have we ever seen Dawn’s mother? I have an incredible well of sympathy for anyone who had to be married to Wilbur.

riderchop posted:

Compu-toon

Kennel posted:

Dustin

Kennel posted:

Nancy

Haifisch posted:

1981 comics

Haifisch posted:

The Lockhorns

Powered Descent posted:

Bizarro

Murdstone posted:

Mary Worth

My Lovely Horse posted:

I will give Lynn credit for doing what Gasoline Alley (presumably still) steadfastly refuses to.

also I'm extremely here for "TOMORROW: Scarlett drinks five cups of coffee"

quote:

The strip is still published in newspapers in the 21st century. Walt Wallet is now well over a century old (124, as of February 2024[9]), while Skeezix has become a centenarian. Walt's wife Phyllis, age an estimated 105, died in the April 26, 2004, strip; Walt was left a widower after nearly eight decades of marriage.

quote:

Avery
Walt's cranky neighbor, who drove an old car that started with a crank long after everyone else had bought a car with a starter. He died "off-stage."
Bill
He also died "off-stage".
Doc
He retired with a young woman on his arm, going off to a well-deserved retirement community. He died "off-stage".

Powered Descent posted:

Bizarro

Catellite posted:

quote:

quote:

DMorbid posted:

Ah yes, Lois Lane, very well known for her red hair.

PainterofCrap posted:

I can’t find eight. Seven, I got.

Dan Piraro posted:

The Bizarro bird is represented upside-down to show the importance of individuality. In fact, the bird often changes its appearance entirely, becoming a parrot, a pterodactyl, or any other kind of upside-down, flying beast.

Hippocrass posted:

drat.

Selachian posted:

Pogo 10/16-18/52



I admit I don't get the "dark-horse-shea" joke. Maybe a pun on Crazy Horse's Sioux name, Tashunka?

Archie 3/13-15/50

PainterofCrap posted:

If you’ve heard “Jingle Bells,” then you may recognize the line that describes their ride as a “one-horse open shay.”

(The song is actually a celebration of Thanksgiving, not Christmas)

https://www.britannica.com/technology/one-horse-shay

PainterofCrap posted:

If you’ve heard “Jingle Bells,” then you may recognize the line that describes their ride as a “one-horse open shay.”

(The song is actually a celebration of Thanksgiving, not Christmas)

https://www.britannica.com/technology/one-horse-shay

someone awful. posted:

Jingle Bells is about a sleigh, though, isn't it?

John Allison posted:

Steam-driven automata go back a lot further than you think. While the first successful steam train was, of course, Stevenson’s rocket, and the first sentient train was Thomas the Tank Engine, the first recorded use of steam power is recorded in Alexandria around 30BCE. I don’t know when the stories in Conan take place. You’ll have to look that up. Given the Pangaeatic nature of his world, I think it might be a bit earlier.

The_Other posted:

Conan: The Blood Egg Part 2

John Allison's Patreon John Allison's Gumroad store
Forward Slash Scare website for Allison's side comics

I AM GRANDO posted:

Hyborean age is before writing, or before surviving written records, Allison. Given how much weird stuff is in that world, though, steam power gets a pass.

Selachian posted:

I remember that when the current creator killed off Phyllis in 2004, he pissed off a lot of elderly readers, which may be why he's afraid to finally let Walt and Skeezix rest.

quote:

JUST THE BETTY FOR BILLY TO MARRY
As Told by the Stars and Nell Brinkley
No. 1-The Gray Billy and the Red Betty.


THAT yellow fortune teller of tinsel and brass rings and glass beads and tattered yellow silk and soiled fingers, of tin coins flaring at the root of its brown throat-that mock fortune teller, the almanac, tells you with a grimy forefinger to its gypsy brow what the stars tell about the mating of Billys and Bettys.

And the mock fortune teller says the stars say that Bettys and Billys are colors. Red Billys, with roaring tempers, don't match well with ditto red Bettys, who kick chairs and things,
too.

Indigo blue Billys, with thunder on their brows and "what's the use?" in their hearts, don't match well with indigo blue Bettys,who flat their noses against the pane and wish they were dead when the steak is cooked to coke and the cream won't whip.

Billys so the tinsel fortune teller says the stars say-should look on the rows of many Bettys-blue ones and green ones, and golden ones and white ones-and the Betty that is just the the thing that he isn't is the one to tell the Tale of Wonder to and pack off to live in his house for ever and ever, amen.

I don't know, but I bet you the curl above my right eyebrow-that I twist when I can't think what I want to say - that the stars say that, and then wink a mighty, unholy wink at the moon.

But anyway, this is to be a bunch of Almanac Billys and Bettys, and this is the first smiling two:

This is a gray Billy. He's as patient as the Sphinx or a gray rock.

His eyebrows are worried all the time, for fear he will forget something he wanted to remember.

His knees are scared of their lives and jam together all the time.

He sits always on the edge of things.

He has a mighty and wondrous forehead, and the hair swoops back from it and fringes over his collar.

His walk is very apologetic and pigeon-toed and the murk and heavy wisdom of all the books in the world hang upon him.

He has two great glares of glasses in front of his near-sighted eyes and he hustles along home on his lean legs every night hugging the things that the butcher and the baker and all rest of the smiling ones of the trade have told him "squibbers" about.

And this is the red Betty for the gray Billy. She is much big and sometimes beautiful. And her hair is most always gilt colored. It doesn't matter whether she's rich and perfumed and cultured, with much clinking money, or whether her coins rattle thin when she shakes her money box and listens.

She will always look like the many clinking coins.

She will always be piled and breathing hard with the wonder of lace and fur and drooping feathers of the poor kind or the rich, and she will conquer and boss and charm in either.

She swoops when she walks, and all the fur and lace of her rushes like the Cheyenne chinook coming down out of the cold hills.

"You just try it" sits upon her with a fine, sure air.

She'd buy all the eatin's, and carry them, too, when she and the gray Billy went home; and the butcher and the baker and allthe smiling ones of the trade would tuck away their squibbers and tell true to her.

This Betty would remember everything for the gray Billy. She'd talk for him and apologize for him and boss him till he was radiant. That blessed Billy-the gray Billy!

The stars tell that the gray Billy, with the scared knees and the forgettery, should sing his song to the Betty who would remember for him and boss him forever and ever, amen.

NELL BRINKLEY.

The_Other posted:

So I was waiting for this story to end before posting this; in Suddenly silver: Celebrating 25 Years of For Better or For Worse there are several commentaries by Lynn and her family on the strip, with two parts that reference the death of Farley. Apologies in advance for the walls of text.

From Lynn's comments of "The Middle Years"

Also, commentary from Beth Cruikshank, Lynn's sister-in-law.

Lynn Johnston posted:

Charles Schulz was now one of my closet friends and confidants in the business. When I told him I had to do away with Farley, he was genuinely furious. I explained that I had no choice. Since the strip developed in real time, the dog was much older than he should be, and to allow him to stay in the strip would be contrary to everything I was doing. When you're working in real time, you have to deal with life spans! He was angry nonetheless, admonishing my decision. He threatened to have Snoopy hit by a truck at the same time and taken to the hospital. "Then nobody will care about your stupid story," he said. He was serious, so when the time came to write the series, I didn't tell him.

Lynn Johnston posted:

The episode came as a surprise-and he never forgave me. Rather, he never forgave April for falling into the river in the first place! Like some readers, there are cartoonists who take these characters far too seriously.

Lynn Johnston posted:

Although I never intended to be a conduit to open discussion about controversial subjects, I'm pleased to know that many of the strips have been used in presentations, parenting articles, books, and teaching aids. All of us face difficult issues in our lives. Death touches us all, sooner or later. Everyone, whether they are willing to admit it or not, has someone in their immediate family or circle of friends who is gay. Most of us know individuals who are disabled and others who are or have been the victims of physical abuse.

Beth Cruikshank posted:

"I have no choice." The voice on the phone sounded unusually grim. " You know my strip runs in real time. And since you just told me sheepdogs don't usually live past twelve, and Farley is already thirteen-well..."

Beth Cruikshank posted:

"Wow!" I contemplated the likely reader reaction with awe. "So how are you going to do it? How on earth do you bump off the family dog in three panels and a punch line, and hope to get away with it?"

"I don't know. Farley is getting older and more feeble these days, so the setup is there. but I can't see the end yet."

"Well, there's one thing I can tell you about the end!" I said, with sudden conviction. "After all the abuse that poor dog has taken from those kids over the years, and the way you've made him the butt and fool of the family, you HAVE to give him back his dignity when he goes. Farley has to die a hero!"

"A hero?" Lynn said, startled. "Farley? Oh, come on! He's old and tired, and besides, everyone knows he's basically pretty dumb. He can't do some brilliant Lassie thing, like smashing through the window of the burning building and turning the combination of the lock with his teeth to rescue little Timmy before the dynamite goes off in the mine!"