Showing posts with label Sunday Comics V3. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sunday Comics V3. Show all posts

Sunday, February 20, 2022

Be My Cherry Pie

Malon Burget was born in Indiana in 1870 to Frank and Margaret Burget. The following year, they arrived in Topeka where Malon's education was received at the Kansas School for the Deaf in Olathe as he was deaf and mute.

Every day for five years, 1906-1911, Burget sent a letter to the Topeka State Journal with a predication. Despite being deaf and mute, Burget and many other Topekans considered him a prognosticator. He would make predictions on sports, elections, and the weather. His biggest predications being that J.B. Billard would win the mayoral election in 1910 (he would and would serve until 1913), the Athletics would win the 1911 World Series (The Philadelphia Athletics would defeat the New York Giants four games to two), and that the opening day of the state fair would be a beautiful day despite local weather people saying it would be rainy (it was a clear and beautiful day).

Burget was a good friend of New York Giant and fellow classmate Luther Taylor and was a well-respected citizen of Topeka. For employment, Burget typically took odd jobs around the city and was employed for a while at the city street department and the AT&SF Railway.

Burget died of an illness at a local hospital in 1924 and was buried, in an unmarked grave, in Rochester Cemetery.

Illustration of Malon Burget from an issue of
the Topeka State Journal, 1911.

Unmarked graves of Malon Burget and his father in Rochester Cemetery.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mother Goose and Grimm
I guess this comic strip is over. I didn't expect it to end like this.

Isn't this how Cathy ended?

Daddy Daze
Someone needs to to tell the Daddy Daze creator that just because you came up with an entire Sunday comic while running errands in your car doesn't mean it's a good Sunday comic.

Mary Worth
I, for one, am very anxious to see Toby cuck Ian with Cal. Will Ian be into it? There's a part of me that thinks, yes, he would be. Sitting across the room with a glass of wine watching Cal rail his wife, thinking about grading papers. Perfection.

The Born Loser
Hey, it's some stupid made-up day of celebration. You should make a complicated dish that goes along with it! No, you don't get a cherry pie. Unless it's a cherry pie filled with dog poo and knives.




If you would like to support my writing or research, and that includes fan fiction of Toby and Ian's marriage, you can buy me a cup of coffee over on Ko-fi.

Sunday, February 13, 2022

Super Bowl for a Super Mom

June Tarpé Mills was born February 25, 1912 and is best known for creating one of the first female superheroes, Miss Fury. While Miss Fury wasn't the first, she was the first created by a woman. Miss Fury, a comic strip, made her debut on April 6, 1941, was Sunday only, and ran until December 1951 when health problems would significantly damage the quality of the comic strip. Mills continued to work mostly in commercial art as many Golden Age artists would. She did a story for Marvel Comics in one of their romance comics in 1971 and some cover art for Miss Fury comic reprints. Her career got started by modeling in order to make money to go to the Pratt Institute and in 1938 she entered the burgeoning world of comic books working on Daredevil Barry Finn and the Purple Zombie. Working under the pseudonym of Tarpé, because "it would've been a major let-down to the kids if they found out that the author of such virile and awesome characters was a gal", Mills also created the character of The Catman--no, not this one--a former criminal who exacts revenge on his former gangster friends who left his wife to starve and die while he was sent up the river for 20 years. How exactly does he exact revenge? I don't want to ruin the surprise.

The Catman made his debut in Amazing Man #5 in 1939. He made a second appearance in Amazing Man #8 but it wasn't as clever as his debut adventure.


Oh! We're just jumping right into it? I don't even have my pants off yet.

Ha! They're all doing Bob Newhart telephone routines.

"Hello, Marge...It's George..."

Why does Barton look like one of the men above? It's very confusing.

Word of advice: If anyone ever tells you that they are "tickled t'death" to see you, they are, in fact, not "tickled t'death" to see you.

"Coming out party? Who's gay?"

I'm sure they are just throwing Bart money so he'll go away (we'll learn why soon) but what they are offering to give him is clearly vastly less than what they've made over the last 20 years.

Bart went to jail for 20 years, taking the blame for what these goons did. In that time, despite making millions, they just let Bart's wife starve and die. Mobsters are usually bad guys but they are honorable bad guys. These guys just plain suck.

Is that a little gadget that will blow every blasted one of us to eternity in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

"How is that a pleasant thought, Bart? Now I'm gonna be thinkin' about death all the time."

What? Now we're going to be spending all this time with an old lady and her cat? Well, I don't exactly hate it...

It probably took a year to train this cat to attack people. You would think it would come naturally to them--being God's perfect killing machine and all--but it's hard turning cats into your one-man army of the night.

I love this cat.




Yes tiddy

Well, at least these guys aren't turning tail at the prospect of the sudden demise of their buddy. "Come on, guys, you can't run out on me now!" "Sorry, but it's almost midnight. My wife don't like it when I'm out late."

They're gonna use a gun and chain-whip-thing(?) against whatever might Chuck? Seems poorly thought out.

All the men look alike in this comic.

Hmm. Do you think this old woman has something to do with all this death?

I once knew an old woman who went around muttering "naughty pussy". She didn't have any money though.

"Chuck had a bum ticker. His heart was weak. Our hearts are strong. Plus, all the cigars and booze probably didn't help."

Where did they get their flag of the municipality of Bonita, Brazil pillowcases?

Seems kind of cheap to shove all the plot points into the newspaper headline.

Must be a slow news day if a criminal realtor's death makes the front page (a "wuxtry" no less) of The New 

Yo̵̱͋̆͠r̷̡̤͋͌̇̓k̶̡̺̞͚̙̀̌͜ͅ ̴̧̟͗͌͊̎̄͛͒͘͘T̸̪̘͛͌̿̾̊́͊̽͝ḭ̷͕͌̓̈́̈͌̍͆͘m̴̼̽͗̿̌̇̈ę̷͚͈̳͇͓͔̙͛̈̽́͆͋̂͝s̷̟̲̲̼̺̺̩̞͇̔̂̚̚

Rude. This sweet old man woman needs help getting back to his her room. What are you doing right now that requires your immediate attention?

Why did they color these narration boxes red? It's terrible.

We don't get to see the cat scratch anyone this time? What a gyp.

She how POISON is underlined? That's a clue.

"I'll just jump overboard. You're not getting me who-I-think-is-Barton-Stone!"

At least he gets to die on a nice cruise. Like how many other dozens of people?

Pop culture would really have you believe that you can just ask if someone died and you get the full details. "Oh, someone died?" "Yes, ma'am. Mr. Hammond of room 403 was found dead in the lounge of a heart attack. He was 52-years-old, and his social security number is 239-..."

"The world will never miss"? Blackie got a front page headline in a major metropolitan newspaper!

All the blood in the world won't get you your wife back, Bart. But, you do look happier so what do I know?

Gotta love that cat!


Tarpé Mills died December 12, 1988 at her home in Brooklyn. A graphic novel based on a Miss Fury side character, "Albino Joe: The Man With the Tiger Eye" was unfinished at the time of her death. Nearly forgotten, Mills was inducted into the Eisner Comic Hall of Fame in 2019.

Portion of a Miss Fury comic strip. The risque illustrations drawn by
Mills elicited some controversy and even some cancelations from
newspapers.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blondie
Blondie should know by now that Dagwood's appetite will never be satiated. Never.

Funky Winkerbean
First, if Tom Batiuk wants to do comic books then he should just do comic books. Second, someone should tell him that the Comics Code hasn't been used since 2011, or the Cosmic Code in this case.

Mary Worth
Is Mary still smiling because Ian and Toby haven't started their rutting ritual yet or because they have?

How many times has Mary read Outlander? More than three times? Is she re-reading the series to build up to its latest release?

The Born Loser
Where's that table of snacks from yesterday? Why is Brutus recording the game? To rewatch the plays? All that will be on ESPN and I'm pretty sure YouTube may have some of that as well.

I see they locked Wilberforce up so he won't disturb them during the game. They'll let him back out for the Puppy Bowl. Brutus has a banana split on the line.




If you would like to support my writing or research, you can buy me a cup of coffee over on Ko-fi. You can also tip me through Venmo or CashApp on Twitter.

Sunday, February 06, 2022

Was It Uphill Both Ways?

Billy Bob

The train pulled into the station and came to a loud, clattering stop. A man in all black and a poncho stepped off the train. A few people who were milling about the station looked over but went right back to what they were doing. "Hey, ol' timer," the man called out, a slow drawl coming from his mouth. "Is there a place to get a drink in this town?"

"Sure. Just down Main Street. Right between the sheriff's office and undertakers," the old man said.

"Thank you kindly," the man drawled, tipping his hat. The man made his way around the depot and walked down Main Street. The saloon was easy to spot as it was the only thing in town that actually had people using it. A bullet barely missed him and struck the dirt in front of him. The man quickly turned, pulled out his gun, and shot at a man peering from behind a building. The man who shot first fell to the ground, not moving.

"Dang. That was Slippery Pete. He's a member of Evil Eb's Hole In the Head Gang. Evil Eb's not gonna like you killing his posse," the old timer said.

"He shouldn't have shot first. Or at least, shouldn't have missed."

The man entered the saloon and took up a seat at the bar. "What'll ya have?" the bartender asked.

"Whisky," the man said. The bartender slid a glass of whisky to the man. The man barely caught the glass before it fell off the bar. The man then sat silently as he nursed the whisky.

"If you're looking for a bit more entertainment, there are a couple of rooms upstairs if you have the money," the bartender winked.

"I don't reckon," the man said.

"Which one of you killed Slippery Pete?" a voice boomed from the doorway. Everyone turned to look at where the voice came from. Except for the man. Most everyone pointed at the man at the bar.

"You killed Slippery Pete?" the voice boomed again.

"I guess," the man shrugged.

"You guess? Well, did ya or didn't ya?"

"I guess I did. He shot first. He missed. I didn't," the man took a swig of whisky.

The man that came into the saloon reached for a gun. "Well, I won't miss," but before he could move anymore, the man shot first getting the bigger man right in the stomach. He collapsed onto the floor and the man went back to his whisky.

"Now he's killed Mountain Man Melvin," a saloon patron said. "He's wiping out Evil Eb's posse left and right. Evil Eb ain't gonna like that."

"If Evil Eb wants to talk, Evil Eb knows where I am," the man sighed, finishing his whisky. "Maybe I will take a gander upstairs," he said and slowly stood up.




When the man found himself back on Main Street, he seemed to move slower but with more precision. "Step right up, sir! Step right up!" someone called from across the street.

"You talkin' to me?" the man asked.

"Yes, you, sir. Step right up for this rare and limited time offer!"

The man strolled up to the gentleman. They were in front of a general store. "What are you offerin'?"

"One exclusive, one-of-a-kind baked bean!" the shopkeep exclaimed. "Collect all 500."

"A baked bean? How is that one-of-a-kind?" the man asked.

"You try selling these boring things. I have a family to think about," the shopkeep sighed.

An unseen presence ran into the man, knocking him to the ground. He slowly got up and looked around. He was then struck against the jaw with a fist but no one was there. "What's going on?"

"It's Quick Quint. Another one of Evil Eb's posse!" the shopkeep shouted.

The man reached for his gun and followed Quick Quint around the town. Quick Quint was across the street one second and then down the street the next then on the roof of a building the next. The man focused on one part of the street and waited for Quick Quint to appear and when he did, fired.

Quick Quint went down with a disgusting groan.

"Evil Eb is on his way to town to deal with you," someone came up to the man. "He's red hot and fixin' to pop."

The man said and did nothing.

"Hey, you got the time?" a man came up to another man dressed in black.

The man in black turned slowly and looked at the other man. His eyes narrowed and he sized up the man. He pulled a pocket watch, attached to a chain, out of his pocket. He opened the cover but continued to eye the man. He suddenly turned back away, closed his watch and put it back in his pocket. "No."

A couple miles outside the town, Evil Eb was approaching as fast as he could on horseback. His long hair was wild in the wind. He was dressed all in black and had a mean look on his face. Evil Eb and his posse was the meanest and deadliest in this part of the west and someone just took down his posse without even blinking an eye.

It wasn't someone. Evil Eb knew who it was. Billy Bob. Billy Bob had been after him for years. Maybe he shouldn't have killed his family but they got in Evil Eb's way. Billy Bob was getting his revenge and Evil Eb himself was next.




The man and Evil Eb stood across from each other in the middle of Main Street. "You killed my posse," Evil Eb said. "You haven't made me a happy man."

"They started it," the man drawled, reaching for his gun but not touching it.

"Ten paces and then draw, Billy Bob," Evil Eb said.

They turned their backs to each other and began walking, ten paces, away from each other. When they hit ten, both grabbed their guns, turned around quickly, and fired. Eb's bullet zipped right by the man's ear. The man's bullet hit Evil Eb's hat.

"You win, Billy Bob. Finish me off," Eb said.

"Who's Billy Bob?" the man said.

"You are."

"My name's not Billy Bob."

"You're not Billy Bob? Are ya gonna finish me off?"

"Not if I don't have to. Want to get some whisky?"

"Sure," Evil Eb said.

The two of them headed for the saloon. "If you got the money, the saloon has a couple of rooms you might be interested in. But she makes you take a bath if you smell too bad. Not really worth it if you ask me."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mary Worth
Why do we have to accept Wilbur for who he is? He's a piece of shit. Why do we have to continue to coddle this man who clearly doesn't care about us and our feelings? I don't know about you but I don't need that in my life.

Hi and Lois
Is that where Lois is? Lois decided to abandon her family and take a trip to Paris? She's the only not home yet and Trixie's acting like she's not coming home, so...

Curtis
I feel the kids are only going on a field trip because Mrs. Nelson has to return some stuff to the store. "You kids look at the art while I go next door to Macy's."

panels from Hagar the Horrible
Honi is very committed to this bit. "Yes, you better get some money, Daddy. You definitely want something thicker than this between me and Lute."

The Born Loser
Yeah, we didn't give two craps about disabled and low income people back then did we? Heck, we barely care about them now. Heh, heh, heh.

You want me to explain snow days? It's based on probability of kids actually being in school. If kids can't make it to school (you may not know this but a certain percentage of kids need to be in school for it to count as a school day) then why have school? It also depends on if buses can run and the wind chill. Businesses may start to close in order to alleviate child care problems a snow day may cause because that's all schools are--just admit it--glorified day care services.

I love people in Minnesota and Alaska laughing at more southern states who take a snow day but they're like, "We don't get a snow day unless there's a foot of snow and negative double digit temperatures." Yeah, because you are legally required to have a certain amount of days in school. If Alaska or Minnesota schools closed for every inclement weather, they'd be in school year-round.

What were we talking about? Oh, yes. Just go to school, Wilberforce.




If you would like to support my writing or research, you can buy me a cup of coffee over on Ko-fi.

Sunday, January 30, 2022

How Am I Supposed To Read With All That Blah-Blah-Blah Happening?

When I first got a computer, one of the earliest games I played was Hugo's House of Horrors. It was a fun and quirky game created in 1990 by David Gray. It's reminescent of Maniac Mansion but Gray has said he had never heard of or played Maniac Mansion.

The object of the game is to rescue your girlfriend, Penelope, from a haunted house that she was last at babysitting. Players use the arrow keys to move Hugo and use text commands to make Hugo find, pick up, and use items that you find around the house. The game uses some light humor ("Care for a chop, sir?" and if you're wearing a mask, you get a pork chop that you can use. If you're not wearing the mask, the butler chops off your head) and uses a couple decent silly moments to add to the fun. If you know where to go, or use a walkthrough, you can get done with the game in about 15 minutes.

We open outside the haunted house. Hugo finds a key and is able to enter the house. Once inside, you see someone go into a room upstairs. There is a candle on the table, two rooms on the side, a room under the stairs, and three rooms upstairs. Heading upstairs, the first room has a mask in the wardrobe, the next room--the bathroom--has "333" scrawled on the mirror, and the next room has a laboratory with a mad scientist and his assistant Igor.

The scientist forces you into a contraption and tells Igor to press the blue button. Igor, who is colorblind, presses a different button which shrinks Hugo. The scientist, frustrated by Igor's incompetence, decides to take a nap. You are now small and trapped in that lab but it's cool because you need to be small to get behind something. You then tell Igor to bring the right button and after three tries, you are back to normal. Slipping on the mask you picked up in the first room, head downstairs for a little dinner party.

While crashing the dinner party, the butler asks if you would a chop. Since you are wearing a mask, he gives you a pork chop that you will need later. If you weren't wearing the mask, he chops your head off. It's funny. Heading into the kitchen, take a step and to the shed in the backyard then when you come back in, go into a weird room with a man-eating dog in it.

This dog is the bane of my existence. I don't think I've ever made it past him. As soon as you walk into the room, he comes up and eats you and it's game over. I tried everything to get past this dog and nothing works. Until I learned, just recently, that you are supposed to take that pork chop you got earlier and throw it into the room. You can't throw it in before you go in, you have to throw it as soon as you get into the room. So you have to type the command, enter the room, and press Enter. The dog has his pork chop and you are free to go into the room, go down the trapdoor under the rug, and continue on with the game.

Heading downstairs into the basement/dungeon, there is a locked metal door and someone sobbing. (Penelope?!). Moving behind the rocks, you have to blow a whistle to confuse bats that will also kill you. It's the same scenario as the dog as you have to type the command before you go behind the rocks. After distracting the bats, you enter a cave where a mummy attacks you. It took forever for me to get past the mummy, too.

Using a boat to cross a small cave stream, Hugo encounters a strange man fishing. The man asks you many questions in order to let you pass and go into the tunnel. In the tunnel, Hugo finds a giant man--who looks like Igor only orange, not green--guarding a hole in the wall. Apparently, Penelope is in the cell behind the giant guard. Then who is sobbing in the cell in the basement? You give the guard some gold from the treasure you found and he lets you pass. In the next room, you find Penelope. Well, at least Penelope's silhouette. The tunnel loops around so the cell at the bottom of the basement so that answers that question. You rescue Penelope, head back upstairs and out of the house.

Hugo and Penelope lived happily ever after. At least until the next game, Hugo II: Whodunit? in which Penelope has to rescue Hugo and solve Uncle Harold's murder. I don't think I ever completed that game either. I do think I finished Hugo III: Jungle of Doom. Maybe I'll post about those someday.

Is...Is Penelope wearing her wedding dress while held captive?
That means she wore it to her babysitting gig.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mary Worth
It has been at least a week since Wilbur fell overboard, probably longer, the loved ones in your life have been thinking you're dead for at least 7 days. You're lucky Mary, Estelle, and Dawn don't throw you back into the ocean.

Crankshaft
I see so many "get your vaccine" commercials that it makes me want to take the vaccine out of my body. Luckily, there are plenty of YouTube videos telling people exactly how to do that.

Tom Batiuk must signed a deal with the CDC to help convince an underserved community to get the vaccine and/or booster. I didn't look at the comments on Crankshaft webpage but I don't think this is going to convince them.

The Family Circus
Have a husband who snores loudly and keeps you awake at night? It could be worse. They could be dead.

The Born Loser
If she's talking on her cell phone then that means the Thornapples have finally entered the 2010s and ditched their landline. Their landline which, I believe, hasn't been seen since 2020. It's good to see the Thornapples take a step out of the past. The future is now!




If you would like to support my writing or research, you can buy me a cup of coffee over on Ko-fi.