Mother Gargle Didn't Say That, It Was the Shirelles

May 12, 1967

What are we doing here? Is this man a doctor? An insurance agent? I guess a doctor can see if Brutus has a concussion or little holes in his head. Insurance agents seems less likely. The bird probably does not have insurance and Brutus' head isn't like Mary Hart's legs.

We're going to spend an entire week in a yellow void but on Friday, the last day, you change the void to a light blue!? "Oh, gosh!" the nameless United Features Syndicate colorist intern exclaims, "I have made the background of all of this week's strip yellow! I should choose a different color for this one. It just makes sense." Blue. I can't believe it. I just can't believe it...

The Thornapples All Live In a Yellow Submarine Apparently

May 11, 1967

Does only Wilberforce know the names of his friends? Harry, Leroy are actual names "Weakeyes" and "Noodle-Nose" aren't even nicknames, they're just insults.

And who is who?!

Does...Does Brutus really believe this about himself? Brutus would be the first to admit that he is none of these things. "I can talk bad about myself, but you can't! You don't have that right!!"

🍷

May 10, 1967

Brutus and Gladys have a teenage daughter in this strip. Her name's Teeny. Her date began gushing blood spontaneously from his nose and instead of being concerned, she's upset. Brutus and Gladys don't seem to care either. This guy could be dying!

That's not how it works at all. Look, you don't have to make up an excuse to drink. You're an adult. Just drink.

What's with the yellow backgrounds this week?

Diners to Dollars

May 4, 1967

You guys can't fight about this on the ground? I guess as long as they keep pedaling, they can argue all they want. How does the guy in the middle get on? Lay the bikes down, he climbs on and the other two help push him up?

It's weird seeing "Fifty-cent price increase" in this strip. These days the increase would be a dollar maybe more.

I'm always weary when the menu says "A little something extra". I don't care what it is, it doesn't sound good!

Manic Monday

May 3, 1967

It's the same lever you used to go forward. It's the 'R'. Just do what you did before but move the lever to 'R'. Let Brutus get out of the car first, just in case.

Today was a teacher planning day but I still had to go in for...reasons. I'd rather just not get paid then set up the cafeteria because that's not my job, but to each their own. I mean, we don't get paid for at least one day of each long break so why can't they just not pay us for this day?

What are we talking about? Oh, yes. I'm already done with the week, too, Brutus.

I Suggest a Wilberforce-Cation

February 21, 1988

Did Brutus want to stop at Pete's Good Eats? After seeing so many signs for it, I would completely understand wanting to stop and try it out.

One of my favorite television scenes is from I Love Lucy. The Ricardos and Mertzes are heading to California and are currently in Ohio where they keep passing signs for "Aunt Sally's Pecan Pralines". The signs are so prevalent they seem to pop up every ten miles or so. As they close in on her ("We need to stop and see Aunt Sally. I feel like she's an old friend!") they are getting excited for the pecans because they are getting hungry. They pass numerous signs: "100 yards", "50 yards", "Just around the bend" and finally "You have just passed Aunt Sally's"... Backing up, they see an old shack. Lucy gets out to read the sign on the door. "Out of business". As they drive away, Fred goes "I told you she was too busy making those signs!"

Wilberforce, we just explained what a 'sleepcation' was. Did you listen to anything that we said? Now we're gonna go with the sleepcation and you can just live with it.

If you would like to support me or this website, you can do so through the About page.

She Just Has to Sit There While It Happens

What? Ten months? Baseball has only been over since October (five months) and, obviously, last year's baseball season started one year ago (12 months). Where do we get ten months from?

I don't understand people who like baseball, especially people like Brutus. Baseball is exciting? Ok. Sure. And Brutus, you've been married to Gladys for *mumbles random number* years. Has she ever been excited for the opening of baseball season?

Amazon? Yes, ma'am-azon!

The Amazon. The answer to both questions is the Amazon. Typically, we use 'largest' to mean 'longest', which in that case, the Nile is the longest river. Who bases rivers on actual size or basin area?

I'm going to use this strip to comment on the notion that I worry about Chip using AI for his comics. I first felt my Spider-sense going off in this strip where the art is just a little off. But I can chalk that up to a bad ink/coloring job that slipped through. But it really started to hit me here, the 3-part Wilberforce/Money saga, and these speech tails. And, lastly, this seems like a strip he used AI for. Saying the Amazon is the largest/longest river in the world is a mistake AI would make. Is AI being used to help write the strip and touch up the art? I hope not. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky about today's strip.

Right and Wrong

Yeah, I see that. I know that I'm not always right, but I do know people who I know are always wrong. I would never tell them that, mainly because I am not in a position of power and don't want to get punched.

I have started sharing stuff from my part-time history job on my social medias. If you don't, follow me on Threads and Bluesky. Today, I posted dishes and a table from the Security Benefit Association.

Witch Hat Hair Wednesday

The humidity makes your hair do that? Ohio must be at 100% humidity 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

At least Mother Gargle has hair to do something with, Brutus. Ha! Bald burn!