11/1/07
11/2/07
11/3/07
Due to the fact that I occasionally do other stuff besides blog about Gil Thorp, I’ll be out of town ’til Monday, (possibly vandalizing a rival comics blog by spray-painting it with both colors.)
I checked with KAZ-BOT the automatic blogging robot, but unfortunately he is currently incarcerated. Thus, what I’ve done for you fine readers is create this here post, so you can comment away until I get back…Perhaps the red Xes above will eventually turn into comics, perhaps not. If not, I have faith that you are smarter than Milford residents, and can somehow find the new comics on your own. See ya Monday!
AAAAAAGH! WHERE’S THE OTHER HALF OF GIL”S FACE! In Panel three, I guess Gil consulted with Kaz, PI to deduct who did this dasterly deed!!
Comment by Regina — November 1, 2007 @ 8:12 am
Beat me to it, Regina. Panel 1 truly is a horror. And yeah, let’s see who Kaz hires to solve the case.
Comment by sourbelly — November 1, 2007 @ 8:17 am
I bet he figured it out using the internet just like his gumshoe sidekick!
Comment by Matt Ramone — November 1, 2007 @ 8:49 am
Hmmm. Apparently Milford does have a unified bus park.
Comment by J. Quincy — November 1, 2007 @ 9:05 am
Even so, why would the unified bus park summon Gil and Ms. Bun-head? Do they moonlight as bus-compound supervisors?
Comment by Gil'sBarber — November 1, 2007 @ 9:17 am
Gil Thorp looks like some sort of crazy Dick Tracy villain in that front panel.
Comment by Tony — November 1, 2007 @ 9:52 am
Will Gil find a way to turn 27 – 0 into something the way that Texas turned 13 – 0 into BEVO?
Comment by Elmo — November 1, 2007 @ 9:59 am
The Blank makes an appearance in Milford.
This is quite possibly the most useless episode in a long time in this series, and when you think about what that covers, it should blow your mind.
Comment by PRiverside — November 1, 2007 @ 11:00 am
So… Gil thinks he knows where the vandals came from? You don’t think… the VT Rembrandts spray painted the buses with THEIR OWN (two) school colors?
Comment by Gil'sBarber — November 1, 2007 @ 11:47 am
There’s no internet in prison? I knew there was a reason I try to stay out of trouble.
Why didn’t the Valley Tech gents paint over the windows on the bus? Too polite? Can’t reach that high? Ran out of paint? Just decorating the side like that seems lame.
Comment by KarenD — November 1, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Actually, I think that the part of Gil Thorp is played by The Question in this episode.
Comment by Mac Thomason — November 1, 2007 @ 12:53 pm
What a testament to Milford’s extraordinary level of social integration, that persons from all walks of life — from the Rock and Roll Carol King, elements of the bad news white trash crew wearing unsleeved wife beaters, to a 68 year old school functionary paid to look at buses — all have exactly the same haristyle! I tell you if you went anywhere else in the country, you’d see only early twenty something hipsters trying to look pull their bangs up onto their forehead to allow their thick wispy locks to curl around their ears. The meth freaks would be sportin mullets, the old ladies would tie all of their hair into those precious little buns, and the Rock stars would look vaguely stylish. But not in Milford, no sir. The lesson is the same to be drawn from the sputtering Edwards candidacy; we will never overcome the bitter divide between the “Two Americas” so long as we have the power to obtain haircuts of differing qualities. If every town consisted entirely of persons drawn by lazy talentless artists with little or no connection to pop culture since 1981, class conflict would be but a pleasant memory.
Comment by RW — November 1, 2007 @ 4:45 pm
I just think it’s interesting that the bun slides up and down the back of her head. Is it an appendage, like some sort of cranial tail, or a completely different being?
Comment by killebrew — November 1, 2007 @ 7:20 pm
KarenD – my nickname used to be Bubba – so flattered there’s
another one out there – I think the windows were too high, really.
Remember they did this at night. AAR, I dont think it mattered where on
the bus the graffitti was.
Comment by rob — November 1, 2007 @ 7:22 pm
the bun is actually a prehensile extension that moves in a sort of mating dance whenever a member of the opposite sex is nearby
Comment by Mooch — November 1, 2007 @ 7:47 pm
I’m still kind of new to this comic, so I have a question. Is it common for the Gil Thorp artists to recycle a panel on consecutive days?
Comment by Fishbone McGonigle — November 2, 2007 @ 3:47 am
Fishbone – Very common. And equally common for Frank McLaughlin to recycle a panel after a several year interim. I’m not joking.
Today’s comic demonstrates that Dom Irrera’s gang aren’t as dumb as they look. Now they’ll get some of these Milford morons in trouble for going after Valley Tech, while Vally Central gets off scot free. Of course, it’s not really fair for men in their 30s and 40s to be matching wits with high school students.
I’m interested to see how this plot ties into the Bad News Taurus Gang plot. Or if the two will tie together at all. Or if Cully’s plot will ever be addressed or acknowledged again. There’s no guarantees that it will be.
Comment by Cash — November 2, 2007 @ 4:02 am
Are these nitwits actually planning their retaliatory campaign in the presence of the football coach? I don’t have too much high-school vandalism on my résumé, but my natural instincts would’ve been to save the plotting until I was out of earshot of authority figures.
Or perhaps Gil whipped off his Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak between the second and the third panel. That’d explain why everyone spun around to face him; Number Something-Five hastily slammed his locker door to hide whatever he wanted to hide; and Blond Guy is wearing an expression of shock and horror. OK, it doesn’t look much like shock and horror does on Earth One, but in the Thorpivese, it could be.
Comment by Sage Gentlewing — November 2, 2007 @ 4:41 am
It appears to me that Clark Kent, aka Tony Casey, is about to tear off his jersey and reveal a giant “S”… or perhaps an “M”. I would love to see the frame when he finishes off those VT guys, especially their smarmy leader. Only a super mind could have figured out what only Thorp would know… that those are Valley Tech colors… unless, Thorp wants his incognito super hero/local Google expert to take care of Valley Tech while stating publicly that he is opposed to vandalism. Hmmmmm….
By the way, are we dealing with not only the most lame, but also the dumbest vandals ever?
Comment by Kevin — November 2, 2007 @ 5:24 am
Sure, Gil says that vandalism is illegal. But he knows Cully Vale’s past. He knows what he is capable of with a fallaway slam. Cully’s gonna round up Elf Boyd and J. Travolta Jr. and form an old fashioned posse to stick it to Rob Riggle and his thugs. Nothing like a olf-fashioned gang war.
Comment by Tony — November 2, 2007 @ 5:56 am
Since I’m a girl, I’ve only ever played Tag football, so I have to ask you sausage swingers out there: Is it normal to wear your football helmet inside the locker room? Are the pre-game hijinks that dangerous? Or is it just that the helmets are so comfy– sort of cocoon-like?
Comment by Laura Jane — November 2, 2007 @ 6:31 am
I would love it if LG Howard Gorowitz and Tony “Loser” Casey joined Elf boy’s posse to kick the crap out of those Valley Tech punks. We know LG and Tony couldn’t do it on their own because they can’t even win a football game, let alone kick someone’s ass. They could hide behind Cullystein and John Revolta.
I love how Gil is the voice of reason, lecturing them on how vandalism is a crime. Isn’t not doing a thourough background check and hiring some crazy old white guy/posssible pedophile who lied about playing for the Negro Leagues a crime too?
Comment by Regina — November 2, 2007 @ 6:39 am
Also, I like how panel one is recycled from yesterday’s panel. I see the Dick Tracy character “No Face” is still subbing for Gil.
Comment by Regina — November 2, 2007 @ 6:43 am
Laura Jane: It has been 20 years since I last wore a football helmet, but I think I can answer this one…As with everything in the Thorpiverse, guys wearing their helmets in the locker room doesn’t actually happen in real life. Your first instinct is to rip that thing off once a game or practice is over.
And, um, “sausage swingers?”
Comment by Scott — November 2, 2007 @ 6:46 am
Ms. Bun-head’s face morphed in (sort-of-recycled) Panel 1. So did Gil’s blank face.
Comment by Gil'sBarber — November 2, 2007 @ 6:51 am
Wow, the Mudlarks are even dumber than I realized, if they’re going to Coach T. for help with vandalism.
He’s never gonna take the time out of his day to support the team!
Comment by DUNOTS — November 2, 2007 @ 7:14 am
It’s easier to draw several helmets than to draw faces.
(11/2) Why is Gil delivering his speech to a gathering of anonymous, mostly helmeted extras? It looks like the missing panel between Panels 2 and 3 is LG Howard and Tony Casey stirring up a vandalism revenge scheme with their teammates, then slipping out to go google stuff before Gil catches wind of the plan.
Speaking of missing panels, how did LG Howard “hear” about Valley Tech suspicions of Gil? There’s a lot of loose lips in the respective administrations of Milford and Valley Tech. Maybe LG Howard googled “27-0″, “Milford totally sucks”, and “spray painted schoolbus” and he found the Valley Tech Pranksters Blog or the video they posted on youtube.
Comment by Ned Ryerson — November 2, 2007 @ 7:22 am
Rather than spray 27-0 in block numbers, the Valley Tech ne’ers-do-well chose to meticulously spray an thin outline of each number on the side of the bus. That’s dedication to one’s craft.
I can’t wait for the third-hand recap of how Cully fall-away slammed three police officers to their deaths following some misunderstanding at FAST FOOD RESTAURANT.
Comment by sourbelly — November 2, 2007 @ 8:23 am
Wait… Valley Tech’s school colors are white and white?
Comment by Tim Goral — November 2, 2007 @ 9:52 am
Whazzup with Alfred Hitchcock hanging around the locker room?
Comment by Gil'sBarber — November 2, 2007 @ 11:02 am
When I do vandalism, I like to cause maximum inconvenience to my victim. Spray painting a surface that can easily be painted over is not as good as painting a combination of surfaces that need to be painted, scraped, and possibly attacked with solvents or a power washer. Not that I ever do vandalism, because it’s a CRIME. Also I’m lazy.
Comment by KarenD — November 2, 2007 @ 12:12 pm
1. Vandalism is a CRIME??!!! DAMMIT!!! Once again, I learn a vital piece of information too late to save me from unpleasant consequences…
2. “It’s easier to draw several helmets than to draw faces.” True. BUT- it’s probably even easier to draw heads with NO faces. We might be seeing the beginning of a trend.
3. Sausage Swingers. Wow.
Comment by TCM — November 2, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
Saturday Gil says they’l deal with Valley Tech on the field IN A MONTH!
December 3! They gonna play till New Years Day?
Comment by rob — November 2, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
Yes Rob, this is indeed getting ridiculous. I would assume that every state is already in the midst of the high school football playoffs by now, but Milford is just going up against a 3-1 team. My guess is that we are eventually going to have to see five games go by in two days after taking two months to get through the first four.
Comment by TBon — November 2, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
Oh dear. If my lame attempt to get playful with the English language has come across as creepy and sexist, I humbly apologize. Hereafter I will keep all sausage speculations to myself.
On a more Gil Thorpian note…if the Valley Tech colors are not white and white, they must be pastel and pastel. Cream and Peach? Powder Puff Blue and Eggshell? Lime Sorbet and Cotton Candy?
Comment by Laura Jane — November 2, 2007 @ 5:13 pm
Can we assume Cullystein and his Taurus gang died on the way back to their home planet? Oh well, no big loss.
Gil delivers a classic GI Joe cartoon “And knowing is half the battle” speech in panel 3. Too bad he’s nowhere near as cool as Quick-Kick or Roadblock. Or even Lifeline for that matter.
As far as “striking back” boys, here’s an idea: Win a goddamn game. Maybe Blake from “Glengarry GlenRoss” or just Alec Baldwin on the telephone should show up and berate these little twerps.
Comment by PRiverside — November 2, 2007 @ 7:19 pm
Damn that Gil, always playing like he’s Gallant in “Goofus and Gallant”. I guess that makes Kaz Goofus.
Comment by jailbird — November 2, 2007 @ 9:05 pm
It appears that Nancy Sinatra is a Milford cheerleader. Look out, Valley Tech, one of these days those cleats are gonna walk all over you.
Comment by Ivan — November 2, 2007 @ 11:14 pm
we’ve seen that cheerleader before. more recycled art, it seems….
Comment by Mooch — November 2, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
LG Gourwitz is the only person I know that wears his glasses playing football..is this some new trend? The Nancy SInatra cheerleader looks like she’s wearing a giant oven mitt on her hand…is Milford too hot to handle? And why hasn’t anyone questioned where Frankencully is? Isn’t he suppose to be playing for the team? So far, we haven’t seen him in one game? Is he the waterboy or is he on the bench?
One more month! That means this lame storyline will be going on until baseball season!
Comment by Regina — November 3, 2007 @ 5:03 am
Stay clear of Valley Tech! Stay clear of Cully Vale! Stay clear of the Taurus gang! Stay clear of Peg Leg Ritter! Stay clear of anything remotely interesting! Think dull thoughts, boys. We’ve got another goddamned month of football to go.
Comment by Sourbelly — November 3, 2007 @ 7:14 am
Regina – I think it’s a chamois, and Nancy is polishing the panel so that we might better see the craptastic football “action” about to ensue. Hard to tell if she’s leaving streaks or if those are gleam marks.
Comment by Ivan — November 3, 2007 @ 9:12 am
Okay, here’s my thing about the cheerleader (whom I think we’ve seen twice before, although she looked like a fan in one of the appearances) — Frank McLaughlin draws mutant morlock freaks, we all know that. But his female students tend to look like teenage mutant morlock freaks. So why does he draw cheerleaders who appear to be pushing 40? Does he not know that the cheerleaders come from the student body? I know he wants to recycle art as much as possible, but why do you have to recycle an adult fan as a cheerleader? (twice!) Why not take one of the girls from last year’s softball team and make her a cheerleader? I’m sure one of the softball poses from last year could be morphed into cheerleading.
In any case, back to the mutant morlock freaks: How about that football player in the center of panel 3? Is he withering away or something? I’m willing to believe that that’s only a skull inside his helmet, with no flesh on it whatsoever. I’d say it’s Skeletor, but the arms are way too skinny.
Comment by Cash — November 3, 2007 @ 10:20 am
If you look at the link under my name, you’ll see a past appearance of this cheerleader (11/5/03). It’s not 100% recycled. I guess one might argue it’s a different cheerleader. Whatever. Either way, she looks like a cross between Carol Channing and that groovy girl in the Muppet band, Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem. This is clearly not the right direction to go in to depict a “high school cheerleader”. She also looks like she may have just finished buffing out the last of the vandalized school buses with that chamois.
Comment by Ned Ryerson — November 3, 2007 @ 3:00 pm
Oops, that’s not a chamois. More like one of those fluffy things from an orbital buffer. Yeah, that’s what I meant.
Comment by Ned Ryerson — November 3, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
A 3-1 team? This is a slow season. In upstate NY, the championship games were today. The NFL has already played 7 or 8 games.
Comment by James G — November 3, 2007 @ 7:18 pm
A 3-1 team? This is a slow season. In upstate NY, the championship games were today. The NFL has already played 7 or 8 games.
Just as Funky Winkerbean has jumped ten years into the future, Gil and crew have jumped ten years into the past. Only they missed their mark slightly and it’s October 3rd, 1997. This also precludes Milford from being in Ohio, as there is no mention of the Indians chances in the post-season.
Comment by Ennui Willie Keeler — November 4, 2007 @ 6:50 am
All along I’ve been thinking the cheerleader has been caught in the middle of throwing a cream pie. She is exuberantly celebrating “Stand Under The Showering Comets Day.”
Comment by Laura Jane — November 4, 2007 @ 7:21 am
I dont think LG wears his glasses while he’s playing, he’s only shown
off the field with them on.
Comment by rob — November 4, 2007 @ 5:47 pm
Why is it an issue whether LG wears glasses while playing? Real people do.
It’s just a matter of getting the right equipment (and having the right kind of vision problem).
Of course, painting frames on your face won’t work, but it might prevent that crowd of dummies from punching you in the nose.
Comment by dale — November 5, 2007 @ 2:01 am
Laura: I actually liked the phrase “sausage swingers.” I just hadn’t heard it before. It’s the kind of thing you might hear in PUB (or more likely GAY PUB).
Comment by Scott — November 5, 2007 @ 7:02 am