This Week in Milford

April 16, 2008

Elmer thwarts the King of the Douchebags

Filed under: Gil Thorp, Mimi Thorp, exposition comics — jasbeattie @ 9:32 am

Yikes, I’ve heard of undressing someone with your eyes…but with your NOSE? But that seems to be Gil’s plan. Sure, you can tear through the vest with that beak of yours, Mister, but good luck unhooking her bra! (and watch out for those shoulder pads…I think Mimi has been looting football supplies from EQUIPMENT SHED.)

At least it’s good to see that Gil’s attempts to be more involved with his students have so far met with failure and cluelessness. Though if I had gone to a Rotary Club meeting and been forced to listen to some random idiot’s confusing comments about immigration, I’d be pretty brain-dead too*. And who’s to know what these crazy kids are up to these days anyway, what with their rappity-hop music and inter-web and all.

It turns out what these kids are up to is partying! Branden Zollar may have thought it a good idea to slam seven Natty Lights then talk some smack, but she realized almost too late that she shouldn’t talk smack to the douchebag with the sunglasses on his forehead and the popped collar (also known as “King of the Douchebags.”) Lucky for her, power hitter Elmer Vargas, also a jedi master, could resolve such situations with a simple wave of his flipper. (”This is not the drunk chick you’re looking for. Move along.”)

Too drunk to remember what happened that whole week, but vaguely aware that a mulletish flipper kid was following her around, Branden made friends with the creature called Elmer. And now that his father has been named “Local Businessman of the Year” for his tireless efforts to smuggle illegals into Milford, she wants to take it to the next level. But Elmer knows his dad wouldn’t approve of inter-species dating** so he has to put the brakes on.

*So, like I am already by talking about this crap ad nauseum every day.

**No, I don’t know what that even means either. But hey, I’m brain-dead, remember?

33 Comments »

  1. Panel 2 is awesome. We’ve got a Chia floor, impossible perspective, flipper hands, Dick Tracy in the lower left, high school students drinking beer (you’re not gonna convince me otherwise, sorry), alien sleeping pods in the upper right, tight tight clothing on Elmer (just because I’m not directly into that sort of thing doesn’t mean I don’t love it)… and I love the popped collar on the “jerk.” Panel 3’s also good, with Elmer doing his best Australopithecine impression. Hell, Panel 1’s also got some awesomeness, with the Blank Expanse of Nothingness, Mimi rocking the Link-Fall hairdo, MMES on Gil… yeah, I like Rod Whigham.

    Comment by Zaq — April 16, 2008 @ 9:34 am

  2. Looks like Mimi’s wearing a “Merry Wench” Ren Fair outfit in Panel 1.

    Comment by Scott de B. — April 16, 2008 @ 9:40 am

  3. Panel 2: Was that party at Degrassi Jr. High? It looks like Elmer’s about to throw down with The Zit Remedy.

    Comment by Sed — April 16, 2008 @ 9:41 am

  4. I love the armless dude wearing his baseball cap at a rakish angle, in the background of Panel 3. Can we get a storyline about him? He’s got to be more interesting than the rest of the Mudlarks. Even Elmer Vargas is boring, now that he’s had his flipper surgically repaired - see, he’s got regular fingers in Panel 3. Yawn.

    Comment by jules — April 16, 2008 @ 9:48 am

  5. Well, I guess our Milford “Romeo and Juliette” are confined to the occasional flipper-bang.

    Comment by Striker — April 16, 2008 @ 9:54 am

  6. Man, I think Gil Thorp under this new guy is even better than it was under Frank the First. The flippers, bizarre perspectives, and vaguely hominoid heads are all great, but my favorite thing is the giant buildings these townfolk have erected for themselves. Look at that window in panel 3! It’s got to be 20 feet high.

    Comment by lylebot — April 16, 2008 @ 10:01 am

  7. Mr. Vargas is Elemer’s copout. He won’t date Branden because she has man hands, a man’s name, a bad rash on her wrist, and she’s less attractive than even Brynna what’s-her-face.

    Comment by Roy Gillen — April 16, 2008 @ 10:04 am

  8. What the heck? Conflict resolution through non-violent means? Kaz and Bill Ritter would not approve, Elmer. Ya wuss.

    Comment by El Santo — April 16, 2008 @ 10:05 am

  9. I guess Branden and Elmer went to that party 25 years ago. There’s “The Future’s So Bright I’ve Gotta Wear Shades” boy (sorry for putting that one in your head) and they’re all “Dancing on the Ceiling.” (Sorry again.)
    I think Elmer’s dad is holding out for his son to date someone on the football team. “Girls? No way!”

    Comment by laura — April 16, 2008 @ 10:11 am

  10. I’m with Roy #7 re: whazzup with Branden. She also has a cartoon (”Olive-Oyl”) face and unspeakably horrific tumors on her left hand.

    Comment by Gil'sBarber — April 16, 2008 @ 10:43 am

  11. No, I think it looks more like The Joker’s wearing a “Merry Wench” Ren Fair outfit. Also, I think the flipper-hand is just there to distract “King of the Douchebags” from the left fist, clenched in anticipation of hitting KotD so hard his collar unpops.

    Comment by TheCasey — April 16, 2008 @ 10:50 am

  12. Jason: Today’s entry was a winner from start to finish. Laugh out loud funny in every paragraph. (Too bad I was reading it at the office.) Just brilliant.

    I’ll only add one possible identifier: is Sunglasses Boy in panel 2 the lead singer from Fine Young Cannibals? “She drive me crazy…”

    Sorry. Now that’ll be going through your head the rest of the day.

    Comment by johnw — April 16, 2008 @ 11:25 am

  13. Don’t the writer and the drawer of pictures talk to each other?

    Years ago? When they were too old to be in HS and too young to drink legally.

    Comment by dale — April 16, 2008 @ 12:07 pm

  14. That antimammalian flipper is an effective weapon. I’d run away whimpering like a school girl on fire if someone thrust that in my face.

    I also like the giant eyeball at the top of panel 2. “I am the eye in the sky, looking at you-ou-ou…” (There’s my reference to a bad 80’s song.)

    Comment by sourbelly — April 16, 2008 @ 12:21 pm

  15. Panel 1: Again with the owl-neck.

    Panel 2: Just when you think we might be in the present, the 50’s style hat appears.

    Panel 3: Anyone know what that thing is to the lower right of Brandens’ face and just above the milk carton?

    Comment by Thorpnotized — April 16, 2008 @ 12:21 pm

  16. Hmm. I think Mimi is wearing the “Dirty Wench” outfit, judging from her smarmy smile. “I have oranges in me bodice, m’lord, hee hee!”

    And am I the only one who sees Branden passed out on the floor in panel 2? I don’t know who is more fascinating - Mr. Douche or Reporter in the Hat with his giant camera just out of frame. “Got me some good crotch shots here, boss. Just the thing for page 3.”

    Comment by julienne — April 16, 2008 @ 12:24 pm

  17. Thorpnotized - I think that thing above the milk carton is the back of some guy’s head. Or Branden has trained a potato to sit on her shoulder and sing sea chanteys.

    Comment by jules — April 16, 2008 @ 12:40 pm

  18. Panel #1, The character with the radical yet stylish do, plucked eyebrows,masculine facial features and hulking shoulders is never identified by name. Could it be? Nah, too good to be true.

    Comment by ScooterAl — April 16, 2008 @ 1:00 pm

  19. I also like the eye in the sky in panel two. I think that thing growing out of the milk carton in panel three is a lichen better known as Flavoparmelia caperata. But I also wonder why Elmer is resting his transformed flipper in his food.

    Comment by kenzo — April 16, 2008 @ 1:30 pm

  20. I agree with dale in #13 above - I mean “years ago”? How old are these people, and they even look the same in the flashback panel as they do in the present timepanels. What is a “year” to these creatures? As for panel #2, are they lying on the rug, while JERK slides ever closer? What’s with the onlooker in the hat? Finally,why does Gluestick not utter the Universal Phrase of Peace - “Ease up, Friend!”?

    Comment by Sgt. Saunders — April 16, 2008 @ 2:27 pm

  21. I think the guy in the Dick Tracy hat is Matt Drudge, getting the scoop on underage drinking in Milford.

    I think Elmer is telling the “I Wear Sunglasses at Night” douchebaag “Talk to the flipper, dude.”

    Branden definitely stole Kaz’ pearl earrings…I think she’s gonna get a Kaz-punch for that.

    Comment by Regina — April 16, 2008 @ 2:59 pm

  22. I think years ago must be the 1974 — I mean really, look at that shag carpet!

    Comment by Striker — April 16, 2008 @ 4:46 pm

  23. I think Panel 2 is a stroke of genius! We have (as others have observed, ty)
    a: Dick Tracy
    b: Shag Carpeting
    c: Eye in the Sky

    Perfect example of Thorpiverse Time Travel, aka messin with our minds! Great job Chief Whigham!

    Comment by Gil'sBarber — April 16, 2008 @ 4:57 pm

  24. That thing above the milk carton is Branden’s left hand, masquerading as a sock puppet.

    Comment by JanB — April 16, 2008 @ 5:12 pm

  25. I still need to know what a boilermaker is, Julienne.

    Thursday shows us a real piece of baseball equipment - a cage behind which the pitcher stands to avoid being hit in BP. All these years, Ive never seen that. WooWoo!

    Comment by RobM — April 16, 2008 @ 5:41 pm

  26. OK RobM, a boilermaker is what Branden is having for lunch, judging by the can of Hamm’s in front of her. You throw back a shot of scotch or vodka, then chug down a beer. Tasty, no? Even makes Elmer-Ugg look good.

    Comment by julienne — April 16, 2008 @ 6:07 pm

  27. It looks like the party is being held on a giant pool table; maybe a bumper pool table.

    In Panel One of Thursday’s strip, it looks like Elmer and Banden are using some sort of device the forty niners used during the Gold Rush.

    Comment by Ennui Willie Keeler — April 16, 2008 @ 6:33 pm

  28. I’ve never seen the term “cutting the rug” taken so literally. Maybe that’s why KotD (King of the Douchebags) is so mad: bullet-head girl is ruining his carpet!

    Comment by Lomion — April 16, 2008 @ 11:35 pm

  29. julienne : boilermaker

    A shot of whiskey. (Scotch is whiskey, often spelled whisky, but I wouldn’t choose it for a boilermaker.)

    There is no requirement to chug the beer. Some people order just a short beer. Others mix the two in the same glass. Some fools actually drop the shot glass into the beer glass.

    Tasty, yes.

    Comment by dale — April 17, 2008 @ 2:37 am

  30. #24, I had the same idea– in fact I think that is what brought Branden and Elmer together: their intense passion for sock puppets. Clearly Elmer is using his sock puppet to mesmerize Jerk-O in the second panel. It’s a coping technique– in times of stress you whip off your shoe, pull your sock off, jam it on your hand and…voila…talk to the sock! I can’t say whether or not the stinky foot fumes help you control people, but it does drive away all but the most intrepid would-be daters, so Branden and Elmer are pretty much forced into a relationship.

    Comment by Laura Jane — April 17, 2008 @ 5:59 am

  31. Judging by panel 1 in Thursday’s strip, it also looks like the Vargas family is Elfin rather than Mexican; I wonder how long the boat ride from Middle Earth took?

    Comment by Sed — April 17, 2008 @ 6:20 am

  32. Dale: There’s nothing foolish about dropping the shot glass full of whiskey in a short beer pured into a pint–it makes a satisfying clink and fizz when it drops, tastes like Dr. Pepper, and maakes another satisfying clink when you finish guzzling it in one fell swoop.

    Boiler Up!

    Doctor’s orders.

    Comment by Dr. "Eat More Cheddar and Drink More Pabst," aka Gil's Dietician — April 18, 2008 @ 4:33 am

  33. [...] You may think these folks are your friends, but if you look closely, some of them are actually douchebags with sunglasses on top of their head that you thwarted years ago using your Jedi flipper hand waving. And apparently at least one of [...]

    Pingback by Andrew goes all Tancredo on us « This Week in Milford — May 5, 2008 @ 8:49 am

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