3/28/09
There’s definitely more going on here than these punk kids let on. Because in the now infamous December 8th comic, Ashley is seen getting ready to stock a case of Nutboys, and in the following day’s installment, the “PROFESSIONAL CRIMINAL ROBBER PERSON” proceeds to steal that case of candy…(Nutboys: Clearly worth armed robbery, Zagnuts: Not so much.)
Since anyone who would steal Nutboys would never leave them lying around in the trunk, it’s now obvious that Ashley planted some Zagnuts in some poor schlub’s car after the fact in order to frame him for this inside job. Now that some dimwitted patsy has taken the fall (we haven’t seen Cully recently, have we?), she and her co-conspirators can get back to what they do best: petty theft of awful convenience store food. And it finally makes sense why they’d all want to remain in Milford: Thanks to its utterly incompetent law enforcement professionals, they’ll never get caught.
3/30/09
On second thought, based on comparing the artwork of December 6th to that of today, I’m going to presume that basketball season was just skipped due to lack of interest…and that anything that I think might have happened in the past four months was really just an awful dream. (“Nutboys: They’re manure-flavored hallucinogens!”)
So Sacko and Vanzetti say the baseball team is gonna be awful. Great. Looks like we’re in for another long season. Perhaps the only thing sadder than the current state of Milford athletics is the fact that Gil sits at home and watches “Prep Spotlight.” Or the fact that Mimi watches too, but has to imagine that they’re also talking about her team… Perhaps she’s been eating too many Nutboys lately.
Gil can wave his Dick Tracy hand and make it appear on the TV screen, or perhaps in the studio. Can the other viewers see the hand? Oh wait, there are no other viewers. Except for Marty Moon watching from his basement studio/lair in a gin fog, plotting revenge. Sweet, sweet liquor.
Comment by Sgt. Saunders — March 30, 2009 @ 2:32 am
3/28: Wait till the rest of the guys in jail found out what the robber was caught with: “Paulie Walnuts, meet Joey Zagnuts”.
Comment by Philip — March 30, 2009 @ 4:57 am
Jason, you have to save thefirst comic for next year’s awards, mainly for the pure insanity of them retconning Nutboys to Zagnuts.
Not giving away my age (Let’s just say I am *Ahem* “over 40″) I remember Zagnuts when I was a kid and I haven’t seen them in stores for years. Someone mentioned on Comics Curmudgeon that they’re only sold online. Is Neal getting some kickback from the Zagnut people to try to get them back on the open market. I guess the Nutboy (still shitty) people didn’t kick in enough money.
Are we gonna be tortured again with Hatt and Sacko for the baseball season? I want a drunken Marty Moon to come staggering in the studio with a bottle of Thunderbird in his hand, cursing and peeing himself before he passes out in a drunken heap on camera.
That being said, Hatt’s index finger is freakin’ me out.
Comment by Regina — March 30, 2009 @ 5:04 am
Jason, when they’re saying “Here’s to next year” they’re definitly alluding to the fact that this strip will be part of the yearly Gil Thorp WTF! awards.
Comment by Regina — March 30, 2009 @ 5:20 am
So, what do our Milford youth next? They steal more Zagnuts, and get Slushies “on the house,” too.
Comment by Dave — March 30, 2009 @ 5:58 am
Guess those “black market” Zagnuts weren’t in big demand. Three months later there still in the Professional Criminal’s trunk. He choose poorly.
Comment by Bobby Joe — March 30, 2009 @ 6:15 am
YESSS!!! It’s the Sacko and the Rajah Show! Brought to you by Zag Nuts! From the makers of Nut Boys! They’re both shitty!
Tomorrow: the starting lineup for the Milford Nutlarks! They’re shitty! Here’s to next week! Believe it or not–in Milford!
Comment by Don, the Rebel without a Blog — March 30, 2009 @ 7:25 am
Lazy, lazy work on Monday’s strip. People work a hundred times harder spoofing comics like this at Dean’s Comic Booth.
While Gil isn’t the only strip reusing artwork, the Keane’s at least redraw their characters’ outfits when they reuse an old Family Circus. And they usually wait more than 3 and a half months to recycle an old strip.
Comment by billytheskink — March 30, 2009 @ 7:59 am
You’ll note that Nutboys were never mentioned in the dialogue. So now I imagine Rubin and Whigham working together with Rubin never looking at Whigham’s art, and Whigham never looking at Rubin’s dialogue. Instead, Rubin calls Whigham up once a week saying ‘well, first panel, you have four kids talking about the robbery. In the second panel, they get some slushies. In the third panel, they are toasting to next year.’
That kind of disconnect would explain a lot.
Comment by Scott de B. — March 30, 2009 @ 8:01 am
Re 1: I was trying to place where I’ve seen such a hand before, thanks for jogging my memory! We can only hope that, following his teams nutboy start (i.e. they do shitty) Gil decides that a string of Tracy-style violence is the best way to motivate his team.
Comment by Teasipper Academy — March 30, 2009 @ 8:15 am
I bet he also stole a case of Beemans Gum and some Marathon Bars!
Comment by el lumpbo — March 30, 2009 @ 8:32 am
3/30 Panel 3 All I can say is:
Domo arigato, mr. roboto, domo…domo
The time has come at last
To throw away this mask
Now everyone can see
My true identity…
I’m kilroy! kilroy! kilroy! kilroy!
’cause Gil is at PUB again.
Comment by Rex Kwan Do — March 30, 2009 @ 8:52 am
3/30, Panel 2 – All I can say is that Coach Kaz is gonna be ultra jealous and in a punchin’ mood when he sees Sacko’s late 80′s lightning bolt earring…
Comment by BriLeeCoyote — March 30, 2009 @ 10:15 am
Famous TV dream sequences
1. Newhart – Bob waking up with Suzanne after dreaming the Vermont experience.
2. St. Elswhere – Kid imagining whole show in a snow globe.
3. Dallas – The dude being discovered in the shower after a whole season of him being dead.
4. Prep Spotlight – The whole basketball season/nutboy robbery/Larkin twist was only just a dream.
Comment by Ray — March 30, 2009 @ 10:27 am
I went back and read the title on the second comic and at first I thought it said “Perp Spotlight” which would have made the thing a whole lot funnier.
Comment by Regina — March 30, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
10 (Teasipper)–I’m kind of hoping memembers of the Milford Trenchcoat Mafia decide to shoot Sackdog and Rajah.
And where have those two been during basketball season? Did they fall into a black hole? I wish they’d fall back in and take the last 2 1/2 years of this strip with them.
Comment by Doug Puthoff — March 30, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
16: Seriously, how bad does a 6’9″ dude have to be to not cut it at high school basketball? Oh wait, the heart condition thing, yeah. As for Matt, I think he’s going for the TV gig because he is actually a terrible athlete, and was faking the heart condition for the same reason (to avoid sports related humiliation). Seriously, I think he actually hates that hat, but lacks the coordination to take it off.
Comment by Teasipper Academy — March 30, 2009 @ 3:45 pm
Hey Gil…Chubs Peterson wants his hand back!
Comment by Jon Wright — March 30, 2009 @ 3:57 pm
I’m not sure that the Hat didn’t just perform a prostate exam on the Ponz in panel 2. Note the sarcastic “a lot of holes to fill, though.”
Comment by meathook — March 30, 2009 @ 4:44 pm
Hey Gils Barber, what happened to the Cardinals?? I cant believe it either. Missed the game due to family affair. Woulda loved to see it.
Comment by Rob — March 30, 2009 @ 6:16 pm
I thought maybe Nutboys and Zagnuts were the same thing, so didnt notice the transposition. I never ate or heard of either one. Maybe they’re regional fare. Coors used to be only in Colorado, now its everywhere.
Comment by Rob — March 30, 2009 @ 6:25 pm
At least it looks like everyone’s favorite egotistical jerk, Andrew Gregory, will be back for baseball season. Rubin only gave him a few rude comments during this years basketball, which is a disappointment after the many absurd yet self aggrandizing lines they gave him last year . . .
Comment by Steve — March 30, 2009 @ 8:52 pm
And what is Gil doing sitting in front of the TV and whining, anyhow. That’s Peter Parker’s job.
Comment by Doug Puthoff — March 30, 2009 @ 9:22 pm
Rob #20 – The Cardinals just kinda zoned out, Mudlarks style! Oh well, there’s always next year.
Comment by Gil'sBarber — March 31, 2009 @ 7:11 am