4/25/11
So off we go, continuing yet another totally recycled plot. Sure, at first you’d think it was a complete rehash of last spring, when Milford’s cultured teenagers didn’t understand the appeal of a different type of music…In fact, some blond guy named Jeff, (who may or may not be the same Jeff, only with swell new brown hair…I mean how is Whigham supposed to keep track of these things, right?) didn’t like alt-country back then…and now this Jeff pooh-poohs folk singing.
But on closer examination, you’ll note all the important differences: This time around, they’re serving “sloppy roe” for lunch, there’s a mutant two-headed kid attending the school, and we have dude-on-dude bromance brewing. Wait…”Alpo” is supposedly a girl? Excuse me, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. As long as I’m the only one clever enough to have thought of calling him her(?) “Alpo”.
4/26/11
So has “Ease up” jumped the shark with yet another appearance in less than a week? And is Lini threatening us with bringing back the winter plot that went nowhere? Would I be tempted for him to make good on this promise in light of the fact that the alternative is boring, boring Jeff “Inadequate Chocolate Substitute” Karoub? And do I need to stop referring to that guy girl no I’ll go with ‘fella‘ as ‘Alpo’ now that I’m no more clever than Parker “Looks the same as Jeff so we can’t show him up-close anymore” Bowen?
wow i guess dr lini is more popular then mr baskt to be brought back this fast.
Comment by mr120zcan — April 26, 2011 @ 4:15 pm
Regina has been outed! She’s Whigham! Sure enough! Check it! Count it! Bonk!
Comment by Don, the Rebel without a Blog — April 26, 2011 @ 5:12 pm
Look out! , jeff and parker , the Milford (s)talking tree is on the other side of the fence!
Comment by exmiscellanea — April 26, 2011 @ 5:28 pm
How interesting that the writer uses a phrase used a lot in this blog – Alpo. Is he plagurizing by any chance?? I’m calling him out on it if thats true.
Comment by Rob — April 26, 2011 @ 6:43 pm
Check out Alpo at Lollapallooza 2011 at Grant Park this summer!
Comment by Rob — April 26, 2011 @ 6:45 pm
Well, the early spring bloom of plotlets is a complete clusterfrack, as usual. Fortunately, my mind is distracted from the pain by the amazing spectacle — in 4/26 panel 1 — of a Milford student eagerly licking his Sloppy Roe, as if it were the purest ambrosia.
Say it with me, in your best Homer Simpson: Mmmmm… Sloppy Roe.
Comment by John S. Walters — April 26, 2011 @ 10:00 pm
LOL Don. I’d like to think I’m more original.
Jason, you think Rubin is reading this blog? You came up with the “Alpo” reference first. I’ll be in heaven if someone in the strip calls her Al Jolson.
Ease up, Linguini, people could care less about talking about you and the freckled faced broad with the exploding eyeball. (can’t remember her name).
Comment by Regina — April 27, 2011 @ 5:17 am
Alison Krauss and Joan Baez? Was Alison Krauss making records when Al-Jo was born and if so was she considered KEWL? Oh, wait. Time Warp!
Comment by Elmo — April 27, 2011 @ 6:55 am
Touche on the ease up.
Where are those squirrels from Mutts? They should be dropping acorns on Karoub and Bowen. Bonk! Bonk!
Where’s Hobart of the Deficit Task Force of the Budget Subcommittee of the Milford School District? Hronk!
I wonder if Kay Morgan makes sloppy roe? Do you serve it with cheezy poofs?
Comment by Dood — April 27, 2011 @ 7:18 am
Wasn’t the sloppy roe a Scooby-Snack?
Comment by billytheskink — April 27, 2011 @ 8:10 am
Regina: I’m fairly certain that Rubin does, in fact, read this blog. It’s about the only independent evidence that his strip has any readers at all — we are the sound of the tree falling in the forest, if you will — and when you Google “Gil Thorp,” TWIM is the second hit! It’d be very difficult for Rubin to NOT be aware of this blog.
However, I don’t think he stole “Al-Po” from us. The lag time between writing and publication has to be several weeks at least, especially since he’s dealing with a separate artist. Even with all the recycled panels, it still takes Whigham some time to crank this stuff out. Rubin probably wrote this week’s strips in late February or early March.
On the other hand, I do think the repeated employment of “Ease Up!” is definitely a shout-out to the TWIM gang. Now, if we can only get him to bring back Clambake and Nut-Boys…
Comment by John S. Walters — April 27, 2011 @ 8:46 am
Down on the corner, out in the street
Clambake and the Nutboys are playin’
Bring a nickel, tap your feet
Comment by Ned Ryerson — April 27, 2011 @ 8:56 am
4/26 P2: Leany: “Or should people be talking about you and me?”
Freckled eye-exploder: “Well, Pretty Boy, they will after I get an hour alone with you and I [pick your own verb] you straight; I can have you clothes-shopping at Walmart in no time!”
Comment by semperfi4evr — April 27, 2011 @ 11:00 am
Ned, did Gail Martin cover that tune at the Central City Music Festival in ’73?
Comment by Dood — April 27, 2011 @ 11:49 am
So Al-Jo is….2 different people?? Was she spliced together by a mad scientist who disliked overpopulation? I guess the good thing is we have 1 less dopey character in the strip. Hey, dont stop now – splice Thorp and Kaz and you have Thaz.
Maybe the writer will go a step furthur and start naming characters after us. Yikes!
Comment by Rob — April 27, 2011 @ 1:53 pm
It wouldn’t take long — probably half a spring plot — to name all 23 of us.
Comment by Dood — April 27, 2011 @ 2:40 pm
Maybe Rubin’s already started. Fess up. Which one of you is Hobart?
Comment by Dood — April 27, 2011 @ 2:41 pm
#11 John S, I’ve thought the same thing about recent and repeated occurrences of “Ease up!” If Clambake resurfaces, or we see a reference to Nutboys, or a kid stuck in a tree, we will know that TWIM has been, in artillery terms, “bracketed.”
Comment by vaganova — April 27, 2011 @ 10:04 pm
Ease up, vaganova!
Comment by Don, the Rebel without a Blog — April 28, 2011 @ 12:01 am