ComicBookHarriet

Poppin’ and Lockin’

Well, I’m back, from Outer Space (Seattle). I just walked in to see Cranky sitting there with that dumb look upon his face.

Specifically this one,

*NGL: This one got a chuckle out of me.*

And if Cranky seems unfazed to be haunted by the disembodied soul of a former coworker appearing to give him advice, well…

*Clutch Grinder, no relation to the late ‘Pop’.*

This isn’t Ol’ Ed’s first Dickensian Rodeo.

Once again, Tom is pulling an old running gag outta his tattered old gag bag. Treating us to an entire week of that famed Bus Barn mentor and legend, Pop Clutch. And giving me another opportunity to sit awkwardly on the floor of my kitchen taking pictures of Crankshaft trade paperbacks that I’m holding open and flat with my toes like some kind of spy gorilla.

*No idea who these two are. Early Crankshaft had some Bus Barn randos that never got names. The woman could be the principal, but this seems out of character for her.*

Picking up Speed

The Marvel Character Speedball circa 2006

Keeping up with The Johnsons

First of all, though many of you had criticisms of the few Crankshaft strips, I’ve been stunned that the last three (THREE) strips each at least got a smile outta me. From Granny J showing a bit of ankle, to Sunday’s supremely tolerable goose call, I can’t remember the last time I was able to give my stamp of “So Okay It’s Average!” to Crankshaft three days in a row. YMMV, of course, but I’m not gonna lie and say I didn’t find it amusing.

However, of note this week was this little exchange,

Was this strip funny? No, not really.

But it was a call back to a 35-year-old running gag, from the very beginning of the strip. Except it wasn’t the mother chasing the bus, it was the poor little tyke herself.

How do I know? Well I shelled out to get the first couple Crankshaft paperbacks a few months ago. I even had to buy the first one twice, because it shipped to my parents’ house. I noticed my parents’ laughing over it a few weeks later, and it’s disappeared into their stack of bathroom reading materials. I guess there’s no accounting for taste.

Because I’m genuinely wondering. Are these funny? Are they cruel? Are they somewhere in between? I am interested to hear your thoughts.

An Engaging Response.

Did you know Tom has an email newsletter? Randomly, months apart and with absolutely no schedule, a little update from Tom Batiuk shows up in my email inbox, because of course I’m on the mailing list! I can’t miss an important update!

Such as,

So is it life imitating art or the other way around? Whatever, if you were following Crankshaft in mid-July, you saw Crankshaft’s granddaughter Mindy and his son-in-law Jeff at SDCC (that’s cool code for people who don’t want to write out San Diego Comic-Con), along with Mindy’s boyfriend and soon to be fiancé (oops spoiler alert… ignore that) Pete Reynolds who’s a writer for Atomik Komix and proof positive that Funky characters would indeed begin showing up in Crankshaft.

I can’t tell you all, just how absolutely vibrating with anticipation and glee your dear CBH is to see the LONG AWAITED proposal of Pete Reynolds to Mindy Murdoch.

Saturday’s Strip WAS Available For Preview.

Short post tonight, as I am still trying to digest all the amazing, thoughtful, literary discussions you nitters had on the last post. I kept on opening the reply tab, staring at the blinking cursor, but gradually realizing that someone else in the comments chain had already said it better than I had.

Thanks for all the kind words on the James Joyce parody. It really wasn’t as impressive as it sounded since I used the first chapter of the novel as a direct template, and only changed a few words per paragraph to turn it Funky. It’s 90% Joyce, 10% nonsense.

I am trying to organize my thoughts into something concise about Wally Vs DSH. Hope to get that out soon.

In the meantime, please enjoy the preview of Saturday’s Crankshaft I managed to hack out of GoComics.