“My kid brother looked like a tick about to pop!” – Ralphie, A Christmas Story
With Les following his daughter’s lead in becoming acclimated to conditions on Kili’s slopes (they don’t even need gloves today), it now falls to Dan to serve as the expedition’s weakest link. His bulky form in panel 1 makes Summer look svelte by comparison. Even Les allows himself a smirk at overlayered Dan’s expense.
Wow! “Leaving our footprints/pawprints/buttprints in the snow of Kilimanjaro!” Tell it to Neil Armstrong and (New Jersey’s own!) Buzz Aldrin. The footprints that they left on the moon 43 years ago this month? They’re still there. Footprints in the snow of Kilimanjaro (or anywhere else on earth)? Not so permanent. Still, anytime Les is made to look like an even bigger fool, it’s all right with us.
Well, Dan sure looks like he’s enjoying himself, eh? I’d be a little down in the mouth too, if I’d spent a bundle on a Kilimanjaro expedition and then had to spend it babysitting a kitten. Let’s see how Backpack Kitty “holds her own” vs. that white-necked raven. Quoth Wikipedia:
Most of this bird’s food is obtained from the ground…it has been seen to drop a tortoise from a height onto hard ground, preferably on rocks, and then swoop down to eat it, or even pick it up again if not sufficiently broken.
Maybe Dan was looking on waiting for Kitty to meet its fate (“It was an accident!“) and is annoyed that Summer has interrupted.
Today the ever-erudite Batiuk tips the Funky fedora to Papa Hemingway. Say what you will about Summer (and you do!) at least she’s cheerful about camping in a snowstorm. No doubt that the other tent contains Les, swaddled in his sleeping bag in the fetal position, whimpering and cursing fate for having brought him here.
It’s one of those “jokes” that makes sense only in print: “Lava” meaning molten rock is pronounced “lah-vah”, but I doubt that anyone pronounces “lavatory” as “lah-vah-tory”, even in Tanzania. I could be wrong.
It appears that the cartoonist is creatively spent after rendering the lush jungle landscape in Sunday’s strip: a Google Image Search for “Kilimanjaro lava tower” turns up images of an impressive, massive monolith. As drawn here it resembles a small slag heap.
Son of Stuck Funky 