Gil Thorp by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill for June 09, 2016

Oh my god, they killed Boo! You bastards!

Now I’ll never find out where her nickname came from.

Another kid from a broken home comes to a tragic end. How sad. RIP Boo.

Is it me, or is Gil attempting his “Dawson Crying Face” in P3 (look it up)

Seriously, first time I remember a death in the comic.

Sure will hard to sort out blame for her death. Why the second guy smashed into her is inexplicable. The inquiries should take us right through the summer.

The baseball player’s (forgot his name) dad, celebrated too much after the big sale. He’s gone from DUI to a murderer.

Honestly, Chip, it depends on the state. The second driver was obviously speeding, and it was a straightaway — he had to have seen the crash and the cars, and had a duty to be in control of his vehicle. He’s definitely on the hook for manslaughter or vehicular homicide, depending..Del is certainly a contributory party to that, but unless the state’s laws are written to make him equally culpable (and frankly, I doubt it), he’s not going to bear the full burden..That being said, kudos to Rubin and Whigham; gutsy plot twist.

Although two other notions: first, it’d take some forensic work to determine beyond a reasonable doubt that it was the second crash and not the first that killed her (and that would be very hard to prove for certain)..Second, Del might skate completely, unless he gets tested on the spot. There’s no witness now to prove he didn’t have his lights on, and for all anyone knows Boo pulled out recklessly. Why, look, her cell phone is right there, with a logged call around the time of the accident. Inattentive teen!

That was unexpected. I figured she would be hurt too bad to play any sports at all; and live to deal with the aftermath drunk boyfriend’s dad, boyfriend , lawsuit, etc…

So … Rubin and Whigham will give us their version of a town and a student body dealing with grief, with a side order of don’t-drink-and-drive thrown in for good measure … dammit, this ticks me off … and this comes from a guy whose avatar is a drunk

It’s like when CJ was killed off in The White Shadow. Never celebrate after a big win.

In all reality,RIP Boo you were a great character . Now , let’s speculate on who was driving the second vehicle , was it True Kenzie , Kenny Brown , Kaz , Marty, or Pedro ?

Bye Gil. RIP. This is just crap. I can stand a little, but this sinks the ship.

Too bad they had to kill off Boo. There could have been some good story lines in future. Maybe its a Bobby Ewing dream and she didn’t die

Boo hoo.

Holy crap!

Never expected them to kill her off.

Oh please! When Jami and I disappeared, you didn’t even report us missing. Couldn’t wait to convert my bedroom to a home gym, could you Dad? And now you’ve got this trembling lower lip over some manipulative trouble-making twerp who just happens to be an ace pitcher?

A tip of the cap to Neal and Rod. They have baited us masterfully with an O Henry surprise ending. It was mentioned if Boo was offted, a rehabbing from injury rugby player could strap it on to pitch. She dates a baller named Bacon, so throw her in the frying pan. With some practice and a crisp delivery, I forsee a fastball that sizzles and pops. Not often is Mimi stricken with EES, so she must have experienced a shocker.

Whoa. Shait just got serious. The playdowns will never be the same.

Gil in P1, ready to cuss out Pedro only to find out in P2 that Mimi’s chances of joining him as a State Champion Coach are likely over. P3, Brian Cranston used to make that same face a lot on Malcom In The Middle.

But seriously, this is something that seems to happen in every area of the country around prom or graduation time each year. There was just one two days ago in my area where 3 football players from one of the local schools were killed in an accident. It seems to be the teens fault in most of these situations. This time, there’s at least one adult at fault. Good thing for Biff they’re a non-couple.

The driver of the pickup truck had to be Steve Luhm, on his way to help clear the road of those industrial solvents. No doubt the excitement of the cleaning project got the better of him and he failed to slow down for Boo’s stalled car in the road. The tragedy, the horror.

we, I’m bummed. This strip is supposed to have happy endings.

forensic testing can prove if lights were off or on

Noooooooooooooo!!!

I remember Arthur “Boo” Radley as eccentric character in To Kill A Mockingbird.

We won’t see it, but I the three auto insurance companies will fight it out. Deepest pocket will be Del’s solvent company, which will be less solvent after the case. The bar that served him excessively can also be dragged in, particularly if state has a dram shop statute, Other potential defendants: the state road repair system, all three auto manufacturers, car dealers and repair shops.

“She’s gone to heaven so I got to be good …”

I know everyone joked about it, but I’m surprised at this result. Yes, the obvious plots of drinking and driving, texting and driving, but I’m really curious about the Bader vs. Ken Brown and Tru(E) plot and how that plays out.

Boo – we hardly knew thee….

I also noticed that we played right into R & W’s hands…lots of comments early (0744 right now for me).

Man, they missed a golden opportunity. They should have whisked Boo to Central City General Hospital where Gil and Mimi could have rushed, just in time to have the ER doctor, Wally Lamb, come out and inform her that she’s gone.

So is this R&W’s way of daring us to laugh?

@Bearwku: O’Henry??? The only way this turns into O’Henry is if tomorrow we start a new story line and just leave this dangling.

Isn’t Bones from Star Trek the one who’s supposed to say she’s dead, Jim?

What it all comes down to is it’s her father’s fault for getting her that car! Damn you, you enabler.

Can it be Ed Asner who was driving the pickup truck? There goes the big order. And let’s see whether Boo’s Mom is filled with anger because she forget the bread and milk and made Boo stop off at S-mart to buy them. Will the catcher blame herself for making Boo stay at the bucket to buy one more round of shakes and fries? Will True feel responsible, since it was his phone call that distracted Boo? Will Del sue the Supper Club, for allowing him to drive drunk?

Talk to the hand, Mimi.

Well that sucks. Characters disappear every year in this strip. Will they all come back for the funeral? It would be nice to see ball players from the past – Darby, Jaxson, Knox, Lucky, Amy, Al-Jo,….All we need is Merry Pranksters to play at the service.

I know this is a social commentary to make a point, but this is supposed to be a COMIC strip. Killing people is not cool. I don’t know if I will continue to be a fan……

Holy crap. Why? Where the hell is Del

Seeing her hopes of being the other state champ coach (softball) in the Thorp household go out with a KBANG, Mimi responds to Gil, “Boo Who” and prepares herself for a summer of pool time with Pedro rather than a group of sweaty, whiny softball players.

On the plus side, good to know Chief Lind is still on the job. I don’t think he’s made an appearance since Herk the Mauler tore up the Subwich Shop three years ago this month.

P4Gil: “At times like this, you just want to hug your kids a little tighter…..now where are those two scamps??”Mimi ; “…….ummmm Gil???….”

Rubin must be desperate. You don’t kill off the only character of any interest unless the Syndicate is ready to pull the plug on the strip.

I’ve been reading Gil Thorp since the days of Ernie Fenton-the most heartbreaking storyline yet. Hope they use this to address drunk driving and recovery from addiction.

I’m guessing that the driver of the pickup truck saw Del hit Boo with no headlights on. The impact of that crash knocked Boo’s car into the other lane where the pickup was approaching, causing the 2nd crash.

Wow, heavy one thrown at us by R&W. I do remember Neil Cray — Marfan’s, seems like there was a heartwarming scene where Milford and the opposing team were in on letting him score a basket in the final game. Then there was a dramatic deathbed scene with everyone gathered ‘round. Unlike this one though, that death was pretty much expected for a long while. Well, I guess you can say this one was too, as it was dragged out in true R&W fashion, and then they pull the ol’ fakearoo to really blow our minds. Holy cow, Mop, you do have your work cut out for you on this one, but I’m sure you’ll pull it off with class.

After the inevitable wrongful death lawsuits, Del is going to wind up insolvent.

But… will she come back as a peacock?

Didn’t really need the second crash to make the point. We will definitely miss Boo.

I grauated with a guy that had a terrible wreck and was almost killed on 3/15/71. Another guy was driving. His fault. First guy got huge settlement. We got out of HS in 73. On 3/15/74 three years to the day Randy got killed driving this high powered Dodge 440 magnum he’d bought with part of that settlement money.

One last comment. Hoodad……. what is the record for most comments? You seem to always know this kind of stuff.

Lurkers coming out of the woodwork today. I honestly thought that virtually no one read this strip except the regular smartass commenters.

I see another twist, think Dallas lost season with Bobby. Or maybe a body was misidentified.

This sucks. I liked her, in a fatherly way of course. And since I love Fastpitch Softball I was enjoying the story line.

I know you’re all in mourning, but related to the Kenzie story, the first 10 minutes of the latest Bill Simmons podcast, talks about underhand free throw shooting: https://soundcloud.com/the-bill-simmons-podcast/ep-104-malcolm-gladwell

Gil gives the eulogy so he can address the teen topical issue(s). With his deepest insight yet, he says: “You win some, you lose some”…

OK, someone has to say it. I’m sorry Boo got killed, and I’ll even miss her from the strip, but like her? She was what people used to call a pill. She was a pitcher who deliberately hurt batters when she was in a bad mood and she liked putting people down. Not someone I would want my daughters to be like.

Tomorrow … on a very special Gil Thorp … I just wanted to be #101, sorry Mop.

Tomorrow, Gil and Mimi are in bed when he wakes her up to tell her his nightmare about bratty shortstops, softball pitchers names after Robert Duvall characters, and industrial solvent salesmen. Mimi tells him to stop drinking Japanese beer at bedtime, and she goes back to sleep.

No, I think we’ll find out the whole story was in the mind of that kid who was autistic. Or was it Aspergers? Eh, same thing.