Shaky got away with something this time. He looks relieved — for now — but that probably won’t last.
This week, I was looking through some newspaper achives from the time that the Breathless story ran and I found an intersting item that pertains to today’s strip in the radio show column “Listening In” with Ben Goss from the August 2, 1945, [New York] Sunday News. It’s quite sexist by today’s standards, but some things don’t change much with the years:
Galen Drake gave his listeners a few tips on how to assure an unhappy marriage, during his cozy program yesterday (WJZ-1:30). So for couples bored with the perfect union, we repeat his advice for clinching a life of argument and dissatisfaction. The female half of the contract should: (1) nag, (2) throw out his favorite pipe and (3) come down to breakfast wearing “a kimona that looks like the cover for a parrot’s cage.” The easiest way to get the little woman’s feathers ruffled, he advised husbands, is to treat her as just another possession and never take her places. There you have the ingredients for a bitter marriage cake. If interested in the resulting mess, just mix, bake over a slow nagging fire, and the philosophying chef, Galen Drake, guarantees unhappiness.
Who, Gould? Yes, I think he did things deliberately to complain about how small his strips were printed by papers.
I thought I hadn’t worded it clearly and in the interest of not lingering long was hoping for the best. I meant that Locher was complaining about the small spaces too. Just think if he were doing the strip in the ’30s how his cut and pastes would look. ;-)
I just marvel at how Joe can make Shaky’s insanely designed face work every time. His expressions are fantastic. He really breathes life into the character.
Shaky is gobsmacked, gobsmacked I tells ya, GOBSMACKED! that he managed to diffuse the comely and delectable Edison with his clever dodge. She scurries off to change into her best goin’ out for dinner or church Cyndi Lauper outfit that Crystal helped her pick out. She would have never guessed that Crystal is into 80’s retro, but is glad that Crystal passed on the Boy George look.
Shaky puts some thought into where they should go for his appeasement dinner. He knows that he’s in the eye of the hurricane. Shaky also knows that going to a diner and being served by a bleached blonde, gum snapping, floozy waitress that’s been on her feet all day and took too many one-way buses out of town during her life is probably not a good choice. Suddenly, inspiration hits!
McDonald’s! Everybody loves McDonald’s! The comely and delectable Edison surely can’t resist a world-renowned restaurant that also serves toys with some of its meals! He’s sure that she’s forgotten that guy from long ago, the one that she called “Big Mac” for some unknown reason. His spirits buoyed, he starts hunting for those gift certificates that he knows are laying around somewhere. He loves it when a plan comes together!
@ Neil Wick: From yesterday: You said “Maybe they mixed up the negatives or the printing plates.”
When I was working in commercial printing, it did occasionally happen that color plates would be mounted on the wrong press units, either because they were marked wrong in pre-press, or just by error in the press room. The very first trial sheets off the press told us that the plates were mixed up. The colors would look just awful, depending on which plates were out of sequence. Faces might look purple, or grass might look orange . (It wouldn’t just be one picture on a page of pictures, though. It would be everything on the page in question.)
Your comment brought back another memory for me. When I was a kid, my friends and I would spend many a summer afternoon reading comic books from the very large stash my one friend had. There was a “letters to the editor” page in the old DC comics, and once in a while someone would write in with a complaint about a particularly egregious error in the art, like “Why is Superman’s logo black instead of red?”. Their standard answer was “The plates must have slipped”, which my buddies and I thought was pretty funny, because by then I had started to become interested in printing, and I had read enough to know how color pages were printed. Fun memories!
I wonder – did newspapers assign their own colors to the Sunday strips back in the era you were referencing, or were the color separations supplied by the syndicate?
1-JAY: Would you believe me if I said that I loved you and that you’re the only chick for me?
2-WHATSERNAME: YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES! JAY: Really?
3-JAY: No way. Nobody’s that stupid. Are they? Well, just in case you’re about to throw one of Moe’s two-fingered eye pokes, I’ll put up the universal defense!
Neil Wick over 4 years ago
Good morning™, lie detectors!
Shaky got away with something this time. He looks relieved — for now — but that probably won’t last.
This week, I was looking through some newspaper achives from the time that the Breathless story ran and I found an intersting item that pertains to today’s strip in the radio show column “Listening In” with Ben Goss from the August 2, 1945, [New York] Sunday News. It’s quite sexist by today’s standards, but some things don’t change much with the years:
Galen Drake gave his listeners a few tips on how to assure an unhappy marriage, during his cozy program yesterday (WJZ-1:30). So for couples bored with the perfect union, we repeat his advice for clinching a life of argument and dissatisfaction. The female half of the contract should: (1) nag, (2) throw out his favorite pipe and (3) come down to breakfast wearing “a kimona that looks like the cover for a parrot’s cage.” The easiest way to get the little woman’s feathers ruffled, he advised husbands, is to treat her as just another possession and never take her places. There you have the ingredients for a bitter marriage cake. If interested in the resulting mess, just mix, bake over a slow nagging fire, and the philosophying chef, Galen Drake, guarantees unhappiness.
AnyFace over 4 years ago
DaJellyBelly over 4 years ago
Well Shaky wheedled his way out of that predicament. By lying through his teeth!!
22ph over 4 years ago
Next comes the meeting of Edison and Fortuna… will the house light up?
22ph over 4 years ago
What if Fortuna is out on a date with someone, it will be interesting what Shaky’s reaction would be. Jealousy, jealousy, jealousy.
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray over 4 years ago
Uh oh !
Neil Wick misconsrewed 11 minutes ago
@Gweedo it’s legal here Murray
Who, Gould? Yes, I think he did things deliberately to complain about how small his strips were printed by papers.
I thought I hadn’t worded it clearly and in the interest of not lingering long was hoping for the best. I meant that Locher was complaining about the small spaces too. Just think if he were doing the strip in the ’30s how his cut and pastes would look. ;-)
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray over 4 years ago
Good morning™, bullet dodgers !
Terrible case of flop sweat on this boy. Dinner qualifies as that shiny thing mentioned yesterday.
GroovyKinda over 4 years ago
I just marvel at how Joe can make Shaky’s insanely designed face work every time. His expressions are fantastic. He really breathes life into the character.
tripwire45 over 4 years ago
Edison is too nice to be with him, plus, she’s a moron.
kantuck-nadie over 4 years ago
/facepalms/ D’oe…
tsull2121 over 4 years ago
“Tomorrow… on AS THE STOMACH TURNS…. "
Aladar30 Premium Member over 4 years ago
Safe. For now…
tsull2121 over 4 years ago
DIMBULB: Shaky… you said you were taking me out to dinner
SHAKY: I am honeymuffin… only the best for my little squeezebox
“WELCOME TO BURGERCLOWN…ARE YOU READY TO ORDER?”
DIMBULB: Oh Shaky… it’s just SOOOOO romantic!
Ray Toler over 4 years ago
Talking Heads.
avenger09 over 4 years ago
I don’t have a problem with the artwork, but the writing has been subpar/silly/soulless and it has been for a decent amount of time.
markwillman4 over 4 years ago
Oh, Shaky. You lie like a carpet.
z12332190 over 4 years ago
Shaky is gobsmacked, gobsmacked I tells ya, GOBSMACKED! that he managed to diffuse the comely and delectable Edison with his clever dodge. She scurries off to change into her best goin’ out for dinner or church Cyndi Lauper outfit that Crystal helped her pick out. She would have never guessed that Crystal is into 80’s retro, but is glad that Crystal passed on the Boy George look.
Shaky puts some thought into where they should go for his appeasement dinner. He knows that he’s in the eye of the hurricane. Shaky also knows that going to a diner and being served by a bleached blonde, gum snapping, floozy waitress that’s been on her feet all day and took too many one-way buses out of town during her life is probably not a good choice. Suddenly, inspiration hits!
McDonald’s! Everybody loves McDonald’s! The comely and delectable Edison surely can’t resist a world-renowned restaurant that also serves toys with some of its meals! He’s sure that she’s forgotten that guy from long ago, the one that she called “Big Mac” for some unknown reason. His spirits buoyed, he starts hunting for those gift certificates that he knows are laying around somewhere. He loves it when a plan comes together!
And so it goes, by gar, by gar…
buckman-j over 4 years ago
Once again, the comments section is more interesting than the strip
AngeloVentura over 4 years ago
“out to dinner? Oh, that’s all right, then!”, I suspect it will not be so easy, Edison is a bit too hast forgetting a whole week of neglect!
Ken in Ohio over 4 years ago
@ Neil Wick: From yesterday: You said “Maybe they mixed up the negatives or the printing plates.”
When I was working in commercial printing, it did occasionally happen that color plates would be mounted on the wrong press units, either because they were marked wrong in pre-press, or just by error in the press room. The very first trial sheets off the press told us that the plates were mixed up. The colors would look just awful, depending on which plates were out of sequence. Faces might look purple, or grass might look orange . (It wouldn’t just be one picture on a page of pictures, though. It would be everything on the page in question.)
Your comment brought back another memory for me. When I was a kid, my friends and I would spend many a summer afternoon reading comic books from the very large stash my one friend had. There was a “letters to the editor” page in the old DC comics, and once in a while someone would write in with a complaint about a particularly egregious error in the art, like “Why is Superman’s logo black instead of red?”. Their standard answer was “The plates must have slipped”, which my buddies and I thought was pretty funny, because by then I had started to become interested in printing, and I had read enough to know how color pages were printed. Fun memories!
I wonder – did newspapers assign their own colors to the Sunday strips back in the era you were referencing, or were the color separations supplied by the syndicate?
Cheapskate0 over 4 years ago
I guess as of today, it’s official, Edison is going nowhere.
Also, the story continues to go nowhere.
Another Take over 4 years ago
1-JAY: Would you believe me if I said that I loved you and that you’re the only chick for me?
2-WHATSERNAME: YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES! JAY: Really?
3-JAY: No way. Nobody’s that stupid. Are they? Well, just in case you’re about to throw one of Moe’s two-fingered eye pokes, I’ll put up the universal defense!
WHATSERNAME: Why, I oughta…stick out your hand!
JAY: Ok. OUCH!
ScottHolman over 4 years ago
I’ve come to have a whole new respect for Shaky! I’ll bet he has a Phd in ‘smooth operating’.
BreathlessMahoney77 over 4 years ago
How do you know Shaky is lying? His whole body moves.
Sisyphos over 4 years ago
Dodged a bullet that time, Shaky Mk.2!
Or did you? What will happen when you and gullible (?) Edison go out? Into whom will you run?!