Gil Thorp by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill for July 09, 2021

So Ed resigns just because Gil says so? Wow, Carbone Cave must be littered with bodies.

P2: And I will be eating pies this big!

Ya know, this is lame for even this strip…may be a new low, although there is plenty of competition.

That dinner would be more contentious than a library board meeting. Time to dump Katy.

Let’s book a dinner date! But can we shelve this thread? We’re now overdue for a new topic. Fine R&W 10 cents a day?

What a wonderful solution, GilPa to the rescue once again…he spent more time on this issue than coaching!!! I hope R & W continue to cover the Library Board meetings cuz it is riveting stuff…I think they are “transitioning” away from sports to a more community focus. The local police report will be next to appear!!!

P1 “I told GilPa the day he pulls my finger is the day I retire and he did

P2 now I can eat pie all day every day – pie me, I’m open people

P3 that your old man will be in on ear and you will be in the other?

P3.5 and jab your Capulets senseless?

P4 and Katypie for desert?

Oh, yikes. Nothing is ever going to progress now.

In all reality Summer begins in Milford let the new storyline begin.

All’s well that ends well. Trophies (and pie) for everybody. If (In)Zane doesn’t get to jab some Capulets after dinner, he never will. At least we can look forward to seeing former state champ Coach Thorp and 1M1 sipping “lemonade” poolside tomorrow as Kaylie awaits in breathless anticipation of finishing her personal instruction from GilPa.

I’m sure that will go well. Boss employee.

P 3: “… yes!…it’s means that this inane ‘spring’ story FINALLY over…”

When is someone gonna tell coach thorp that he’s been around long enough and time to hit the bricks too?

Today, Katy gets a double chin

A ‘useful’ chat with coach Thorp? That would be a first

As Ed gives this speech, is he blinking his eyes in Morse code for T – O – R – T – U – R – E?

This “resolution” to the library board conflict is as much a nothingburger as was the non-ending to the Vic-and-Tessie story arc that immediately preceded it. Apparently the decision has been made that it’s no longer worth the trouble to come up with an actual start, middle, and finish to a story arc in this strip, so now a story will just run until it’s time to start the next one, at which time the ongoing one will simply… stop. Will we ever find out whether Abe was successful in selling out the library’s computers and cutting back the desk librarian’s hours? Of course not, any more than we learned anything about what happened when Vic went to the prom with the entire girls’ basketball team (minus Tessie, and maybe plus Mrs. Robinson)? This strip is going to leave us with enough dangling story lines to serve as the basis for a whole other strip. I suspect that one would be more interesting.

Yeah, that’s gonna go well. These two butting heads at every board meeting and nothing getting done. Nice going, Gil. How about you stick to coaching so your teams don’t stink.

And now for months of more arguing of what’s right for the library

P1, Gil seems pleased to finally be called “useful” in his own strip.

P2, And for his final farewell, William Frawley shows off his giant four-fingered hands. He’s like a Disney character.

P3, Only if there’s pie. I’m a member of the library board now!

Tomorrow is Mimi & Mimosas day poolside as GilPa hitches up his highwaters exposing white socks and Keds deck shoes. Our hero grabs the golf bag and slinks off to MCC to neglect more Junior golfers on the driving range.

Gil was looking for another personal caddy, and this guy looked like he could loop while carrying a beer. After a “useful conversation” Gil figured he could get a stack of Mrs. Smith’s chocolate pies from Costco and own this guy. Hey, maybe he can clean pools too!

Wow. Never saw that coming.

I love happy endings….especially when I visit the Orchids of Asia…

P1.5: Gil pointed out how unbearable keeping this job would be no matter who won.

P3.5: So it’s a win, win, lose. I still have to prove my love.

Gil made him an offer he could not refuse. Membership at Milford CC

Today’s theme song: “Match maker, match maker make me a match. Give it to CK’s mom, Hoo down the Hatch.”

Remember Vector’s catchphrase (catchword) from Despicable Me?

Un-pre-dictable?

Yeah. This wasn’t that.

P2- It’s Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown’s cousin, “Six Finger” Eddy.

Zane and Burrito change there minds and decline being stuck in a room together for 28 years.

End of this story arc? Sniff, sniff is that smoke? Where’s CK’s mom and her date? That friend of Mopman who accidentally triggered it on the last story isn’t still in town is he?

P1 – What’s with Pie Man standing up while he gives his big speech? He’s nowhere near the microphone, how are the 500 people jammed into the back part of the hall going to hear him? And I like how Gil apparently rushed up to the bench when his name was called, as yesterday he was not in the first or second row.

P2 – That is one happy dude. Probably because like Denver guy, he can leave Milford forever.

P3 – Zane misspoke, he should have said, “Nobody wins.” Not the Library Board, not Milford, and certainly not us readers.

And speaking of nobody, you know who should skip reading Mopped Up Thorp? That’s right, nobody.

Wait, I just had a revelation. I’ve been saying we still have a bit to go before the Milford CC, because the “Corina going to college” story hasn’t wrapped up. I just realized, I guess cause I’m slow, that it actually did. The one panel with her mom telling Mimi that she bluffed Corina with kicking her out of the house if she didn’t go WAS THE RESOLUTION. THAT WAS THE WAY THEY ENDED IT?!!!!!!!!!!

Have fun Corina at the college you didn’t pick and playing softball when you don’t want to. The only think missing is we didn’t see Mimi and/or mom telling her what her major is going to be.

You’d think I wouldn’t be surprised at lame and non-endings by now, yet…

Everyone wins, except CK, forced against her will into college, Zane, who lost every start, Ed, taking an offer he couldn’t refuse, and readers like you!

I just updated today’s MUT to improve P1. I think. If you’ve already read it, go back to see the new version.

Called it!