Gil Thorp by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill for September 15, 2022

Um, why did she even turn to Gil for advice when she became pregnant? Is that in his job description? (Not that Gil ever does the stuff, that actually is in his job description, of course.)

I assume this is from some older arc Barajas dug up. So if Mel is carrying this furious grudge from the time Gil calmly asked her to carefully consider her options before committing to becoming a teen mother- excuse me, I mean the time Gil demanded she immediately get an abortion or else (an act of oppressive patriarchal cruelty so traumatizing that she weeps bitter tears and snaps at Gil just recalling it 15 years later), then why was she so friendly with him a couple weeks ago and why would she specifically press him to look out for her son? Henry, are you deliberately writing all of these characters to be completely insane?

Great to have this strip to come to for some light sports-related entertainment.

Anyone remember this gal when she was a student? Was there a Kyle and MELissa?

As Bitsy says, this references a plot from twenty years back. And thank you, Bitsy; I was blinking hard and about to type, “Waitaminute, GilPa counseled her AGAINST an abortion!” Beyond that, the whole helping-out bit came (I seem to recall) when Melissa told her parents she was pregnant, they promptly kicked her out, Kyle wanted to drop out to work to support them both, and GilPa’s solution was to have Kyle stay in school, and he and Mimi would put Melissa up for a time. Bitsy, Henry, or other longtime readers like Mopman might correct me if I’m remembering it wrong.

And as far as resurrecting old characters go … eeesh, the strip’s been doing it for a long time. Tru(e) Standish has made more than one appearance. Bitsy and Wally have been back, Mopman’s been back, Adderall Bobby had a second bite at the court, Jarvis White’s been back, Marty DeJong’s been back, Heather reappeared. It’s something I appreciated about Rubin, truth be told.

This comic is dissolving.

Gil and Mimi were so good to her that in the next day’s strip, she’s yelling at them for it.

They need to get off this track. I don’t need Gil Thorp preaching political diatribe.

So Henry, what’s Milford’s offensive scheme this football season? Veer? Offset I? Chuck and duck?

Meanwhile , Milford already has 2 forfeit losses on its football record and is going to forfeit again this week ,in all reality .

What the heck is going on?

I just came here to watch some sports and cheer on Milford…

Imagine some new time reader trying to understand what is going on??

Oh good lord————-

Cue the cheesy, old school soap opera organ music…

I’m trying real hard to be welcoming to Mr. Barajas but the quick cuts from one story arc to the next are becoming hard to stay tuned in to. My biggest fear is that Gil Thorp is becoming Mark Trailerized.

The problem with bringing back characters like this is that Gil and Mimi never age. It’s good that they don’t or Gil would have died years ago, but it makes suspension of disbelief more difficult. Mel is 14 years older, but not the Thorps.

Shouldn’t football season have started by now?

P-1: Skillfully using violet to imply a flashback, Gil tries to convince Mel into a three-way.

P-2: Exploding eye syndrome indicates her objection to page 247 of Gi’s illustrated Kama Sutra.

P-3: Gil shows signs of early onset dementia

I’m consistently amused by the folks who complain “Stick to sports! I don’t come here for social commentary!” when the strip has engaged in social commentary for decades. I can only conclude that either (a) they’re new to the strip or (b) this particular line of social commentary upsets them. The former is understandable, but the latter tends to speak poorly of the complainers.

P4: “Uh, I meant ‘not’ to get that abortion. But at the time I was being written by that crazy Jerry Jenkins, so you have to take that into account. As for consistency, at least I am still wearing the same clothes…”

I used to always start my day with Gil. A way to remove myself from the reality of the world. Milford was like Mayberry with a TV station. It was ONE issue at a time and there were sports as the background: Baseball, football and basketball. Now it’s like I am reading CNN. Gil & Mimi getting divorced, Keri, who is non-binary, has a trans kid getting ready to ask her out and Marty Moon is nowhere to be seen . There are virtually no sports. If there is a time when MIlford returns to normal let me know.

P 2.5: “…unless you’re in the same bed with me and she’s (points thumb at Mimi) not around…”

What in the fresh HeII is happening here? Enough with the new authors tearing down legacy strips. Go create your own strip to destroy.

I think that the problem is that this strip has been stuck in the 80’s for forty years. Things change, but fundamentally changing every character ruins the continuity. i.e. Gil & Mimi suddenly have marital problems instead of us seeing those problems develop over time.

P3: Geez calm down, babe, I just wanted to slow dance

Seems kind of cruel for Gil to tell her, “I shouldn’t have told you not to get that abortion.” (Which is how it’s supposed to read.) Is that why she’s crying, because it’s like he’s saying, “I’m sorry your kid now exists.” And speaking of existing, today’s Mopped Up Thorp exists purely for your reading enjoyment.

https://moppedupthorp.wordpress.com/