Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for November 13, 2022

You should be proud of the originality of your work, Petey!

His teacher needs to open up those parameters a bit. They are squashing his imagination.

How thoughtful, Alice darling!

It was a well thought out thing , Petey, very creative.

Next do the fourth Thanksgiving, the one when they first started having screaming political arguments during dinner!

Seems like it’s a more realistic rendition than the ones we were taught in school with happy ‘natives’ and happy pilgrims all getting along like they’d known each other forever.

Strips like this are occasionally why Richard sometimes trandscends his own brilliant gift for parody and satire and…; /…oh he\\ , somebody else finish this, I can’t stop laughing!!

Reminds me of “Dinner for Schmucks”.

No, no, Petey. Store it with your other shoebox dioramas for posterity.

Poor Petey, he’s finding out only the approved way of thinking is acceptable.

I am with the Native Americans. On more than one point, but especially on football.

Alice unknowingly creates the Die O’rama

Petey’s deleted panel: Uncle Edmund gets drunk on cider and acts inappropriately with the Native women.

Petey in panel 5 is intense

He should save those. One day when he’s a famous artist people will pay a lot of money for those

I just saw that Richard Thompson, who created these unforgettable Alice and Petey Otterloop characters, passed away many years ago. Are these reprints, or is someone carrying on?

Well, I don’t blame them; the Cowboys are always beating the Redskins…

Poor Petey. A lot of hard work. What’s wrong with a little satire?

C minus ?! C minus ?! Well, Petey, I would give your teacher an F minus for failing to recognize a brilliant, scathing work of art. Ah well, I suppose it is but more fodder for future works, and an introduction to the struggle of the artist. Society, snuggled in their insulating complacency and mediocrity rarely recognize genius in it’s own time. Soldier on young lad. Don’t let the ninnies silence your commentary.

" I Love your work". He is so insightful, I thought he should get an A even if he didn’t exactly do the assignment. And Alice does appreciate her brother’s diorama art form. Adorable.

I, for one, like Petey’s highly original take.

It’s a crime for Teacher to stifle Petey’s creativity (even if his account of history is more than a little suspect)! His Shoebox Dioramas are ingenious, and always thoughtful, accurate or not….

I always disliked it when teachers thought I was being too out of the box with my assignments. Can I help it if it’s more fun to be original?

It feels bizarrely just right to see myself as Alice reading a Richard Thompson comic as she looks at and comments on Petey’s diorama.