Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for March 23, 2023

So, J*ff’s mom at some indeterminate point in the past gave his Spider-Man comics the heave-no, and now, having just discovered this, he immediately has to drive all the way to Westview to buy reprint collections of said books. Did it ever occur to him that he literally lives next door to a used bookstore? Did he stop to search online with Glamazon, Fleabay, or whatever Batiuk is calling certain e-retailers? No, it’s the Komix Korner or nothing. Makes perfect sense.

Also, most of Spidey’s original run has been reprinted multiple times in various hardback and paperback editions; he doesn’t have to spring for the overpriced omnibus.

Jeff gets home and finds its a collection of “Spidey Super Stories”.

‘List’, O ye lovers of comic strip nostalgia. We to are headed for the E. S. L.

I don’t get it.

What?

Cha-ching! Cheatin’ John just doubled the price.

I’m so confused. Where’s Crankshaft? I see Pippi Longhead is back.

Marvel published Spider-Man omnibuses? And, a paper shortage? First I’ve heard of it. If there is, no wonder the price of printed matter is so high.

Didn’t Batty use ‘the paper shortage’ excuse a while back,blaming the covid?

So a paper shortage in the present affects the availability of paper in the past?

EVERYTHING gets a turn to have a shortage, raise prices, then not lower them when th “shortage” ends.

The “list” is on paper, and paper is endangered.

P4 – “No. No it hasn’t. The endangered species list is not paper. In fact, the list is not even really written on paper. What are you talking about?”

Is this apparently dramatic paper shortage because of Climate Damage? Or have the future book burnings/book store burnings already started? (It never was clear what exactly people were burning in the FW jump to the future.)

This guy is always a year late wheres the paper shortage

Batiuk hasn’t been funny for decades, but this one’s pretty good.

In addition to a paper shortage, there is apparently a joke shortage. Today’s “joke” is recycled from a “Funky Winkerbean” strip back during last year’s “let’s fix ‘climate damage’ by drawing komix book covers” arc.

The joke shortage just made climate damage personal!

This is why a lot of comics are done digitally now.