Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for November 21, 2023

That black ribbon is so fetid, er, festering, I mean festive!

That sounds like a tasty variation.

AAHH—HA! HA! HA! So FUN-NEE! He expects a rum ball—and eats one that tastes like lemon! If you don’t get it, yesterday Lizard replaced her rum balls’ rum with Mike’s Hard! Hilarity fails to ensu—Wait. TB once spent SIX DAYS on someone OPENING AN ENVELOPE, but “I think I will make rum balls” went straight to “Why, these rum balls have manifested, apparently through breaking and entering!” TODAY, so it happened like…in some kind of anti-time? And yet he’s spent 18+ years flogging That Story? Does the Time Variance Authority know about this?

Well, thank Goodness Lizard Lil got her “holiday” rum balls prepared and delivered by Nov. 21! I’d hate to think what might have happened if she had waited a whole day to go to the package store and pick up a bottle of rum so they could be made properly! No one would have them until Nov. 22! Batiuk loves to create an artificial crisis to hang a week’s worth of humor-free strips on, doesn’t he?

So…there was no time on 11/20 at 8AM to go to a liquor store, but enough time to make and magically deliver via teleportation all the balls, Lillian’s sweet, schweddy, rummy balls? Guys, I managed liquor stores for 20 years. Go TODAY for your boozy comestibles. Or just think “Yeah, I’ll take a quick run to the liquor store after work Wednesday, then pop over to the grocery store for those celery sticks I forgot!” I’ve worked in both, and for those stores, Wednesday IS Black Friday. I always loved the utter bafflement of people who thought “quick in & out!” and then saw the lines.

Panel 2: The Lemon Pledge she put in there has turned Crank’s hair the same color as his skin..

Limoncello balls.

cue the dark ambient music with discordant overtones which, although broadly tonal, is inflected with chromatic and polytonal passages representing the archetypal example of a florid, melodramatic style without being interpreted as an overly heavy-handed metaphor within the context of the thematic material a bit on the frenetic and frantic side with interesting rhythmic devices which seem to counterpoint the surrealism of the underlying metaphor utilizing a novel imaging technique known as positron emission tomography

“Since when does a rum ball taste like a lemon-drop cookie?”

Since Tom Batiuk.

Ain’t gonna get one passed “Crank”!!

She should have gone out and bought the rum.

Lillian can’t fool wise old Crankshaft……….

maybe this is only a two day story arc !!!!

Lillian must have a key to Ed’s house. And knows to put them on the nightstand by his bed. Hmm, something’s fishy about their “cordial” relationship.

Lemon and chocolate would be the most vile thing ever! I TOTALLY SUPPORT HER GIVING THEM TO HIM!

Germany makes the best liquor chocolates

Haha! (＾▽＾)