Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for December 10, 2023

Welcome to “The Curse of Montoni,” soon to be a stand-alone cover for Atomik Komix.

“We sold off everything”? So what, pray, were those booths, counters, signs, curtains, phones, ovens, racks, pizza boxes, etc. that we saw all around the place over the past week? And why on Earth wouldn’t you sell the Christmas decorations? Also, are Mopey and Min-dull (and their silent partner the PBM) supposed to have the restaurant up and running in two weeks and still have time to put plastic reindeer on the roof? Makes perfect sense.

Is Batiuk joking? Shouldn’t Ed be in Centerville, sharpening his bus’s front bumper?

Oh. It’s a Christmas miracle. Or it’s 2 weeks of every Who in Funkytown inserting themselves into the strip, as they all string Xmas lights for Moroni’s grande re-opening on that most pizzacentric of holidays, XMAS! I called this 5 minutes after the strip was posted, and I can bet we’re getting “Jazz Messiah” again.

I love the malapropisms

“We auctioned off everything but the Christmas decorations…and the fixtures…and the pizza boxes and…geez, no wonder I didn’t make much on that sale…”

Neither are your readers.

Elf costumes for the Band Box guys?

Enjoy!!!!!!!

Funky, you were around Ed how often, for how long? What do you think?

If all it took to be successful was to decorate the place for Christmas, why did he ever close it?

Ignoring the fact that we haven’t seen evidence of anything being sold other than maybe wall hangings, if it was true that this pile was the only thing he didn’t sell, then it’s going to take months to refurbish the place. Certainly more than just hanging these old things up.

I hate to be the one bringing this up but, A Kleenex rising from the ashes?

So WHAT are they buying if Montoni’s sold off everything?

Atta boy Kranky………..

why should the story make sense hes still getting paid

Yay, he managed to do Winkerbean and and a Crankshaft malaprop in one comic. Welcome back Cranky Ed.

Most definitely another Crankshaft term for the books…..

“Once these decorations are up… Montoni’s will come back to life!”

By which Flunky means:

1) “The Ahia-destroying monster will rise from the pit beneath Worstview! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!”

2) “The spores in those old paper wreaths will cover every surface in black mold within minutes!”

3) “The ghost of Dead St. Lisa will arise, and Les Moore will again be a regular character! That’s his seat right here (at the counter, sipping coffee)!”

4) …?

“Oh, I forgot to tell you…. now that you’re the new owners, you must put up the Christmas decorations one day, then take them down the next day, then put them up back up the day after, then take them down the day after that…. rinse and repeat and so on… into infinity and beyond. It’s the curse of the Dead Lisa Beanyshaft-Crankyfunk. Welcome to your own personal hell.”

Good one!

By the time everyone shifts through the stuff, Rudolph will have serious competition determining who has the brightest red nose.

Haha! (＾▽＾)