Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for December 11, 2023

Didn’t she already make them? Or didn’t they count?

Hannah looks like an inexperienced soap-opera actress, reading her lines from an off-camera cue card.

Umm, you just made your holiday rum balls three weeks ago, Lillian. Remember? You had no rum and, rather than wait a day to buy some, you went ahead and made them with hard lemonade. Remember? Ed insulted you about the taste. Remember?

Also, didn’t Hannah learn to knock before entering someone’s house?

“Well, yes—my….grandfather, or was she the blonde from yesterday? Maybe I’m his niece, maybe his mother? But yes, my grand-uncle-son is a pathetic alcoholic! Why do you think he drives school buses that way? But, maybe, THIS time—” Hannamindy hands Lillian a crisp $10 bill—“you could add to his…a little ‘old lace’, hmm?” Lillian snatches bill, says “I’d done it for FIVE, whoever you are!”

Since her lemon substitution just didn’t work, she’ll make a new batch. Mmmm, dark chocolate rumballs.

Didn’t she already make a batch, but had run out of Rum, and had to use a substitute?

That’s the Spirit

Because Crank can’t follow a recipe to make them himself, because he can’t read. No, really, some time back he admitted that he was illiterate.

WHO is the blonde???

Motive under the motive……always works!!!!!!

Didn’t she already make those with hard lemonade?

Hannahmindy says it all. So Hannah and Mindy are sisters (?) and Hannah is married to the theater guy and Mindy is going to marry the Funky comic/Montoni guy (?) and they are Ed’s granddaughters (?)or something.

Well ole Kranky does remember what he likes…….

i wonder if the old broad can make a pizza ?

Come on, it’s not so hard to understand. Because she messed up the rum balls for Thanksgiving, the Timemop Janitor did a little nudging and that was all erased from history. Now the town can get the real rum balls and Christmas is saved. God bless us, everyone!

Umm… she already MADE them. And they were lemon. Even Batty doesn’t read his own crap.

Wow, finally picking up the story from November 22nd.

I’m thinking Batty still sends his scripts in by mail (just like his heroes from the Silver Age did), Davis adds art and the syndicate publishes the strips in the order they are received. Every now and then, Batty has a head-on collision with the mailman (a la today’s “Blondie”) and the strips get scrambled.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ with it!

Aww, look at the adorable head tilt in the third panel.

“Crankshaft sent you over to make sure I didn’t forget to make them.”

“Well, he IS obnoxious and you ARE older than really old dirt, so…yeah.”

Even though I’m pleased to see the total Funky Winkerbean invasion has been temporarily postponed, I’m still not glad to see the Loathsome Lillian.

Boo, Lillian. Boo!

What is Loathsome Lil substituting for rum in her rumballs this time? I vote rat poison.

Okay, so the joke here is that vile, deceitful Lil said: “Let’s be honest…” Hilarious! Tommy is at the top of his game!

No. Seriously. That’s the top. It is all downhill from here on.

Yikes. I think Ed’s great-grandson is in today’s Frazz.

“Rumballs” is slang for “Eat more than one and you d on’t know what year it is”

Haha! (＾▽＾)