Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for November 20, 2009

Can you sing “Bye Bye Gertie”?

Common sense to the rescue.

I always come here after reading Dick Tracy, just because I know it will wash that badly-written-and-drawn taste out of my mouth.

A nail biter.

Amazing diner scene, more drama!

To be frank, Devonshade, I took your comments the other day— You should be critiqueing the deplorable sabortage of a comic icon! Why cannot you see that the original content of GA is being obliterated to make a vastly inferior product. Are you all blind?– to be just the kind of self-assured judging you described last night.

Maybe it’s time for Walt to go into the Old Comics home…It would be ironic (as most of GA storylines are) if Gertie came to Byrd with no job while he is now well off…the tables would be completely turned.

I just noticed if I click on the strip it expands larger. NICE. (using firefox?)

Its really good to see Skeezix and other family members back in the strip.

Also, I’ve got a hunch the lady customer in purple sitting behind Walt is about to become involved in the storyline.

WHAT ABOUT RUFUS AND KITTY?

It still amazes me that Byrd went from broke in May to being on national television and on a tour in September. Talk about your meteoric career!

Why do I get the feeling that Earl is at Walt’s house, waiting to propose to Gertie, and that all of Walt’s family is in on it?

Poor Gertie, got herself into a fix. I’m sure once they all get a chance to talk it’ll work out.

I hope you’re all right that Byrd is waiting to propose. Though I would prefer that a marriage proposal be made in private just between the couple, in this case I think it would be great for everyone to be there. Hopefully she’ll say yes!

The artwork today is awesome. But what time must it be and the place is this crowded? I thought it was probably after midnight.

Three customers seems like a reasonable number for a diner at that time of night. The shows are over, the bars are closing. Just a few nightowls looking for a cup of coffee and a slice of pie before they go home.

Scancarelli is hardly a hack cartoonist and has been doing this strip for over 20 years.

I have to admit that today’s strip is especially well drawn. And it looks like the story line is finally starting to move along.

Good signs in the story lines.

And since no one else apparently has noticed it yet, hats off to ChubsyUbsy for using the front cover the the Thirteenth Floor Elevators’ 1966 debut album as his photo. Anyone who likes the Thirteenth Floor Elevators is alright in my book!

Scancarelli has invested a lot of personal capital in Gertie and Byrd so they are not going anywhere. That still does not mean that more attention can be paid to the Wallet clan and it’s four generations that GA is declared to be about. There must be a responsible younger member of the clan (besides Skeezix) that grounds the strip and still not involve Slim.

Beautiful drawing of the inside of a diner. Very nostalgic, though it also looks a little like the one Obi-Wan visited in Star Wars episode 2.

I would buy a print of that diner if Scanarelli were selling one.

Joe, you’re a good guy to shoulder all that responsibility.

Well said, Susan.

God, I love this comic strip! Today’s daily is a true work of art. Life is good when something so sublime is given out for free. It just shines right through the shady gloom. If the diner there is based on a real one, I want the address.

Corky has the coolest hat. I wonder if people still use those in diners.

I’ve only seen one true diner like this in my life. We don’t get many of them in the mid-west. The one I did see was near Havre de Grace, MD. Great little place, wonderful food, just like you’d expect.

The next closest thing, believe it or not, was in Moscow, Russia. There is a restaurant there called the Blue Moon Diner, and it’s just like this. On the inside. The outside it’s part of a large city building. But inside it could be Al’s Diner from the 1950’s. Very cool.

Gertie needs a good cry when this is all over.

Please do not feed the CCBSS cuisine-challenged bridge substructure symbionts. Just flag them.

The obvious charm and warmth of the diner makes me think (vaguely) of Callahan’s Place on Long Island (in Spider Robinson’s long series of Callahan stories).