Gil Thorp by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill for December 19, 2023

Tag Team

Inma tugs her opponent to the corner of the mat, where Kerry hits her in the head with a folding chair.

There are no words. Also, there are no words.

Breakdancing!

Another active shooter drill?

The whole herd of Fistpump Man family, in town for the holidays, go crazy!

The artwork is exquisite today! The 50’s camera flashbulbs (or muzzle flashes?), the crowd going crazy (well, at least Fistpump Family anyway), the opponent’s EES clenched tightly Inma grip and about to be face planted into the mat, the angst of her teammate conveyed by the clenched fist and finally, the ref’s fweetin’ whistle swinging in the breeze as all this goes down in a matter of seconds. No way the Rimshot parental units find out that Inma’s free styling it.

Well, it appears we could have either hockey or girl’s wrestling as a main story line. Pretty sure neither has been covered before. Frankly, I’d rather not see more of Gil’s badly destroyed home life and infidelity. Let’s have a coherent story focused on one of these new sports… Or, let’s mess it up between the two and our Golden Bachelor and have no focus or coherence.

Referees haven’t worn long sleeve shirts for decades.

It looks like a normal ice hockey game to me.

Is that the NCAA finals? There sure is a big crowd on hand for girls wrestling

And only one big panel. What’s with the star chamber fans? Hunger Games come to Milford?

Dislike late flags, safe/out calls. Late whistle guaranteed here.

Meanwhile, over at the boy’s chess tournament, a riot breaks out.

Your referee for tonight’s best 2 out of 3 falls is Larry Storch.

Fistpump Man has definitely been busy propagating his species.

“We’re filing a protest!”“The hijab is perfectly legal!”“No, I mean the strobe lights! My kids can’t see and are getting sick!

I think my New Years resolution is to stop reading this strip.

Stop, wait one, I am confused … isn’t fist bump when two people agree to touch knuckles? What the bleacher bums appear to be doing is the FIST PUMP, randomly pounding the air with closed fist, not the fist bump.

For her next match, maybe Inma’s rich parents will get her a hijab with an elastic neck instead of a long scarf she could get strangled with?

I guess Ms. Rimshot finally figured out how to circle to the right.

Henry needed a day off after writing all of that incredible dialogue the past few months.

wow referee sgt slaughter has lost a lot of weight

crabwalk back to keri irma then get the salt out of your hijib

is there a power outage in the building thats why the flashlights are on

the opponent looks like she might smell pretty !!!

I guess the artist just figured out how to draw camera flashes and he’s showing off……… except for the fact there wouldn’t be any. The gym is lit well enough so as not to trigger the auto-flash setting on the phone.

As I said before, aside from the cheap feels, there’s no upside to a boy wrestling a girl. You either win, and you just beat a girl, or you lose, and you got beat by a girl!

I wonder if Inma wrestles in the 270 lb + weight class

I think a gym class wrestling story where Jami gets pounded by the school bully would be fun and funny at the same time.

Tomorrow, word gets out that Inma is like Tobe except that she used be called Irving and the opposing schools protest about their girls having to wrestle a large girl that used to be a large boy

Now what am I supposed to do with this strip? I don’t even have Gilbot-9000 in the panel.

But…. a picture is supposed to mean a thousand words. And there are multiple cameras taking pictures by the flashes.

When did high school wrestling have a tag team division?

Look! No typos!

Amazing the opponent once again isn’t wearing teal blue uniforms. Definitely a brand new color combo. And speaking of brand new, a brand new Mopped Up Thorp was just posted.

https://moppedupthorp.wordpress.Com/2023/12/19/ruthless-coaching/

Tag! Green has just slipped the brass knuckles on and is just begging to use them.

As I mentioned on the TWIM site, Gil will stage the Ned Braden Strip Show after the match. That ought to get the cameras really flashing, pardon the pun. Gil, be sure to cover Jami’s eyes in this case. And as a bonus, Inma will even take off her hijab during the third round of “The Stripper” played by the Marching Mudlark Pep Band. The Charlestown Chiefs will skate off with the trophy at the Milford Wrestling-Hockey Multipurpose Facility and all will be right with the world.

I was watching the hockey game and this wrestling match broke out. Usually it’s a fight but in this case, it’s reality.

Who is the person on the right ready to punch?

Also, what the hell…?!?

Does Henry get paid for these single panel strips with no dialog (or even sound effects)?

Tomorrow- a 1 panel hockey strip

Not every school can a afford a pro wrestling team! Usually, it’s just that amateur stuff. Milford is truly among the elite schools!