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I donât know if anyone will see this so late on Sunday, but the Tomah, Wisconsin quote is cute. Tomah is the place where Frank King lived much of his life.
First, she has already seen the messes as sheâs been home for hours. Second, having seen my wife being elected a non-paying âpresidentâ of some sort of association, I know from experience this means sheâll get all the worries and work, and little reward. Cloviaâs in for more fun timesâŚ
Two comments: (1) There is a style of humor that Slim employs now and then (and it seems Gretchen does as well), that can âcome offâ as stupid, but is actually clever. Itâs where a question is answered in a non-obvious way. Gracie Allen did this, an example is: âGracie, did the maid ever drop you on your head when you were a baby?â âDonât be silly, George, we couldnât afford a maid. My mother had to do it.â I always âreadâ Slimâs humor, and many of his comments, in this light. (2) Once again, Slimâs kindness and love for family shows through. Slim shouldnât be a laughing stock. He should be the âtoo kind for his own goodâ counterpart to the âtoo clever for her own goodâ Clovia. Done subtly, they really balance each other nicely. Make Slim an oaf (or Clovia a shrew) and itâs lost.
Part of the reason Slim and Clovia own a garage, but donât make much money, is that their ancestors NEVER DIE. Think about it: Walt started the garage. Heâs still alive. He gets his cut of money â how else does he pay for Gertie? Then, thereâs Skeezix and his wife â they get their cut as well. I am sure that Corky gets some cut of it, as Walt wouldnât leave all of it to one child. Then, thereâs Chipper, and also, Clovia and Slim need to support the mysterious Gretchen, who for all we know is locked in a foreign jail, and they are required to pay money to a protection racket to keep her safe. Because of the failure of anyone to die, thereâs just an ever growing list of hands reaching out for their share.
A strip that would show this earlier dynamic, instead of todays, would have Clovia writing bills, annoyed, Slim mentioning the needy, Clovia saying we canât afford to help, Slim saying âClovia, we canât afford NOT to helpâ and Clovia, smiling, agreeing and giving Slim a kiss or such, appreciative of the lesson.
I went back and read the complete GA archive online about a year ago â the panels read much better in quick reading succession (took about 2 hours or so). Also found old strips re: their adoption of Rover. The way it was originally written was âClovia is the clear-headed pragmatist with a temper. Slim is not bright, and often bumbly, but has a heart of gold.â Net-net, Clovia teaches slim practicality; Slim teaches Clovia kindness. By making Clovia as kind (even kinder!) than Slim, the stripâs author has lost the core value that Clovia would respect in Slim, and find attractive. As a result, their marriage seems just odd.
Wow. Such bitterness. They are people who work hard (at least Clovia does.) If Clovia now and then grasps hopefully at a straw here and there, who can blame her? Life with Slim is no picnic (probably because he would eat all the food in the basket, on the way to the park.)
I donât know if anyone will see this so late on Sunday, but the Tomah, Wisconsin quote is cute. Tomah is the place where Frank King lived much of his life.