Recent Comments

1. about 10 hours ago on Crankshaft

   Perhaps I misinterpreted the artwork in yesterday’s strip. I thought Ed was taking a copy of ‘Fahrenheit 451’ for himself. Another commenter pointed out that Ed was helping Lillian put all the students’ copies of the book on the shelf.

   This makes very little sense. Batyuk doesn’t know how in-store pickup orders work. Why take the books out of the boxes and arrange them on the store shelves? Why not just leave the books in the boxes near the cash register here the books can be quickly and discretely given to the students. During my college days, I worked a part-time job at an adult bookstore. A buyer would often make a special order for a magazine, book, video, or other merchandise. We didn’t tell that person we took their special order out of the box and placed it on the store shelves where anybody could see it. That buyer expected a certain level of discretion. They didn’t want any undue attention to their purchase.

   In a similar vein, wouldn’t it be better to leave the controversial books in the boxes and not draw any more attention to them? Seems like Lillian is daring the arsonist to do something. She may as well take out a full-page ad in the ‘Sentinel’.

   Lillian: (singsong) ♫ “Yoo-hoo! Arsonist. You failed again. Look at what we have here. Not a single damaged copy. ♫ Try again loser!” (blows raspberries)

   And another thing, suppose a customer, not a student, came into Lillian’s bookstore and saw ‘Fahrenheit 451’ on the shelf. Imagine the awkwardness if they took a copy of the book to the cash register and wanted to buy it.

   Lillian: “That book is not for sale. Those books are for the students in Les Moore’s class.”

   Customer: “This is a bookstore. The book was on the shelf. I’m buying it.”

   In closing, isn’t it possible the inconsiderate Les Moore might want to move the books again? It would be a shame to have to pack up all those books again.

   Les Moore: “I changed my mind. I want to move the books again. They’re not safe here.”

2. 1 day ago on Crankshaft

   Ed Crankshaft’s reading habits have evolved from reading Beans End catalogs and doing the Jumble on the crapper to a lover of science fiction overnight. That’s new. Probably for this week only. We’ll never read about Ed’s love of science fiction again.

   Nobody tells Ed where he can or can’t read either.

   Ed: “I finished the Jumble while I was on the can. Who wants the paper?”

   Pm: “Umm, you keep it, dad. I’m good.”

3. 3 days ago on Crankshaft

   This is just plain weird. Why is Ed doing this? Lillian has heard this sad tale of misfortune before. What does his former illiteracy have to do with “The Burnings.” It’s not a motive. We know he didn’t do it.

   Ed: “My life sucked before I learned how to read.”

   Thank you for sharing, Ed. /s

   Less Moore is the one who usually hijacks a story and makes it all about himself. First, we have to put up with Ed’s self-indulgent story and then Less will take over? Lillian, Batyuk’s latest hero of the month, is still waiting for her turn. Egads, are these characters forming a line on stairs outside the bookstore waiting to tell us reading books is great? Who’s turn is it after Less? The Dead Saint Lisa?

   The Dead Saint Lisa: “If the idiot who misfiled my medical file could read, I wouldn’t be dead.”

4. 3 days ago on Crankshaft

   It’s in the Batcom.Inc disclosures. The cartoonist reserves the right to change established canon to fit the narrative of whatever story he’s telling at the current moment. It’s called “writing”.

   Nobody pays attention anyway, right? /s

   Batyuk: "What means “continuity”?"

5. 5 days ago on Crankshaft

   I knew Ao Nrtzy. He had one heck of a curveball. Nice guy.

6. 5 days ago on Crankshaft

   The artwork should improve this week. All Dan Davis has to do this week is copy and paste from the archives when Ed last told this story.

7. 5 days ago on Crankshaft

   A flashback? I’ll take it. Anything to delay Batyuk’s hamfisted pontification via his author-avatar mouthpiece Lillian.

   Lillian will demonstrate her bravery and intelligence by stating the blatantly obvious. I guarantee it.

8. 5 days ago on Crankshaft

   Hooray! It’s a flashback of a flashback week! No need to write new stories or draw new art!

   I can’t wait to see how Batyuk screws it up. Will he stray from the original tale and insert new stuff?

9. 6 days ago on Crankshaft

   Four weeks later, those poor students are still waiting for their copies of the book. This story arc might not be over until well after Christmas.

   In the meantime, Ed Crankshaft has applied for a recurring role in any comic strip seeking an elderly, grumpy bus driver prone to using malapropisms.

10. 6 days ago on Crankshaft

    Excellent point. Several readers have commented that “Lillian is so brave!”

    Don’t you have to be scared in order to be brave?

    What could Lillian possibly be afraid of? Her bookstore and home are obviously fireproof. The damage to the staircase is only cosmetic unless she flew up there on her broom. No bodily harm will come to her because she hasn’t even started lecturing everyone yet. She’s in no danger whatsoever.

    No danger = no risk = not brave