Snark It Up, FuzzBall!

Did Rex cave? Is he letting June and Sarah and Lenore walk all over him as far as sailboat ownership is concerned?  I think not.

And what about the wise witch-doctor Yoda Guran?  Is he going to let the Phantom call the shots as far as who he prefers to treat? Ditto.

Rock on, Rex.  Rock on, Guran.  Cast off the chains of those who would make you fight a rabid raccoon oppress you!

Although all of the ‘action’ involving the Turkey Shoot Regatta is long past (and more time seems to have been spent patching up Ollie Tweaks), the story lingers, more so than usual.  Why is this?

My theory is that because Lenore Foster is a REAL PERSON (no kidding! really!) and a friend of Woody, the Rex Morgan artist, there’s some amount of twitting going on between the two of them.  It’s also my understanding that some original RMMD art is/was going to be auctioned for the Hospice coffers as well, and I have to admit that there’s been a bountiful beau-coup buttload of great faces and facial expressions in this story arc.

Here are some of the wonderful panels and expressions.  Sure, we snorked and laughed about some of them (and some of the dialog has been changed — the patootie panel is its very own self!), but this is top-of-the-line cartooning:

A lot of them are more that a little suitable for framing, and I’d kill for (or, well, I’d love to have) a piece of genuine RMMD art. In the meantime, here I am screwing around with a great portrait of Rex:

(Boy, this was a pain in the patootie to do! I think Warhol had it right with a silk screen, soap-and-water, and changing the colors that way.)

They’re still farting around with that darn “Rex Morgan, Cabin Boy” plot!  And to make matters worse, Lenore has plans for the Becky Sue that suggest Rex Morgan’s days as Cabin Boy are far from over!

There’s also been more than a little bit of commentary over at the Comics Curmudgeon about little Sarah Morgan, and who she resembles.  I think gnome de blog hit the proverbial dwarf nail on the head:

My take?  I think the exceptional serial comics artists like those for Judge Parker and Rex Morgan should skip drawing kids at all costs and stick to busty dames and ripped (if goofball) hunks of manhood. (Note that I said nothing about Mary Worth…)

A couple of days later Update: I’m standing by my serial-comics-shouldn’t-deal-with-kids views.  I’m hoping that my opinions might rub off on some folks, and perhaps it has…

…the last time around.

Okay, okay, we get it. Lenore and Ollie kiss (ew) and make up.

Isn’t it about time Rex and June pack for their upcoming Caribbean Adventure?

And the pace is still glacial. (Well, these are Old Folks, and it’s not like Judge Parker, Mark Trail, or Mary Worth are breaking into sprints…)

And here’s Sunday.  Okay, okay, okay. Lenore and Ollie live cantankerously ever after (which is about six weeks). Fine. Can we move on now? Heck, I’ll even do a new logo. Please.

Well, hmmm.  Maybe a new story after Veterans’ Day.  I don’t think I can take it if this is played out (as if it isn’t already) until after next Sunday…

No, really, I do this because I’d really been anticipating a much more exciting ending to this plot.  Sigh.  Even the post-Regatta orgy doesn’t sound like so much now.

Mark your calendars and set your alarm clocks!

(Not to be confused with All Souls’ Day on November 2, which is sorta like a religious Festivus, for the Rest of Us.)

Time to reach into the old comic strip stash and come up with a Mass card for the Comics Hagiography:

I guess one of these days I’ll have to come up with a male saint.  Suggestions are cheerfully entertained (and no, Sam Driver, Mark Trail, and Rex Morgan cannot be considered “virgin saints.”  No.).

…a Comic Strip Panel, Completely Out of Context:

Blood and guts! Salt water spray and fresh sea air! There’s some nattering going on about the possibility of a keel being torn from a sailboat (mr. bats :[ says it’s possible) and other stuff about sailing, but heck, all I know is that I’m finding the Turkey Shoot Regatta race a thrill-a-minute.  Mostly because Tweaks is apparently having one non-stop seizure at the helm. YARRRR!

The excitement continues!

(I almost resisted doing anything with this — Rex’s reaction is just so perfect, and uncommonly real for him.  Still, my first thought after Lenore telling him to get ready to jump was the possibility that he couldn’t swim.)

(Wouldn’t it be easier if they were called “Halloweens,” like Valentine cards are call “Valentines”? Eh, I dunno.)

I don’t know if I’ll do one with our two cats Hoho and Tobu (putting them together on a card is probably the only safe way of getting them together), so in the meantime here’s Count Morgu and ‘Count Catula’: