CSotD: Jeepers!
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Yesterday, I added little to Darrin Bell's cartoon because it would have dulled the point of his commentary.
Today, I can add little to Mike Baldwin's Cornered because there's nothing much to add except that it really, really cracked me up in the best possible way … after a pause.
And then every time I looked at it again.
But it's that pause. It's that gap between reading the gag and getting the gag.
It's the sweet interval between the instant the batter knows and the moment the crowd knows that this ball is gone, between the instant the running back hits the hole and the moment the crowd knows that nobody's gonna catch him.
There's no sudden, swelling roar in cartooning, but he must have known what he'd done.
The "naive guy in jail" isn't really a stock character but it's a relatively common gag. Still, it can be done well or not.
"Jeepers"? What a great word! This guy is fresh fish, so much more clearly than if he'd said "Gee" or "Wow" or even "Gosh."
Jeepers.
And Baldwin has respect for the reader. He doesn't hide the gag, but he doesn't deny it, either. You don't see the variation in skin tone until your second or third look. And then, once you catch on, you can see stitches as well.
At which point, it becomes even funnier, because, while it may not be immediately obvious in a cartoon, it's got to be plain in real life, in person, and now Mr. Jeepers looks like even more of an idiot than he was at first glance.
And then the only unanswered question is, "Is that upper bunk wide enough to hold four?"
Jeepers, but this is a funny gag done well.
As long as you're here …
A couple of follow ups.
One of the tricky parts of this blog is finding the right moment to highlight a particular story arc. Get in too early, you might miss a better example, but wait too long and it might wrap up, peter out or become too defined by context to join. The other day, I ranted at length on the stupidity and cupidity of the controversy over school lunch programs, which is being targeted by Jeff Corriveau over at Deflocked. I think I got in at the right time, but I hope you all started following the arc on your own, because otherwise, you might have missed today's trenchant little gem:
Meanwhile …
When Richard Thompson came back, with Stacy Curtis as his inker, there were a few early Cul de Sacs where I thought, "oh dear." The line was too fine, too straight, too … respectful. The loony underpinnings were gone.
That initial period passed very, very quickly. Curtis is doing a fine job of capturing the spirit of the strip and Alice, Petey and company are back in business. Callooh! Callay!
There's a really nice profile/interview with Richard here and a podcast of a conversation with Stacy here. Both are worth your time.
Interesting coincidence: Stacy Curtis and I are both victim/survivor/veterans of the same overstuffed corporate conglomerate, though we were at different papers. We abandoned the creeping meatball more or less at the same time, at a point when its stock was worth about forty bucks a share.
This morning, it was worth a buck-fifteen.
That'll learn ya!
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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