CSotD: Random Monday Stuff
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We're still cleaning up Christmas and New Years at too many strips, but I'm also seeing some arcs starting that could be worth following and strips that are worth a heads up.
In the latter case, Judge Parker is interesting because the new writer/artist combo has changed it to a two-panel, real-time feature. I'm beginning to adjust to the (literal) change of pace, but I wonder if someone with less of a commitment would be willing to follow?
I used to joke that the Phantom was basically a one-panel feature because it would have an opening panel bringing you up to date and would close with a cliff-hanger panel. The only action appeared in the middle and so the actual progression of the story was mind-bogglingly slow, which, combined with very simple plots, seemed to work for Phantom readers.
Parker has neither open nor close, which means the reader has to bring previous knowledge along and then be interested enough to come back the next day without too much prodding.
In addition, the storyline is much more complex and, while it previously had a lot of somewhat traditional soap opera threads, is now more narrowly focused on a sort of Twin Peaks weirdness that requires both a devotion to finding out what happened and a willingness to suspend disbelief and just go with it.
I'm following it and enjoying it, but, if you're not already into it, it could take a lot of going through the archives to figure out what's going on.
Even if you don't care about the characters or storyline, you might want to follow this simply to observe the narrative structure.
And speaking of strips where I'm not sure what's happening, Arlo & Janis seems on the verge of an arc that could be promising but perhaps depressing, as Gene is either discouraged with farming or running up against a marital issue or possibly both.
Here are the last two days and I have no idea where it's going, but we'll find out. One suspense factor here is that you can't always count on a traditional Happy Ending in an arc that involves Gene.
Similarly, Pajama Diaries can swing from silly to serious and Jill earlier had a confrontation with younger daughter over make-up, and now has had one with older daughter over make-out. And, while the former strip was a one-off, yesterday had elder daughter and boyfriend playing tonsil hockey in the livingroom, so this might be going somewhere.
As with Gene, the best advice is to just sit back and see where it leads.
Which, by the way, is pretty good advice for parents anyway.
By contrast, you can count on Piranha Club to bring everything to a satisfying conclusion for the reader if not the characters. In this case, as explained, the Widow Feeny is drawing down the Widows and Orphans Fund which I never thought had any money in it to begin with.
But this isn't a strip where consistency and logic play a huge role, and as long as the supply of inedible octopi and drunken frogs holds out, I'll keep coming back for more.
However …
I'm less amused by real-life story arcs in which we have no guarantee of logic, consistency or a happy ending, and Tom Toles notes here that "blind trust" seems to have a different meaning for our president-elect than it does for the rest of the world.
In addition to Trump himself refusing to release his financial records and failing to come through with an explanation for how he will avoid conflicts of interest, we now have Mitch McConnell insisting that confirmation hearings for cabinet officials take place with a similar lack of transparency.
The best commentary so far has come not from cartoonists but from Sen. Chuck Schumer, whose response to McConnell has gone viral.
Indeed, the blatant dishonesty of the GOP approach is frightening.
Recently, I compared Trump to OJ Simpson, each of whom was narcissistic enough that they were not lying but honestly believed what they said.
And the comparison continues in that we are still left wondering how many of OJ's supporters truly believed he was innocent, versus the number who were quite sure that he had killed his wife but were happy to see the system foiled.
Similarly, I would assume that Trump supporters are divided — and again I have no idea of the proportions — between those who actually believe the nonsensical, contradictory, impossible things he says and those who recognize his lack of any anchor to reality but are happy to see the system foiled.
But the frightening thing is not that OJ sincerely believed his own story, but that he found a team of attorneys to help him perpetrate the fraud.
And now Donald Trump has Mitch McConnell and a large share of the GOP power structure to assist him.
Which, I would note, is not a case of the system being foiled, but, rather of the system triumphant, proof of the old Wizard of Id definition of the Golden Rule: "He who has the gold makes the rules."
Meanwhile, the Meryl Streep cartoons are starting to appear, with some people — I don't know the proportions — believing that Trump is an evil genius using Tweets to distract us from his real plans, and others convinced that he is mentally ill and unable to focus on the task ahead.
Nicole Brown Simpson was unavailable for comment.
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