Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for February 21, 2011

Good to see Loris again.

In Petey’s shoes, I think I’d claim wolverine maulage as well.

Great, Petey! You’ve given Alice another idea.

But yea for Loris! I love having her around and haven’t seen enough of her.

Oh, and rubber band attack is so dangerous. I have three sisters and remember….

Alice gets to the heart of it.

Is Petey a “C” student??

Too bad Andre wasn’t there to provide the sound effects.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Petey is a C student, particularly in Math. In English and Social Studies there’s room to accommodate Petey’s skewed worldview and imaginative gifts, and even in grade-school Science there’s room for narrative, but a shoebox diorama illustrating multiplication of fractions isn’t going to get you very far.

Besides, Petey lives in a universe in which nothing is certain, and there are ALWAYS unknown motivations underlying every question. The idea that there can ever be one - and ONLY one - exactly-right answer which holds true in all situations probably paralyzes him at test time.

Of course, you’re going to have to get rabies shots now, Petey. Other than that, it’s a good plan!

Too bad this didn’t run last week, when “Stone Soup” was having Rubber Band Gun Week…

Alice picked up on the rubberbands, but not on the playground-wolverine story?? I’d think she’d send Dill to the playground immediately to check it out.

I’ve not met Loris before. What did a girl who gets an A+ ever do to deserve the surname “Slothrop”?

She’s finally back!

Topaz, she got the surname “Slothrop” because Richard Thompson has read “Gravity’s Rainbow.” (Not that there’s any discernible connection between Loris and Tyrone, even ironically.)

I love Alice’s expressions in panels 1 & 4.

Jake Gittes wanted to do the same thing.

Thanks, shytimes2 & fritzoid. I’m glad to know Thompson has merely borrowed Tyrone’s last name for the “Sloth” irony, rather than for any shared character traits.

That’s the same thing that happens to me when I open the morning paper. Those babies sting!

Isn’t this the third time in a week or two that Petey’s nose has suffered at school?

Oh, I guess it was only one other time, but since the nurse had such a humiliating reaction it makes sense that Petey would come up with a better story this time: http://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2011/02/11/

The other time I was thinking of was when Alice got bopped in the nose! http://www.gocomics.com/culdesac/2011/02/18/

I can only hope that there is some sort of serendipity involved in today’s wolverine mauling… and the debut of my “in the life of some wolverines” strip, Hart Pass, via the GoComics sherpa program. Not that my work is ANYTHING near comparable to the best of what is happening on here. Cul de Sac is great!

Fun to find a reference to Pynchon where you least expect it.

Great alibi, Petey!