Ok, I got one thing to say, so give me center stage.
Scancarelli is a hack of a writer, and this strip deserves better. His characters are hateful, two-dimensional, and dull. He has no grasp of pacing, no sense of emotion or voice, no understanding of any humor beyond the simplest pun. There is nothing of depth to his take on this strip, and it would have been better to let it die with its creator than to let it come to this.
For pity’s sake, Jim Scancarelli’s been doing the strip for - wait for it - NEARLY TWENTY-FIVE BLOODY YEARS NOW.
I don’t quite have the words for someone who keeps on following the work of a writer he hates, for DECADES yet, but I’m sure someone cleverer than I am might.
Oh, wait, I do have something. Hate Jim’s style? STOP READING THE STRIP THEN.
I’ve been enjoying it. I doubt anyone could convince me I don’t or shouldn’t, but I still read the comments that try to tear it down. And even though I like it, I still read it everyday!
overall, I enjoy the strip and as everyone says the artwork is usually great. I think that this storyline could have been shorter OR perhaps run a few stories between to split it up.
Gertie’s gotta roast the turkey. She can’t leave. And what about Rufus and Kitty? Will they still be in the cemetary come Thanksgiving or will Joel bring his wagon and call him an old fool and pull him out?
My two cents, I love this strip. I, like many, would like to see more of the “old style” with the original cast, but this is doe in real time and people age, so there is a need for new characters. I have enjoyed this arc, although I do agree it has been rather drawn out. I have respect for everyone’s opinion, and I am sorry when readers do not enjoy what they read. I have read GA since I was a kid, LONG ago, and I am rather certain I will continue to do so.
Good grief, why are people so divided over this strip? I happen to enjoy it but every day I read the comments and it seems half of you hate it, so why not drop it from your queue?
As for the doorbell, well, I think we know who that is! Hello, Byrd!
I do agree that Jim’s strengths run more to art than writing. I wish he could get an assistant to help write it, but as one of the few continuing story strips, it’s far from the debacle others try to make it out to be.
People, please remember that this isn’t an interactive video game or the like…it’s a COMIC STRIP…it’s ONE WAY communication from the artist/writer to you.
You’re supposed to choose the ones you enjoy reading and relax while the story wends its way through the twists and turns that the artist/writer determines.
Geez…I wonder what things would’ve been like if GoComics had existed in 1921: “A BABY! Gimme a break! That’s going to be the ruination of this strip! And what in the heck kind of name is ‘Skeezix?’”
There are plenty of comics I don’t read. In fact, I don’t read most of ‘em. I happen to like Scancarelli’s work myself, even though I’m too young to have had a nostalgic attachment to the old GO strip.
However, I’ll concede that I believe some old comics and characters should be left in peace at some point.
Just for the heck of it, consider this. When Max Fleischer made the first Popeye cartoons back in the 20s, I wonder if anyone was upset with him for having “ruined” their favorite comic strip character?
Sometimes characters don’t survive being updated; sometimes they do. I personally think Scancarelli has succeeded; his artwork is top-notch.
This strip, along with the Blondie strip, has been the best in maintaining the original “feel” of its beginning while adapting to modern times. They’ve done it in two ways, though. Dagwood and Blondie and kids never age. Even the dog is over 70 years old. The humor is still fresh and entertaining, but now includes computers, cell phones, and car pools.
Gasoline Alley has had the harder job because the characters age. I would not want to see it go the way of “For Better or for Worse,” which abandoned its uniqueness for a series of whining reruns.
Scanarelli pays more attention to the art in one panel than most artists give for a whole month’s worth of writing. I love this strip, and was overjoyed to find it again after it got dumped from our local paper which decimated its own comics section to run more ads.
Walt will not live forever, and the only way to continue this strip is to introduce and develop new characters who have ties to the original characters. This is the first strip I read every day.
Some people hate it, and that’s okay. For me, it runs circles around the childish, asinine, poorly-drawn wannabe’s that are trying to break into the market. I’m glad it’s here, and will be sad when (if) it’s gone.
If anyone wants to see how “great” a classic comic strip can be that does what many are asking – keep the original characters, don’t expand with changing times, and don’t dally over the art – you have a comic doing just that. Go read “Dick Tracy” and see if that’s what you “really” want. That one needs to be buried, and like “Peanuts” and Calvin, have classics run in its place.
Me I like a variety and yet I don’t read all the comics not enough time and for comments there is diffently not enough time for. Our local paper hasn’t carried GA in ages.
I am hopefull GA will have a nice Thanksgiving as to everyone also. Our turkey will be smoked and sweetpotatoes will be with crumb topping with nuts.
I will repeat a comment I have made before, some time ago, in slightly different words. I rather doubt that those who moan about the strip having left “the original content and intent” would even recognize the pre-Skeezix storylines or lack thereof. I was not around then, myself, but if I had been I would not have followed a bunch of people sitting around a garage trading car stories. In the times that I have been reading GA, some storylines bore/bug me (like the meteorite one) and some are delightfully sweet, like the memory box one. I take the good and the bad together and enjoy having an extended palette of characters. Now I have said my piece, and I will leave it at that unless the complainers once again get under my skin too much to ignore.
Ok, I’m a little bummed out in terms of characterization. Gertie’s firing seemed to happen without her ever telling her side of the story, or Skeezix explaining why he was upset, or us finding out if anyone heard about the comical misunderstandings. If we’re going to believe in these characters we need to pit-stop sometimes and see them act like we’d expect people we know to.
Skeezix’s comment the other day was that Gertie had her mind on things other than Walt for the past few months. He was right. Ever since Byrd showed up the first time, she has been mooning over him or going out of her way to try to impress him. Sure, she got caught up in some things that weren’t her fault, but Skeezix’s point was that this had been going on for quite a while and the evening’s performance/fiasco was only the culmination of the whole thing. Her job is to take care of Walt. She wasn’t doing that as well as she had before - the proof being that Skeezix noticed.
Why we keep reading it then? Because griping about stupid toons in a stupid story is also entertaining. If it gets your blood pressure up into the danger zone, don’t read it. Go talk about the great artwork or something.
Scancarelli’s been doing the strip for 25 years? Well… wait for it… it’s been a stupid strip for 25 years. Well ok, actually, I haven’t read it through most of Scancarelli’s tenure. I used to read it back in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a well-paced, well-drawn, well-told story then, with subtle, complex characters who usually left you with a wry smile, or made you laugh outright, gave you a sad twinge about human nature, life and the passing thereof.
“Only a comic strip,” you say? Well, it used to be a lot more than that. And that’s the whole problem. Gasoline Alley is a classic, one of the strips that elevated the American comic to an art form, and the evident demise of that in the hands of this trite hack is what I gripe about and mourn.
YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I’m glad this arc is turning the way I like it, either way even if Gertie got the boot, like others have said, I will still remain to watch it. I think Jim is doing an EXCELLENT job in BOTH writing and artwork!!! For the nay sayer comments, I don’t know why they still remain and complain when there is a simple task of not reading the strip. Like always, if I don’t like the story arc on GA I won’t comment. The meteorite was one and the cat food commercial was the other.
Now, I’m wondering what Skeezix has to say to Gertie. I’m thinking the same idea as I’m leaning towards what Susan said…..Walt threw a fit when he learned about Gertie.
Well, all I can say is that, after I took the Go Comic Survey and received the gift of some free months as a genius - I have mostly enjoyed being able to visit the Gasoline Alley archives - which, unfortunately, only run back to 2001.
Personally, I think it was a mistake for the writer to let Phyllis go. When I go back and review the strips which were being posted while Phyllis was still part of the action - the lion’s share of the action centered around Walt, Phyllis, Skeezix, Nina, Corky and other members of the Wallet family.
There were side trips with other characters, but those side trips usually didn’t last very long. For example, Melba inherited some money when a distant relative passed away. When Melba arrived to collect her inheritance, she began to suspect foul play in her relative’s death. So she called DICK TRACY! Dick Tracy’s guest gig on Gasoline Alley made a LOT more sense than anything going on in the Tracy strip these days. When I first made up my favorite comics roster, Dick Tracy was on the list. But after a week or so - I realized that the Dick Tracy of today is a far cry from the Dick Tracy I grew up with. So I dropped Dick Tracy from my line-up. At any rate, when Dick Tracy made a guest appearance In Gasoline Alley, Dick was able to get to the bottom of Melba’s mystery in about thirty days.
Leading up to the death of Phyllis, the strip focused on Gasoline Alley history - especially the history between Walt and Skeezix. After Phyllis passed, the strip STILL focused on Walt, as Walt AND Walt’s family adjusted to life without Phyllis. But, after about a year, all of the new “side” characters began to creep in and take over the strip - with Walt and/or members of the Wallet family making only token appearances.
For example, in one story which took place BEFORE the strip lost Phyllis, Skeezix spent a considerable amount of time attempting to get Walt and Phyllis equipped with a “Life Line” style device which they could use in case of an emergency. After Skeezix finally convinced Walt and Phyllis to try out the Life-Line device - Skeezix went home and was surprised when HIS children were there, waiting for him - and immediately began pitching the idea that Skeezix and Nina needed a “Life-Line” style device! This only took about three weeks as far as story goes. But, besides the salesman who was attempting to help Skeezix convince Walt and Phyllis that the “Life-Line” pendant WOULD be a good idea - the majority of the action centered around members of the Wallet family!
I think that, when Phyllis went out of the story, although the writer got some fresh, new material for Walt and other members of her family - all in all - the writing lost sight of its vision. Within the year after losing Phyllis, the strip began to just sort of drift and seems to have lost a sense of direction. After all, Gertie could STILL have moved in to help look after Walt AND Phyllis. And the couple of months of adventures which Walt had at the Old Comics home could have been just as rich and lively if Phyllis had been there to enjoy the caper as well.
Hopefully, the artist/writer will soon regain his vision and sense of direction. Because, at this point, the vision of the strips which were being posted back in 2001 is far superior to the vision which the current strip enjoys. While additional characters ARE interesting, they are MOST interesting when they are interacting with established members of the Wallet family.
I am guessing that the news media is camped on the Wallet doorstep, with eager reporters who want to interview the woman who stole the show during Bird’s performance. The big question will be whether Bird proposes in private - or ends up proposing on camera!
Jim is great. I eagerly look for the strip every day, and have for a long time. My father was born around the time that Skeezix was.
Live long and prosper, Jim!
toasteroven over 14 years ago
Ok, I got one thing to say, so give me center stage.
Scancarelli is a hack of a writer, and this strip deserves better. His characters are hateful, two-dimensional, and dull. He has no grasp of pacing, no sense of emotion or voice, no understanding of any humor beyond the simplest pun. There is nothing of depth to his take on this strip, and it would have been better to let it die with its creator than to let it come to this.
I have said my piece, and I stand by it.
ocean17 over 14 years ago
toasteroven: Well said!
JerryGorton over 14 years ago
JEEZ, toaster, I kinda enjoy the strip… It is a comic after all and I do not expect Macbeth in three panels….
Ravenswing over 14 years ago
For pity’s sake, Jim Scancarelli’s been doing the strip for - wait for it - NEARLY TWENTY-FIVE BLOODY YEARS NOW.
I don’t quite have the words for someone who keeps on following the work of a writer he hates, for DECADES yet, but I’m sure someone cleverer than I am might.
Oh, wait, I do have something. Hate Jim’s style? STOP READING THE STRIP THEN.
mjmsprt40 over 14 years ago
Anything makes some people happy, nothing can make other people happy.
LudwigVonDrake over 14 years ago
That didn’t take long.
It might be time for Gertie to lose the wig.
axe-grinder over 14 years ago
I’ve been enjoying it. I doubt anyone could convince me I don’t or shouldn’t, but I still read the comments that try to tear it down. And even though I like it, I still read it everyday!
comic-reader over 14 years ago
overall, I enjoy the strip and as everyone says the artwork is usually great. I think that this storyline could have been shorter OR perhaps run a few stories between to split it up.
vasaaaa over 14 years ago
Gertie’s gotta roast the turkey. She can’t leave. And what about Rufus and Kitty? Will they still be in the cemetary come Thanksgiving or will Joel bring his wagon and call him an old fool and pull him out?
axe-grinder over 14 years ago
Maybe the Governor called with a pardon! That kind of thing usually happens at the last minute…
SGIBeachbum over 14 years ago
My two cents, I love this strip. I, like many, would like to see more of the “old style” with the original cast, but this is doe in real time and people age, so there is a need for new characters. I have enjoyed this arc, although I do agree it has been rather drawn out. I have respect for everyone’s opinion, and I am sorry when readers do not enjoy what they read. I have read GA since I was a kid, LONG ago, and I am rather certain I will continue to do so.
Peace Y’all!
alondra over 14 years ago
Good grief, why are people so divided over this strip? I happen to enjoy it but every day I read the comments and it seems half of you hate it, so why not drop it from your queue?
As for the doorbell, well, I think we know who that is! Hello, Byrd!
Airboy20 over 14 years ago
I do agree that Jim’s strengths run more to art than writing. I wish he could get an assistant to help write it, but as one of the few continuing story strips, it’s far from the debacle others try to make it out to be.
Plods with ...™ over 14 years ago
JDG - ditto
BuzzDog over 14 years ago
People, please remember that this isn’t an interactive video game or the like…it’s a COMIC STRIP…it’s ONE WAY communication from the artist/writer to you.
You’re supposed to choose the ones you enjoy reading and relax while the story wends its way through the twists and turns that the artist/writer determines.
Geez…I wonder what things would’ve been like if GoComics had existed in 1921: “A BABY! Gimme a break! That’s going to be the ruination of this strip! And what in the heck kind of name is ‘Skeezix?’”
jeigheff over 14 years ago
There are plenty of comics I don’t read. In fact, I don’t read most of ‘em. I happen to like Scancarelli’s work myself, even though I’m too young to have had a nostalgic attachment to the old GO strip.
However, I’ll concede that I believe some old comics and characters should be left in peace at some point.
Just for the heck of it, consider this. When Max Fleischer made the first Popeye cartoons back in the 20s, I wonder if anyone was upset with him for having “ruined” their favorite comic strip character?
Sometimes characters don’t survive being updated; sometimes they do. I personally think Scancarelli has succeeded; his artwork is top-notch.
Jeff
axe-grinder over 14 years ago
The dark clouds rolled in early this morning, but soon after the first rays of light had broken through the pervasive gloom…
Max Starman Jones over 14 years ago
This strip, along with the Blondie strip, has been the best in maintaining the original “feel” of its beginning while adapting to modern times. They’ve done it in two ways, though. Dagwood and Blondie and kids never age. Even the dog is over 70 years old. The humor is still fresh and entertaining, but now includes computers, cell phones, and car pools.
Gasoline Alley has had the harder job because the characters age. I would not want to see it go the way of “For Better or for Worse,” which abandoned its uniqueness for a series of whining reruns.
Scanarelli pays more attention to the art in one panel than most artists give for a whole month’s worth of writing. I love this strip, and was overjoyed to find it again after it got dumped from our local paper which decimated its own comics section to run more ads.
Walt will not live forever, and the only way to continue this strip is to introduce and develop new characters who have ties to the original characters. This is the first strip I read every day.
Some people hate it, and that’s okay. For me, it runs circles around the childish, asinine, poorly-drawn wannabe’s that are trying to break into the market. I’m glad it’s here, and will be sad when (if) it’s gone.
If anyone wants to see how “great” a classic comic strip can be that does what many are asking – keep the original characters, don’t expand with changing times, and don’t dally over the art – you have a comic doing just that. Go read “Dick Tracy” and see if that’s what you “really” want. That one needs to be buried, and like “Peanuts” and Calvin, have classics run in its place.
kab2rb over 14 years ago
Me I like a variety and yet I don’t read all the comics not enough time and for comments there is diffently not enough time for. Our local paper hasn’t carried GA in ages. I am hopefull GA will have a nice Thanksgiving as to everyone also. Our turkey will be smoked and sweetpotatoes will be with crumb topping with nuts.
gocomicsmember over 14 years ago
I will repeat a comment I have made before, some time ago, in slightly different words. I rather doubt that those who moan about the strip having left “the original content and intent” would even recognize the pre-Skeezix storylines or lack thereof. I was not around then, myself, but if I had been I would not have followed a bunch of people sitting around a garage trading car stories. In the times that I have been reading GA, some storylines bore/bug me (like the meteorite one) and some are delightfully sweet, like the memory box one. I take the good and the bad together and enjoy having an extended palette of characters. Now I have said my piece, and I will leave it at that unless the complainers once again get under my skin too much to ignore.
jumbobrain over 14 years ago
Ok, I’m a little bummed out in terms of characterization. Gertie’s firing seemed to happen without her ever telling her side of the story, or Skeezix explaining why he was upset, or us finding out if anyone heard about the comical misunderstandings. If we’re going to believe in these characters we need to pit-stop sometimes and see them act like we’d expect people we know to.
JanLC over 14 years ago
Skeezix’s comment the other day was that Gertie had her mind on things other than Walt for the past few months. He was right. Ever since Byrd showed up the first time, she has been mooning over him or going out of her way to try to impress him. Sure, she got caught up in some things that weren’t her fault, but Skeezix’s point was that this had been going on for quite a while and the evening’s performance/fiasco was only the culmination of the whole thing. Her job is to take care of Walt. She wasn’t doing that as well as she had before - the proof being that Skeezix noticed.
ocean17 over 14 years ago
Why we keep reading it then? Because griping about stupid toons in a stupid story is also entertaining. If it gets your blood pressure up into the danger zone, don’t read it. Go talk about the great artwork or something.
Scancarelli’s been doing the strip for 25 years? Well… wait for it… it’s been a stupid strip for 25 years. Well ok, actually, I haven’t read it through most of Scancarelli’s tenure. I used to read it back in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a well-paced, well-drawn, well-told story then, with subtle, complex characters who usually left you with a wry smile, or made you laugh outright, gave you a sad twinge about human nature, life and the passing thereof.
“Only a comic strip,” you say? Well, it used to be a lot more than that. And that’s the whole problem. Gasoline Alley is a classic, one of the strips that elevated the American comic to an art form, and the evident demise of that in the hands of this trite hack is what I gripe about and mourn.
436rge over 14 years ago
Still wearing her wig? If she was my mom she’d had it off by now!
massha over 14 years ago
I love this strip. The drawings are superb, and the writing works for me. I love the Gertie and Byrd story arc.
ORteka over 14 years ago
YYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!! I’m glad this arc is turning the way I like it, either way even if Gertie got the boot, like others have said, I will still remain to watch it. I think Jim is doing an EXCELLENT job in BOTH writing and artwork!!! For the nay sayer comments, I don’t know why they still remain and complain when there is a simple task of not reading the strip. Like always, if I don’t like the story arc on GA I won’t comment. The meteorite was one and the cat food commercial was the other. Now, I’m wondering what Skeezix has to say to Gertie. I’m thinking the same idea as I’m leaning towards what Susan said…..Walt threw a fit when he learned about Gertie.
axe-grinder over 14 years ago
I miss Upton and Ramona!
DebJ4 over 14 years ago
Well, all I can say is that, after I took the Go Comic Survey and received the gift of some free months as a genius - I have mostly enjoyed being able to visit the Gasoline Alley archives - which, unfortunately, only run back to 2001.
Personally, I think it was a mistake for the writer to let Phyllis go. When I go back and review the strips which were being posted while Phyllis was still part of the action - the lion’s share of the action centered around Walt, Phyllis, Skeezix, Nina, Corky and other members of the Wallet family.
There were side trips with other characters, but those side trips usually didn’t last very long. For example, Melba inherited some money when a distant relative passed away. When Melba arrived to collect her inheritance, she began to suspect foul play in her relative’s death. So she called DICK TRACY! Dick Tracy’s guest gig on Gasoline Alley made a LOT more sense than anything going on in the Tracy strip these days. When I first made up my favorite comics roster, Dick Tracy was on the list. But after a week or so - I realized that the Dick Tracy of today is a far cry from the Dick Tracy I grew up with. So I dropped Dick Tracy from my line-up. At any rate, when Dick Tracy made a guest appearance In Gasoline Alley, Dick was able to get to the bottom of Melba’s mystery in about thirty days.
Leading up to the death of Phyllis, the strip focused on Gasoline Alley history - especially the history between Walt and Skeezix. After Phyllis passed, the strip STILL focused on Walt, as Walt AND Walt’s family adjusted to life without Phyllis. But, after about a year, all of the new “side” characters began to creep in and take over the strip - with Walt and/or members of the Wallet family making only token appearances.
For example, in one story which took place BEFORE the strip lost Phyllis, Skeezix spent a considerable amount of time attempting to get Walt and Phyllis equipped with a “Life Line” style device which they could use in case of an emergency. After Skeezix finally convinced Walt and Phyllis to try out the Life-Line device - Skeezix went home and was surprised when HIS children were there, waiting for him - and immediately began pitching the idea that Skeezix and Nina needed a “Life-Line” style device! This only took about three weeks as far as story goes. But, besides the salesman who was attempting to help Skeezix convince Walt and Phyllis that the “Life-Line” pendant WOULD be a good idea - the majority of the action centered around members of the Wallet family!
I think that, when Phyllis went out of the story, although the writer got some fresh, new material for Walt and other members of her family - all in all - the writing lost sight of its vision. Within the year after losing Phyllis, the strip began to just sort of drift and seems to have lost a sense of direction. After all, Gertie could STILL have moved in to help look after Walt AND Phyllis. And the couple of months of adventures which Walt had at the Old Comics home could have been just as rich and lively if Phyllis had been there to enjoy the caper as well.
Hopefully, the artist/writer will soon regain his vision and sense of direction. Because, at this point, the vision of the strips which were being posted back in 2001 is far superior to the vision which the current strip enjoys. While additional characters ARE interesting, they are MOST interesting when they are interacting with established members of the Wallet family.
I am guessing that the news media is camped on the Wallet doorstep, with eager reporters who want to interview the woman who stole the show during Bird’s performance. The big question will be whether Bird proposes in private - or ends up proposing on camera!
axe-grinder over 14 years ago
Always informative, Deborah!
jollyjack over 14 years ago
Deborah - Excellent analysis.
ceschott over 14 years ago
Jim is great. I eagerly look for the strip every day, and have for a long time. My father was born around the time that Skeezix was. Live long and prosper, Jim!
436rge over 14 years ago
Meanwhile I patiently wait for Vol.4 of Walt and Skeezix up to 1926-27.
toasteroven over 14 years ago
Well, I’m at least glad to see that my comment prompted debate. I’m a bit embarrassed by the passion, but I stand by the statement itself.