Comments (28) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   EarlWash said, 2 months ago

   Poor Walt. Another ‘senior moment’.

2. 

   toasteroven said, 2 months ago

   Scancarelli is still a good artist. I’ll say that for him.

3. 

   axe-grinder said, 2 months ago

   Gertie has to catch a break sometime– she’s overdue!

4. 

   oldbooger said, 2 months ago

   I agree. Its gone on long enough.

5. 

   BuzzDog said, 2 months ago

   Say…isn’t that Upton Nogood’s new wife sitting behind Walt?

6. 

   Macushlalondra said, 2 months ago

   Mr. Walt doesn’t recognize Gertie in that get up. Never mind that she brought him there looking like that, suddenly he’s forgotten.

7. 

   massha said, 2 months ago

   Poor Gertie’s getting rejection from all directions! What a dramatic twist. Exciting arc, I just hope poor Gertie gets some comfort in the end.

8. 

   nelson-muntz said, 2 months ago

   will this story line never end?

9. 

   EarlWash said, 2 months ago

   It’s an excellent story line…it is life.

10. 

    HectorPriam said, 2 months ago

    axe-grinder said, about 5 hours ago

    Gertie has to catch a break sometime– she’s overdue!

    So she IS pregnant!

    I suspected that months ago but was too polite to point it out.

11. 

    axe-grinder said, 2 months ago

    HectorPriam said, So she IS pregnant! I suspected that months ago but was too nice to point it out.

    I meant overdue for a lucky break— but pregnancy would be an unexpected twist!

12. 

    ORteka said, 2 months ago

    GREAT story arc !!! Also great artwork.
    NotNorman…have you forgotten…or are you getting a little “Old timers” like Walt….there was TWO dates that Earl and Gertie had. One at the club…and the other when he brought over a picnic basket of food…for a picnic…that WALT, Gertie and himself. I classify that as a date as Gertie couldn’t leave Walt on his own.

13. 

    jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

    Me, I think this storyline is moving a little too slow, but I am curious to see how it unfolds. I just wish the characters and their feelings had been better established on the first go-round. Byrd expressed eternal love after the first date, Gertie seemed to say it was his lack of money more than anything that was the issue, both of which are a little shallow.

14. 

    jtpozenel said, 2 months ago

    Yep, I think Walt has the missing tickets.

15. 

    kab2rb said, 2 months ago

    Isn’t the man be hind Walt one of the GA characters?

16. 

    axe-grinder said, 2 months ago

    The limit of 2 or 3 panels a day is going to affect pacing, no doubt. In the three-dimensional world, 1 or 2 dates might not seem enough on which to base an engagement, but it would surely be difficult to portray an average courtship in the alloted space! I’m reading some 1940s Phantom and Buz Sawyer and Brick Bradford through Dailyink, and they really took their time back then!

17. 

    BlitzMcD said, 2 months ago

    For what it’s worth, those who feel that this story line is moving too slow, try reading Brenda Starr for a few weeks. Gasoline Alley will seem to move like greased lightning in comparison.

18. 

    jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

    I think there are different ways to write and pace a strip…I have been looking over Dick Moore’s work, and one big difference in style is that Moores was much more understated and story-driven.

    Scancarelli tends to go for a punchline at the expense of moving the story forward (ie, we had a week of unrelated shopping jokes as she got ready for tonight). So I don’t think it’s an inherent problem with the comic strip medium, it’s a matter of focusing on the narrative at hand.

    To be fair, this may be an editorial dictate. Gag-a-day strips are much more common than continuity strips these days. Gasoline Alley is one of very few humorous-continuity strips left.

    And while I LOVED Moore’s incredible line work, I’ll say again that Scancarelli is more than earning his pay with art so detailed you can barely appreciate it in print or online.

19. 

    axe-grinder said, 2 months ago

    jumbobrain said, Scancarelli tends to go for a punchline at the expense of moving the story forward… So I don’t think it’s an inherent problem with the comic strip medium, it’s a matter of focusing on the narrative at hand. To be fair, this may be an editorial dictate…

    Those points all make sense to me, except I’m not in much hurry myself. If there are some detours here and there for the sake of a punchline, I’m happy to go along. When I travel, I’m less concerned about reaching the destination than in having an interesting journey. I’ll pull over for lunch at an inviting diner rather than grab something at a McDrive-Thru. If there’s some good scenery, I don’t mind stopping to take it in. There are certainly other things in life where speed is secondary, where the journey can be even more fun than arriving.

    I’m not trying to miscast what you say, because your points strike me as well-reasoned and politely presented. I’m just saying I enjoy this story everyday as it winds along… and we agree about the art completely! I’m lucky enough to have a few originals, and they are amazing.

20. 

    Gweedo Murray said, 2 months ago

    The art IS great. Maybe Jim could moonlight over at Dick Tracy. Pibgorn is a slow story too. It’s the neat stuff that happens along the way that keeps it interesting.

21. 

    whmIII said, 2 months ago

    Dementia is a horrible thing.

22. 

    jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

    Thanks Axe,

    Like I say, I think Scancarelli is doing a good job here…for better or worse, he’s taken the established formula and made it work under his style. Which is what Dick Moores and Bill Perry both did.

    I just wish Moores’ work were available though. I’ve only seen a bit of it, but it was really brilliant. He could move a story along with really graceful, understated comments and punchlines, so that when you read them in a sequence, it reads like a book. Who knows, if he were still doing it maybe the syndicate would order him to put more big punchlines in, like Gertie’s shocked look today.

23. 

    axe-grinder said, 2 months ago

    Dypak has been a proponent of reprints of Moores and King in this electronic format, and I would love that too.

24. 

    countoftowergrove said, 2 months ago

    Obiously Walt has sundowned. Nice drawing of the chica in panel two.

25. 

    jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

    I’ve been buying some Moore strips off eBay, if I ever get around to it I’ll post ‘em up. Maybe others could do the same.

26. 

    axe-grinder said, 2 months ago

    This guy has a couple of months of Moores dailies for sale: http://www.oldsundaycomics.com/dcp022.htm

    I sometimes see that book called Rover, too, but I don’t have it.

27. 

    436rge said, 2 months ago

    Shouldn’t there have been a Volume 4 of Walt and Skeezix by now?

28. 

    jumbobrain said, 2 months ago

    Thanks Axe,

    I have the Rover book…the reproductions are sharp but a little small. It’s a great narrative, covering when Rover’s mom first dumped him with Slim and Clovia, and they have to convince him he’s not actually a dog.

    There’s another Moore collection published in 1976 that has some good stories, and one I don’t have, “The Smoke from Gasoline Alley,” which I gather is on the environment, but I don’t know if it’s a strip collection or something else.