Pibgorn by Brooke McEldowney

Tags: chasm, hat, That last step was a doozy..., Hey Nat, how`s it hanging?, Cue the Wilhelm Scream, All roads lead to the volcano, Its a fedora way to the bottom. Add Tags

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FLINNx said, 4 months ago

????
Anyol'tomcat said, 4 months ago

Yikes! This one loaded suddenly and actually startled me. A Wile E. Coyote moment.

Lost that hat again?

Love the rock shadows.
IamMac said, 4 months ago

Hey, where are all the comments?

Is this the Twilight Zone?

Where are all the people!

Hello!!!!
gg015879 said, 4 months ago

Holey Shamoleys!
I get to be the third poster!!

Officially number three!
I hope
gg0

edit{ FLUP! - number 4}
paciii said, 4 months ago

A REAL cliffhnger!!!
Anyol'tomcat said, 4 months ago

Ko vadis? Rather looks it.

But I don’t see the Elephant’s Feet.
waycyber said, 4 months ago

No. 7 Yaaayyyyyy!
TiggerLeBounce said, 4 months ago

Oops?
paciii said, 4 months ago

So, is this just a distraction or IS it what he was asking for… a clear sign. If a SIGN then, clearly I don’t speak sign language, ‘cause I don’t get it!! I’m going over here on the beanbag of bewilderment and wait for Monday… with chocolate… and mountaindew… and cherry twizzlers… and one heck of a sugar high! (extra bags and cans for sharing on the coffee table…)
TiggerLeBounce said, 4 months ago

And yes, this loaded on me when I was prowling through the rest of the comments from yesterday too while waiting. I had to refresh the page to make the comments come up.
Captain Smokeblower said, 4 months ago

OK, who said they wanted a cliff hanger for Friday? Let’s be a bit more cautious what we wish for shall we. We don’t want to end up Nat-less.

I’ve heard of the canyons of NYC, but … I didn’t expect them to be this dry.
ejcapulet said, 4 months ago

Hey, we’re live! YAY!

Talk about a major cliffhanger! Bravo!

Since everyone I know who has gone to AA told me that the first weekend was the hardest, I got triple berry smoothies and plenty of nice, salty chips for everyone and to help wolfbyte avoid temptation!
ejcapulet said, 4 months ago

Hey, it looks like he’s on the right side of the canyon to still get to the volcano.
CarolinaGirls said, 4 months ago

Someone…Tom?….really doesn’t want Nat to reach that volcano!!
atajayhawk said, 4 months ago

Good grief! I haven’t finishing reading yesterday’s comments, but this must have been really late posting. (Actually, the alphabetical listing shows that it hasn’t!) It’s 8.30 CDT, and only 11 previous comments counted! Wow!
waycyber said, 4 months ago

Nat has been through water, now he is hanging on to earth. I think he must go through air before he can get to fire.
ejcapulet said, 4 months ago

I think I know who our “Dorothy” is - he’s currently being dangled off a cliff.
ejcapulet said, 4 months ago

The Maestro was late submitting so most of us who usually take up the first two pages are already in bed.
Elizabeth said, 4 months ago

What a great climax! It shifts from a Private-Eye Mystery film to a Warner Bros. Cartoon desert! :) ‘If only there was a clear sign’, is an open invitiation for someone bad to happen (llike ‘what else could go wrong’).

I’m impressed by this detective’s tenacity, who treats a near fall to his death as merely another ‘distraction’.

I’m pondering if the dream is that of the villain, who has drawn the others into a reality they can control (magic rules).
I still think Nat Bustard can solve the case and as the weekend passes I’m merely waiting for his hat to come back. :)
waycyber said, 4 months ago

I will put up a new Shaggy Dog next week. In the meantime, another poem for you.

There’s a Job To Be Done

I said “There’s a job to be done.”
I said “I will do it.”
Someone said “Who are you to say that? It’s not your place.”
Someone said “You’ve never done that kind of work; you don’t know what you are doing.”
Someone said “You’ll muck it up like you always do.”
Someone said “You aren’t strong enough. You’ll fail.”
Someone said “You will start it and then not finish it.”
Someone said “Why don’t you do something else instead?”
But another voice said “Try.”

So I prayed and I waited and a little while passed.
I looked and I said “There’s a job to be done.”
I said “I will do it.”
I saw a parcel with my name on it.
Someone said “That can’t be for you, give it to someone better.”
Someone said “Don’t touch it. Don’t open it. It’s evil.”
Someone said “This kind of thing doesn’t happen here.”
But another voice said “Open it. It’s yours.”

So I opened the parcel and I found a power tool.
Someone said “Why should that be yours?”
Someone said “You don’t know how to use it.”
Someone said “You’ll hurt yourself. Don’t touch it.”
Someone said “Give that to someone else, someone who knows what they’re doing.”
But another voice said “You have been equipped to do the job before you.”

I said “There is the job, here is the tool, and I will do it.”
Someone said “You are not allowed to.”
Someone said “We will stop you.”
Someone said “Who do you think you are? What gives you the right?”
But another voice said “You’ve seen the need, you have the tool, you have the power now do the job.”
eschmenk said, 4 months ago

@Elizabeth I think he thinks that since Bogie wouldn’t die that way, he won’t let himself die that way. Basically he is immortal, in the dream anyway. Not only didn’t Rocco kill him before, he could walk on water.That must mean he has some unnatural powers in the dream.

I am amused by how he is so unperturbed that he is grabbing his hat. I think he could probably pull the hat to him, if necessary.

I’m not all that familiar with Bogie movies. This isn’t a scene from one of them, is it?
Strodgers said, 4 months ago

I think that Nat is safer than Monty right now at 9 chickweed Lane.
aerwalt said, 4 months ago

What ever number this is: Thurs. sketch still up.
Strodgers said, 4 months ago

Hey, where’s the sketch?
pibfan868 said, 4 months ago

Ah, well, I am still on page one! whohoooooooo! I think he’s got the sign, the problem is it’s missing the arrow to point to a conclusion!
musicnut1986 said, 4 months ago

I believe Nat is immortal and will have his hat on come Monday, even if he has to fly to the bottom on the canyon to get it.
kcboomer said, 4 months ago

Hmmm, a volcano in a desert.
Maark30 said, 4 months ago

Well judging by the distraction level I figure that Nat is the key to stopping Tom. So of course Tom is stopping Nat at every turn. Not even the cliff can stop him. Bullets and the bottom of the sea didnt. If he ralizes that this is just a dream he cant be harmed. That is the firat rule of lucid dreaming after all. But I am still waiting on Geoff finding a way to get a squeezebox lol
bhandraoijo said, 4 months ago

Finally! I hate it when Pib is late! The Withdrawals are not pleasant -

I think that with this literal cliffhanger, the couch is going to be awfully full, so I will sit already - hand me a Dew, please, will you?

Wolfbyte - congrats on so far and good luck this weekend. Know that we are rooting for you to succeed -
eschmenk said, 4 months ago

In the last two strips, but Nat and Oognat are in a western landscape. I can’t remember any western landscapes before. I wonder if that is a coincidence or if it means something. Will Nat find Oognat?

Thanks to everyone involved in making today’s strip appear.
StradMan37 said, 4 months ago

9CWL:

Nuns don’t play cards - they supervise bingo games!

But, soggy cards?!?

I believe he’d do better by simply walking out of the water - & maybe, completely dry. THAT might just get the good sister’s attention. It’s what, in a certain Rumpole episode, about attempting do de-frock a priest, was referred to as “conjouring tricks” - the holy man did NOT believe in a God who goes in for conjouring tricks. Holy Blasphemy!!!
Burgundy2 said, 4 months ago

waycyber I love the poem. Very thought provoking.

Someone proposed the idea that our comments in some way are directing this story - an interesting but debatable concept. I wonder, though, if our constant referral to “Friday’s cloffhanger” inspired todays strip.
Anyol'tomcat said, 4 months ago

High Sierra of more likely Treasure of the Sierra Madre are two possible Bogie references

But I think the scenes shift like the backgrounds in Krazy Kat which was based in a Coconino County, AZ of the mind, where landmarks, symbols, Navaho Religious iconography, Mexican Spanish, New Orleans Yat, Latin jokes or even Greek dance about in a constant flux. There was just he constant quest to bean/thwart the beaning of Krazy with the brick, an act of aggression/love all confused.

How is Nat to treat Dru/Diane? Lover or betraying vamp? He has to choose the right Bogie role–as a fictional character his choices may be frustratingly limited.
maeverin said, 4 months ago

waycyber
lovely story, and very appropriate for today.
distractions come in many forms.

i hope i’m not stepping on your toes, but i’d like to share one of my favorite stories:

an old man lives by himself in a remote hut in Africa.
every day, he would take his two buckets, bring them a long way to the well, fill them with water and lug them all the way back home.
however one bucket always leaked and barely had any water in it by the time he got home.
the bucket asked the man sadly, “why do you still have me? i am useless to you, i cannot carry your water. why do you not just throw me out?”
the man smiled and brought the bucket outside. it was then the bucket noticed the long row of beautiful flowers that lined one side of the path the man took to the well.
the man answered simply,
“i do not throw you out because when you leak, you water the flowers that give me pleasure to see everyday.”

so the moral of the story is: no one is useless:)
waycyber said, 4 months ago

@maeverin Thank you. That’s a good one.

You reminded me of a story a friend sent me. I think it is one of those that’s gets circulated around the world.

The story is told of an old man who lived on a
farm in the mountains of
Eastern Kentucky with his young grandson .

Each morning, Grandpa was up early,
sitting at the kitchen table,
reading from his old worn-out Bible .

His Grandson who wanted to be just like him
tried to imitate him in any way he could .
One day the grandson asked,
‘Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you
but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand
I forget as soon as I close the book .
What good does reading the Bible do?’

The Grandfatherquietly turned from putting coal in the stove
and said, ‘Take this old wicker coal basket
down to the river and bring back a basket of water . ’

The boy did as he was told, even though all the water leaked
out before he could get back to the house .

The grandfather laughed and said,
‘You will have to move a little faster next time,’
and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again .

This time the boy ran faster, but again
the old wicker basket was empty
before he returned home .

Out of breath, he told his grandfather
that it was ‘impossible to carry water in a basket,’
and he went to get a bucket instead .

The old man said, ‘I don’t want a bucket of water;
I want a basket of water . You can do this .
You’re just not trying hard enough,’
and he went out the door to watch the boy try again .

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible,
but he wanted to show his grandfather
that even if he ran as fast as he could,
the water would leak out before he got far at all .

The boy scooped the water and ran hard,
but when he reached his grandfather,
the basket was again empty .

Out of breath, he said, ‘See Papa, it’s useless!’
‘So you think it is useless?’
The old man said, ‘Look at the basket . ’
The boy looked at the basket, and for the first time
he realized that the basket looked different .
Instead of a dirty old wicker coal basket,
it was clean .

‘Son, that’s what happens when you read the Bible .
You might not understand or remember everything,
but when you read it, it will change you
from the inside out . ’

Moral of the wicker basket story:
Take time to read a portion of God’s word each day;
it will affect you for good ,
even if you don’t retain a word .

Thought for Today:
Gods Love is like the ocean,
you can see its beginnings
but not its end .

I really like this story because I don’t retain things
too well anymore …
old age may have something to do with it,
but I just figure my brain just gets overloaded!

God isn’t concerned about your brain anyway,
He’s more concerned about your heart .
DeathDealer said, 4 months ago

Wow, still on page one.
I swear that I have been through this story arc in some computer game (that probably ran on an Apple IIc.)
Radical-Knight said, 4 months ago

Waycyber - Excellent motivational story. My wife has a newsletter and she thinks her readers would enjoy your stories. Would it be ok for her to reprint them giving authorship to Waycyber?
Mattimeomeg said, 4 months ago

Wow. We get a literal cliffhanger for Friday! Maybe we should remember to be careful what we wish for.

{}Edit: 38 marker{}
gg015879 said, 4 months ago

Do ya think Brooke is playin’ a joke on the Couch?

Ya know… . Friday CLIFF HANGERS?

(Scoots behind couch section number 77)

he he he
gg0
EZasPi said, 4 months ago

I notice the crevasse leads directly to what appears to be a volcano off in the distance. Do we have a100ft fall to a yellow brick road, of sorts?

Also, with regards to Nat’s composure, he clearly believes he is in a dream, and that nothing will harm him. It’s a Matrix type thing. He simply realizes the truth “there is no spoon.”

Or to wax a bit more philosophical - if you die in your dreams, you may not survive in real life. But what happens if you die in someone else’s dream?

Or to wax non sequitur - if a dream falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it will Nat ever wake up.
fatuncle said, 4 months ago

ejcapulet

”The Maestro was late submitting so most of us who usually take up the first two pages are already in bed.”

T’wasn’t Mr. McEldowney:

Brooke McEldowney said, yesterday morning

I got an e-mail from Joe Minotaur about the absence of Pib. Often enough, I draw the material, wipe my brow, then crawl to bed, having forgotten to post it to the Gocomics FTP. That didn’t happen this time. On this occasion, the strip simply didn’t get assimilated as it ordinarily does. It’s still sitting in the box where I posted it last evening. I’ve left word with the proper authorities. It should be shifted loose of its sandbar later in the morning. Meanwhile, I recommend coffee and cinnamon rolls. I shall scrounge for an ibuprofen.
Elizabeth said, 4 months ago

Nat is a demon who now has a soul. He can take a lot of punishment. (he was incinerated to dust once and came back)
Brooke is a punster, and as gg015879 pointed out is having hanging from a cliff as a Cliff Hanger. :)
waycyber said, 4 months ago

@Radical-Knight That’s fine, but please use my real name. It is Colin Nelson
IamMac said, 4 months ago

@ EZasPi

“I notice the crevasse leads directly to what appears to be a volcano off in the distance.”

Thanks, I missed that the on the first look!

Got to love a fer real cliff hanger!

Hope I have ‘net access come Monday!
Eleisabelle said, 4 months ago

Kinda fascinating–yesterday we had Dru on fire, Pib on ice (water), and Oognat on earth. And now we have Nat on air. Heh…

Elemental, my dear Watson.
mjolnir 9 said, 4 months ago

I boldly predicted that all hell would break loose in today’s episode.

Instead, we have a cliffhanger. Literally.

I hereby disavow all knowledge of my actions.
Radical-Knight said, 4 months ago

Waycyber - My wife is pleased and thanks you, as do I thank you also. Your writing is fantastic.
maeverin said, 4 months ago

does anyone else feel like the hat is going to be a chekov’s gun?
Ma'at said, 4 months ago

And don’t miss these other TV series, going on right now!

Trial by Fire

Wolf Lake

Three’s Company

Frozen in Time
BikeNBoatN said, 4 months ago

Mighty deep distraction…