Wallace the Brave by Will Henry for August 23, 2021

Put a leash on it, Dad.

I actually did throw my first bicycle over the nearby ocean when I was 5. It’s probably still there today.

Methinks Dad’s car is gonna get ‘tagged’ next.

Dear Lord! I can’t believe my ears! (O_O )

That’s a safe bet.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen the seagull be an active part of the cartoon. Most often s/he is just passively observing. As an aside, Wallace with footwear in the summer?

The end justifies the means, Dad!

Worth it!

WHY is he wearing wellies? I thought summer was a shoe free zone.

How did dad not notice the ramp on the dock?

Very creative, Wallace. The seagull certainly wasn’t expecting that.

I always knew swearing is a sign of intelligence!

That Seagull must have flown up from Brooklyn. Such Language!

Success! Wallace does it again. Good timing.

Watch your back, er head, Wallace. A seagull’s revenge is seldom cold!

The guy knows how to plan….

That bike is going to rust out soon anyway.

Translating Seagullspeak to English, we read:

Star Exclamation Point Cartoon Bomb Pinwheel Asterisk

[Feel free to correct me if I have misread.]

I believe this is the most I’ve seen the seagull involved in a strip! Very nice, Mr. Henry!

Years ago (in my childhood) I saw an older boy walking through the woods with a 10-speed and heading up the path towards the pond. Curious, I waited a little while and then went to the pond and saw the tip of one of the handlebars sticking out of the water. I’m assuming he had stolen it and then got cold feet and was getting rid of the evidence. I took it home and parked it behind my house to try to figure out what to do with it. A few days later, the owner showed up (an older kid) and said gruffly: “This is my bike” an walked off with it. I tried explaining to his parents that I didn’t steal it and found it in a pond…a likely story, right?

This is one of the cases where I’m not sure whether I would just make it easier to fish the bike out of the water, or try and keep Wallace from jumping it into the ocean.

For a supposedly nice kid, Wallace sure is free with his parents’ hard-earned money. He throws shoes away, and now we learn he rides bikes into the ocean in pursuit of gulls. A little consideration, please.

There’s always a lot to enjoy when consuming your Recommended Daily Allowance of Vitamin W.

What I really enjoyed today…

1. The elegant deployment of Mr. WH’s signature as a series of peaks and valleys in the little wave forms in panel 3.

2. The beautiful narrative flow, a progressive revelation from panel to panel: First the gull, unsuspecting, enjoying its flappery flight over the ocean, relaxed, with eyes closed.

Then, without warning, lotsa flying stuff: a buggily-eyed gull, loose footwear, assorted tailfeathers, and Wallace himself, wide-eyed-and-mouthed, SHOUTING!

Finally, a swarm of information in that wonderful last panel… Dad’s exasperation, the half-sunken bicycle, the makeshift bucket-and-board ramp, Wallace adding insult to injury, and the cluster-flap of gullish swear words… one of which resembles an early 19th century bomb (of the sometimes cannon-fired bursting in air variety… or perhaps a Garry Trudeau caricature of Newt Gingrich).

Nothing’s not to love.

I used to see kids ride their bikes off of a pier and into the ocean, but then they would swim out with the bike in tow and do it again. Maybe Wallace had the same idea.

HAH! None of us saw that comin! Excellent surprises all around, Thanks Mr Henry.

Gulls have a special way of “tagging” you back…..

As of this past weekend I am the happy owner of the three WtB books (Wallace the Brave, Snug Harbor Stories and Wicked Epic Adventures).

This is the chance you take when you insinuate yourself into a comic strip.

Literal, emphatic LOL at my desk!

I think the Seagull has just broken through the walk-on role to becoming a major character. No one is safe from Wallace’s antics.

Mr. Henry: I greatly admire the way your brain works. I thoroughly enjoy work. I look forward to seeing more of Sterling’s character development. Thanks!

Right in the pootie, too.

YEET

Would attaching pool noodles along the frame of the bicycle make that any easier?

(Clap clap clap)