Pickles by Brian Crane for October 10, 2023

Maybe even gopher, if you play your cards right

Personal Assistant. Aide de camp.

He’s on the way up!

Quick, Nelson, get the dictionary!

Oh! A promotion!

Probably more like understudy.

Ask about the career path toward becoming Grampa’s henchman.

You can’t be Nelson, Opal is more powerful than Earl.

How does that go again? Minion, Toerag, Lackey and then Underling?

Master Yoda would just call Nelson a “Youngling”.

“The Bored-Sitter’s Apprentice”

It does sound great, like viking, sterling…

“No, Nelson. A minyan requires ten people. And they all have to be over the age of thirteen….”

Nelson the Valet …

Nelson is Padawan to Earl the Jedi Master.

Wait until you find out what an underling has to do, Nelson…

I hope he ambitious enough to work his way up to vassal.

Better than “gopher” (Go for this,Go for that)!

Which is higher, a henchman or an underling? I think it’s a henchman.

An underling who does your bidding is better than a minion with an opinion. :D

How about Mini Me?

Really…….. seriously……… is that BETTER..????

So are the pickles in this comic dill or sweet?

Oh Great, just what the world needs a Mini Me Earl.

For my grandsons, I prefer the terms acolytes and wingmen – depending on what mischief we’re getting up to.

Hanging with Earl-is not making Nelson smarter!

I’m the capo, and you are my lieutenant.

Earl is corrupting Nelson’s mind! LOL

Stooge?

Actually, I think Nelson is an Early adopter as Techies call it!

And who doesn’t need a good underling?

More of a “gopher”, actually. “Go for this. Go for that.”

And don’t forget to tell Nelson that he’s your favorite grandson. That’s always nice to hear, even if he’s the only one, and it’s more important than silly names.

Reminds me of our narcissistic CEO at my first company (a startup), giving a company wide meeting and calling all the engineers “rank and file”. After seeing the disgust, he thought it was better to call us “workerbees”. As you may guess, he was not well liked, and the company did not do well.

Ha! Or perhaps an understudy.

Moving up in the underworld!!

Once I was mercilessly flamed after making a casual GoComics comment about “underlings” on my staff.

Your mother is calling you, my little ion. Now be off you little rapscallion.

Like I said yesterday …… “GOPHER” ….. sorry Nelson ……. :)

I think he’s a lower-level aide-de-camp.