For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 16, 2013

Makes me wonder how does Garfield manages to buckle in his seat belt without struggle.

@templo SUD And it doesn’t bother you that he flies in a seat like a regular passenger, and not in a pet cage?

Uh-oh. Too many leftover desserts, a too-tight seat belt, and maybe some bouncy turbulence as they descend. Will Michael get airsick???

Michael better not look out the window as the plane descends for the landing. Those desserts just may come back to haunt him. Also Calgary is at a much higher altitude than Ontario so Michael may begin to feel lightheaded because of that as well….a double whammy.

Repeat after me…..this is a story line in a comic strip!

It’s a comic strip!

templo SUD: Garfield just digs in his claws and he’s good to go!

…and… “It’s a comic strip!”

And we see here the problem with letting someone color the strip after the fact, with no input from the creator. What happened the stewardess’ head in the third panel? The colorist followed the lines too literally.

We were still calling them stewardesses in 1984….

Its a joke boy. Don’t you get it, its a joke.

Ow, he’s making my stomach hurt now! Jeez, Michael not a great way to start the trip!

Someone once told me that that was the reason why airlines gave out little bags of peanuts instead of, say, doughnuts. Baked goods would come back on you the same way they went in. Or so I’ve been told.

Go easy on him, deserts are very yummy…

And how would a child taking his first plane trip know that without being shown?

Because he didn’t know how to adjust the seat belt.

Susan, I have always felt the same way, unless we are flying over something extraordinary. My father used to tell me I was a very sick woman. :)

jpirard: Somebody has to do it, otherwise there would never be any improvement.

Poor Mike

Wow, still not at grandmas? How long is this flight?

Hey, if God did not want us eating all those chocolate desserts He would have made gluttony a sin!

The joke is probably that he got a big belly from eating like a bird. (FYI, pigs are one of the few animals that are careful about their diet, so overeating ought to say “eats like a bird”, because a bird eats its own weight every day!)

I remember the first time my SIL flew. She was nervous already, and did ok during the takeoff and flight, but at landing, we forgot to warn her about the vibration from the thrust reversers. She grabbed my knee in a vice grip and wouldn’t let go. She came very close to screaming with three of us trying to tell her “this is normal, this is normal”. And yes, I had bruises on my knee.

And for your little “a joke has to fit reality” rant, go back and read Lynn’s comments. This really happened to her son Aaron.

I’m enjoying the comments today!

Yeah, that’s probably tomorrow’s strip…

ITS A CARTOON IDIOT

Am I going to have to give up on this strip? The stupidity of the trolls is hurting my blood pressure!

If you don’t get it after the author has explained it to you maybe you should move on — this comic is too cerebral for you.

The “all” regarding desserts refer to all those left, not all originally loaded on the aircraft. He did not eat everyone’s desserts, only those which didn’t eat theirs. They were probably in little lidded containers, enabling the flight attendants (there were stewards in those days too) to distinguish the untouched ones quite readily. History includes details as well as major battles, the way it is taught in schools notwithstanding. Which is why original sources help.