Broom Hilda by Russell Myers for March 11, 2010

A mud puddle is a kid magnet…

Brrrrrr, dirty, cold, and wet!

That’s a sure way to get sent home from school.

Methinks he takes after Broomie!

Nerwin is just a typical boy(-troll), not an addict (unless one argues that all boys are by definition addicted)!

Drive a Ferarri and you WILL avoid those mudholes! There, problem solved.

One should never pass up a good mud puddle.

Oui madam, I love puddles.

Mud, mud, glorious mud Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood So follow me follow, down to the hollow And there let me wallow in glorious mud

Mornin’ LuvH8, not sure where your quote is from……. Winnie the Pooh?

There are no real trolls. Nor gnomes, elves, fairies, hobbits, kobolds… In works of fantasy, elves and fairies sometimes wear clothing and sometimes they do not. Sometimes they are tiny, and sometimes they are the size of humans. In “The Hobbit”, the trolls are HUGE, they wear clothing, and they turn to stone when they are exposed to sunlight. In many traditions, trolls are intimately associated with bridges, and may or may not wear clothes.

As Russell Myers uses trolls in the “Broom Hilda” comic strip, Irwin is a fully-grown troll who neither wears clothes nor shoes. His nephew Nerwin is not fully grown, wears sneakers and a propellor cap, and goes to school with humans.

This is a work of fantasy. The only rules are those Myers chooses to follow, and even then he is free to break his own rules when he chooses.

Broomie herself is a witch. In the dominant Western tradition, witches derive their magical powers from covenants with Satan and/or Strange Gods. The Law of Moses includes the injunction to kill witches. How much fun would this comic strip be if we had if we saw Broomie offering her body to infernal Powers for sexual purposes, being discovered by the Church authorities, and burned at the stake? Actually, that might be a LOT of fun, but Myers could only do it ONCE.

@fritzoid said, 5 minutes ago

The only rules are those Myers chooses to follow, and even then he is free to break his own rules when he chooses.

Well, technically, if he breaks the rules, he has to go before the judge for the appropriate penalty.

we’re just not sayin’ who the judge is! (but his initials are “Russ Myers”)

Good Morning MontanaLady The lyrics are from Flanders & Swann’s ~ Hippopotamus Song. I have no idea where I heard it from originally.

UncaAlby, at least he’d probably be lenient with himself (unless he recuses himself on the basis of a prior relationship with the defendant).

If this were real life and Nerwin were a real little boy, in all likelihood he would wear clothes and live indoors.

But it isn’t, so he doesn’t. Why do you keep raising the issue?

And don’t respond “If this were real life and Nerwin were a real troll”, because THERE ARE NO REAL TROLLS.

Who’s been making mud with alcohol? Maybe it’s the batter for a Haitian rum cake.

To @fritzoid:

To quote Tweedledum (or perhaps it was Tweedledee), “If it was, then it would be; but it isn’t, so it ain’t.”

And please DON’T ask me where this comes from.

We’re all mad here, RinaFarina. You’re mad, too, or else you wouldn’t be here.

Hm…would this count as circular reasoning, fritzoid? It does sound rather like something the Mad Hatter would say (as I’ve been reading recently).

We may not all be mad, but most of us certainly know how to Embrace Our Inner Screwballs.

I believe Nerwin’s condition is listed as “hydroterramania,” and Joe’s is “fictionphobia.”

I gave up drinkiing mud (and sludge) a long time ago. And I didn’t need a suport group either.

I’m not mad, @fritzoid. I’m not in the least bit upset. In fact, I feel pretty good.

A little crazy maybe – – –

But it’s like what I’ve been telling people for a long time: you have to be a little crazy to keep from going insane.

JohRak, the line (paraphrase, actually) belongs to the Cheshire Cat, who (truth to tell) is one of the saner personalities Alice encounters. It was also, I believe, quoted by Joker to Batman in the graphic novel “Arkham Asylum.”

Strictly speaking, I don’t think the argument is circular, in that it’s dependent upon a single premise: “All persons (or cats, hares, mock turtles, etc.) in Wonderland are mad.” That may be a false premise but if it is granted then the statements “If you are here, then you are mad” and “If you are not mad, you would not be here” both logically follow.

Circular reasoning, I think, would be more like “You have flies in your eyes. You cannot see the flies in your eyes, which is proof that they are there, because if you didn’t have flies in your eyes you could see them.”

As for me, I am but mad north-northwest. When the wind is southerly, I know a raven from a writing-desk…