Here’s roughly what the last year looked like in Gasoline Alley:
I went back to mid-July of last year and landed on the Joe Pye storyline in progress, which ran until about the end of October, at which point we join Slim and Clovia.
That storyline veers into Slim’s mom and cousin Chubby coming by, and it takes a while to get rid of them; then Slim & Clovia buy a new dryer, taking another month, and by February we segue to Gertie picking up her car from them.
Gertie spends most of February at the grocery store, then finally returns home to Walt, who then has his dream of returning to 1921 and the age of 20, and within days Skeezix appears as a baby, grows up, goes to war, then Walt realizes he’s only having a dream and wakes up, hungry for eggs, which sends Gertie back to the store. This all moves forward to the start of May, when in the store’s parking lot, Gertie finds that Joel & Rufus have accidentally scratched her car with their wagon. The camera stays on them and we’re still with them.
From this we might gather that Jim maybe tries to plot out each set of character stories to last about 3 months. So in the last year we’ve had about three months with the Pye family, so far about three months with Joel & Rufus, and probably about a month and a half just following Gertie… so 7 1/2 months with “non-Wallet family” characters.
Of the actual Wallet family, more often than not we’re getting “Slim” stories, with some exposure to Clovia within. And often on those occasions his mom and Chubby are afoot.
Walt’s dream sequence — which at first wasn’t clearly a dream — could have taken us somewhere; maybe even resolved the “aging problem” through some fantastical means (which Jim shows us to be a possibility in this strip)… but no, it was just a dream, and all too brief a visit with Walt.
Anyway, that’s just to say that Jim seems to have forgotten his Wallets.
Why would a short covered bridge that lands on stone abutments at both ends have wood supports right next to the stone abutments? The walls of a covered bridge not only hold up the roof, they act as trusses to support the floor over the span. There would be no need for additional support. And wood in water would rot quickly. Long covered bridges have stone or concrete piers in the river.
95 years ago “Don’t make holes in the soap.” – My Dad said he made sure to clean his ears or his Grandma would do it for him – and it wasn’t gentle. Like being scrubbed with burlap.
Brian Premium Member about 3 years ago
Any friend of Rufus and Joel is no friend of Becky’s.
Gweedo -it's legal here- Murray about 3 years ago
Such a nice country setting in P. 2. Reminds me of Vermont countryside I got to see some years ago.
Raaawb about 3 years ago
Hopefully by the time August arrives, they’ll have finally gotten over that bridge….
Raaawb about 3 years ago
Here’s roughly what the last year looked like in Gasoline Alley:
I went back to mid-July of last year and landed on the Joe Pye storyline in progress, which ran until about the end of October, at which point we join Slim and Clovia.
That storyline veers into Slim’s mom and cousin Chubby coming by, and it takes a while to get rid of them; then Slim & Clovia buy a new dryer, taking another month, and by February we segue to Gertie picking up her car from them.
Gertie spends most of February at the grocery store, then finally returns home to Walt, who then has his dream of returning to 1921 and the age of 20, and within days Skeezix appears as a baby, grows up, goes to war, then Walt realizes he’s only having a dream and wakes up, hungry for eggs, which sends Gertie back to the store. This all moves forward to the start of May, when in the store’s parking lot, Gertie finds that Joel & Rufus have accidentally scratched her car with their wagon. The camera stays on them and we’re still with them.
From this we might gather that Jim maybe tries to plot out each set of character stories to last about 3 months. So in the last year we’ve had about three months with the Pye family, so far about three months with Joel & Rufus, and probably about a month and a half just following Gertie… so 7 1/2 months with “non-Wallet family” characters.
Of the actual Wallet family, more often than not we’re getting “Slim” stories, with some exposure to Clovia within. And often on those occasions his mom and Chubby are afoot.
Walt’s dream sequence — which at first wasn’t clearly a dream — could have taken us somewhere; maybe even resolved the “aging problem” through some fantastical means (which Jim shows us to be a possibility in this strip)… but no, it was just a dream, and all too brief a visit with Walt.
Anyway, that’s just to say that Jim seems to have forgotten his Wallets.
allangary about 3 years ago
Why would a short covered bridge that lands on stone abutments at both ends have wood supports right next to the stone abutments? The walls of a covered bridge not only hold up the roof, they act as trusses to support the floor over the span. There would be no need for additional support. And wood in water would rot quickly. Long covered bridges have stone or concrete piers in the river.
well-i-never about 3 years ago
95 years ago “Don’t make holes in the soap.” – My Dad said he made sure to clean his ears or his Grandma would do it for him – and it wasn’t gentle. Like being scrubbed with burlap.
RonnieAThompson Premium Member about 3 years ago
More excellent detail work: the bridge, stone wall, the water, etc.
Jck123 about 3 years ago
Looks like Jim is in the dark too.
omegasupreme about 3 years ago
Madison CP and other parts of Iowa still have covered bridges…
phboles about 3 years ago
As already pointed out that is a really nice covered bridge scene
Brian Premium Member about 3 years ago
It’ll take the better part of week to get through the bridge.
Durak Premium Member about 3 years ago
@JPuzzle
Looks like it is a T intersection after all.
Brian Premium Member about 3 years ago
For interest, here’s a look at the strips in the original B&W. I at least appreciate the look at the artwork.
https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/comics/gasoline-alley/
Orcatime about 3 years ago
Go to the light!