Gil Thorp by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merrill for September 03, 2022

Oreintation sounds like training for gold miners.

Huh. Wasn’t she the student who got pregnant in a storyline a good while back? (If I’m remembering it correctly, hopefully GilPa has the tact NOT to remind her, in front of the kid, that he talked her out of having an abortion.)

I hope Tobias isn’t supposed to have had gender reassignment surgery. I’m no expert, but it seems 18 is the minimum age.

Pfft, no wonder Tabatha became Tobias after years of listening to that heavy metal devil music his mom’s apparently into.

Tabitha and Tobias…unusual names…are they sibling or one?

Anyone else drawn to the spelling on the P1 sign? “I before E except after C”? Have the two vowels also gone trans? And is Melissa the mother (or other relative) of Gil’s basketball star Derek Gordon, from almost 20 years ago?

I’m done it’s been fun..till now.

“Orientation.” I guess this is what happens when you put a coach in charge of the signage.

I like it. Bringing back old characters (ala HVB, Tru, etc.) and some relevant social issues, like how transgender issues impact sports. Tobias looks like a point guard to me. And it beats the heck out of the riveting Public Library story arc.

As big a joke as the mask.

If this new writer upsets the strip’s traditional balance between sports and social issues, I’m gone. Do not chase every fad that affects .001 percent of the population, such as gender surgery . Remember that teenagers change their minds and their emotions daily. We don’t need another Funky Winkerbean or Luann, which I deep-sixed.

In all reality , it has been a long time Giĺ, and your child support checks for Tabitha that the court ordered you to pay me for Tabitha’s support stopped a long time ago. You cheated on me with that tramp Mimi now I hear you’re creating on her. You’re a low life bum .

Nice attention-seeking syndrome by proxy … you can tell that she loves doing that. She’s probably making the rounds of everybody they knew “before”.

“I’m just so brave … for doing what all the smart set totally approves of and applauds, and what everyone else is afraid to even say boo to …”

“Toby” is that new kid who provides the skill position firepower the Mudlarks lack in football, basketball and baseball. Mel looks like she’s no stranger to a mosh pit. Off to Never, Neverland!

P 4 ( Gil’s voice): “… hey!… didn’t you have that shirt when you were a student here?…”

Whoa, horsey!!! C’mon gang, there’s an awful lot of conclusion jumping going on. You see Keri wear a WOKE t-Shirt and everybody gets their shorts in a bunch. Seems to me, we were all about giving Henry a chance to develop “HIS” story. Is this leaning the way we hoped? For half of us, it doesn’t seem to be, but when one snarker makes a leap and several other snarkers say they’re leaving even though the story hasn’t gone there, yet. Have some coffee. Personally, I enjoyed Gil treating the mask as theater as soon as he had someone he knew to talk to.

I thought only students from the far east were showing today for a second

8 – Divide the readers….

What’s next: 1. Tobias will hook up with Gil’s daughter, 2. Mimi comes out of the closet and leaves Gil; 3. Gil and the new loudmouth coach become good friends

Seems strange that Gil would be wearing a mask and then take it off when he starts talking to someone. Sort of defeats the purpose of wearing one in the first place.

Coaches Held Hostage: Coach Kaz, Day 71 (of 95). The movie ’71 scored a 96 on Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/71_2015

This is rediculous. I have been reading Gil Thorp for at least 60 years. If this keeps up, I will stop. Sad.

“Oreintation”? Was that done on purpose to show how bad the school system is in Milford?

“Has everything been removed? I don’t want any unnecessary bleeding from my players.”

Why do people who rarely, if ever, commented before feel the need to announce that they’re going to stop reading?

Please tell me Gil Thorp isn’t going woke. I couldn’t stand the stupidity.

And now it’s time for an update from our sports desk: The Milford, OH Eagles continue their blazing start (read into that what you will, Mopman) to their 2022 football season, moving to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Valley (a.k.a. Eastern Cincinnati Conference) with a 47-21 win over visiting Lebanon to remain tied for first,lwith second in the Valley still a real possibility with tough a tough test coming up next week.

We now return to our regularly scheduled hand-wringing, teeth gnashing, moaning, wailing and b*tching about (potential) teen transgenderism and woke agenda phobia.

The #1 high school sports issue discussed widely in the nation today is whether transgender kids should be allowed to play high school sports.

If that’s the direction part of this storyline is headed, it’s both super-relevant and totally within the tradition of Gil Thorp the strip. It is politically charged, but so too are things like teen pregnancy and even butter knives in school.

If you don’t like the storyline (or any other writing, art, or inconsistencies of the color of the art), don’t complain, just snark. Read the past few years of Gil Thorp comments to figure out how.

As a pretty moderate person who cringes at the excesses of both the far right and far left, I find all this just more evidence of how much more polarized the country is than 20 years ago. Seemingly every issue becomes political warfare. It’s depressing.

Dang Gil why even wear a mask if you’re just going to pull it entirely down? Anyway it’s good to see that Melissa can still rock.

The Name Game. Gil!, Gil gilville banana Mana fulfillment fee fine with mellow again! GilPa.

OK I’m gone from here as well as a couple of others this week. Save the social commentary for the editorial page and political cartoons.

Come on! WHY DO THEY KEEP REFUSING TO HIRE ME? I am the best and everyone knows it. Try to save money and you get crap like this – OREINTATION.

129 comments. Holy Schnikey’s, could that be a new personal record?

If there is any character that should have had the character to push back against woke/trans nonsense it should be those that coach and understand physical activities.

Well if you somehow managed to get through the current total of 160 comments and made it here, I’m not adding anything new. Other than there’s a new edition of Mopped Up Thorp right here:

https://moppedupthorp.wordpress.com/

Tobias sleeps with one eye open gripping HIS: I mean THEIR pillow tight

So long Gil, it’s been a fun 40 years. But luck with the next writer.

For a more conventional comment: The Mopman does a great job on desktops in addition to floors!!

177 comments, it must be working. Can’t we all just get along

Vito from Goshen has Tab/Toby? trending on the Big Board. Heavy betting action coming in from West Hollywood.

More woke shut.

Xe is probably going to be bullied, and going with Tobias over Toby won’t help

This strip is going off the rails now.

I can’t tell if the new author is actually being “woke” or just parodying wokeness. Either way…well, I’m up to 1979, where a Milford football player is literally pounded on the football field because the other team thinks he’s gay. (Yes, really.)