Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for March 21, 2024

The Philadelphia Experiment.

Who’s the Bad Guy here again? Monday said it was Grandma Johnson! Tuesday said it was Grandma Johnson! Weds, and now Thursday, said it was Grandma Johnson! I AM SO LOST HERE, OH GREAT BATUIK, WHO IS IT, THIS OLD LADY WE WILL NEVER SEE THAT YOU SO DESPISE, SPEAK UNTO US

“A what trek? Is that anything like Starbuck Jones? Can’t be as good! Anyway I mean a device that spreads a huge red cloak over the bus, so Grandma Johnson will think it’s Little Red Riding Hood and stop chasing me!”

So, I assume tomorrow Ed will inquire about wings that pop out of the sides of his bus and the mechanic will note his reference to “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”? Might as well go for the same non-joke three days in a row.

MECHANIC: “Just yell ‘GO GO GADGET BUS!’”CRANK: “YEAH! Grandma Johnson is DEAD! ‘GO GO GADGET B—’” (bus explodes; Crank is smithereened) MECHANIC: “I didn’t say what would happen if he did…” (every grandma and child in the tri-state region cheers)

“How about a paper dispenser that will throw a bunch of ‘Lisa’s Story’ leaflets out the back? That’s enough to scare anyone off!”

What this strip needs is a joking device.

And the hits just keep on coming.

One Nation Under GOD! GOD Bless America! GOD Wins!

OY ! What’s with these Trolls , If you don’t like this strip there is a unfollow button !

Since she has been catching you make sure it is a tearaway cloak.

Got the reference!

I wonder if I’ll ever find out what he has against Grandma Johnson.

Drive the school bus only in reverse to confuse her

Always in competition…..

ed has never had the advantage of breathing in sea air thats why hes so crusty

Panel three: the mechanic is basically calling Ed an idiot who thinks fictional gadgets from an almost sixty-year-old TV show are real… and Ed’s response is to smirk with satisfaction, as if he’s just been given a compliment. I tell ya, people in the Batiukverse are not like the rest of us humans.

Might as well add photon torpedoes while you’re at it.

Where are they gonna get a warp core – not to mention dilithium?

And don’t you have to lower your shields to use the cloaking device – because of its insane power draw?

Bus Driving:

The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the USD Crankshaft.

Its 5-year mission:

To explore strange new worlds,

To seek out new life and new civilizations,

To boldly go where no bus driver has gone before.

Somehow it’s not comical to see anyone trying to catch any bus to make an appointment. In this case, it’s going to school. Do all bus drivers find this funny?

What about actually stopping to pick up kids?

Oh boy! Can’t wait to buy a print of this strip! It combines my love of half-assed dated TV references with my love for sociopath government employees! If it just included my love for funny jokes, it’d be the trifecta!

Come on…a smile on Crankshaft’s face…….!

Ever wonder if Grandma Johnson was a greyhound in a past life and sees the bus as a rabbit?

Hmm, tomorrow he tries to paint the bus in camouflage?

Will Ed visit the Romulans and obtain a cloaking device?

This week of Crankshaft is actually stomachable compared to this week’s Big Nate, where Nate mopes about losing Daphine (GET OVER IT, YOU NARCISSISTIC JERK OF A 6TH GRADER)