Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for October 05, 2024

What’s more unlikely than Lillian reading from Fahrenheit 451 to quell people protesting the sale of Fahrenheit 451?

Why, calling a cadre of pudgy comic book nerds at midnight to help whisk her away from any potential harm. Not the police, no. Comic book nerds.

Wasn’t the whole point of this storyline to discuss banned books at some point?

Avenjerks Assemble!!! (Yeah, I know, that’s Marvel, not DC)

Holy Revenge of the Nerds!!! (There, happy?)

To once more borrow a line from Tom Servo on MST3K’s “The Brain That Wouldn’t Die” episode, “Boss, you’ve broken the Goofy Meter again!”

Hope the send in the “Pizza Box Monster” to calm everyone down with a slice

WILLIAM DOZIER: “Meanwhile, at stately Murdoch Manor…”

She sent Mopey Pete a video? What’s he gonna do, give her a “Like?”

So no one else (including police) notices what’s going on? Not even a noise complaint to bring the men in blue out? How realistic this isn’t…

Lets not calls the police but lets calls Mopey Pete and his Mopey pals. Because it’s called calling. Bat Calling that is.

BatsApp by Bat-Ah the company formerly knowns as BatFace owned by Mark ZuckerBat. Makes a call on BatsApp. Calls your Mopey Batty pals anywhere on this planet and sends em the Bat signal. Calls anyones anywheres, except the cops that is. Na na na na na na na na na BatsApp.

Ping Ping Ping Ping! One would theenks they woulda calls Sheriff Richoshet Rabbit. But no no no no no no no nooooo. They is callings the Bat Man.

Hey, isn’t that Kyle Rittenhouse in the angry mob?

That’s right, Mind-dulled, don’t call the police. Don’t call the people who have the legal authority and firepower to quell and disperse an angry mob. No, call in a group of anti-protesters! What can go wrong?

Oh, wow. This is nuts. I bet nobody had superfriends on their Prestige arc bingo card.

Superfriend powers, activate!

I feel kind of bad now. Had no idea Batiuk was this far gone mentally. Best wishes to Tom Batiuk, his family, and his caretakers.

Police are staying back until the mob dies down.

BAT-DORKS ASSEMBLE! (Yes, I know…)

The town should be more in an uproar over Crankshaft destroying mailboxes and missing kids scheduled bus pick ups

“It sounds like Lillian’s reading parts of ‘Fahrenheit 451’ to them!!”

“Oh, well, don’t worry, they’ll be OK, that should bore them and they’ll all just pass out!”

How the heck are they going to “Save Lilian and Gramps!” against an angry mob of protesters? This ain’t no game girly.

The folks at Komix Korner can’t be bothered to leave their video game consoles…

But will help arrive in a Flash?

The crowd swarmed outside the Bookseller, voices twisted in rage. Lillian stood firm, holding Fahrenheit 451 high, the words she’d read still hanging in the air. But the mob’s anger thickened—they didn’t want to hear. Fear flickered in their eyes, masked as righteousness.

From a distance, Mindy watched, heart pounding. She grabbed her phone, panicked. “Pete, there’s an angry mob at the Bookseller. Lillian and Gramps could get hurt. I sent you a video.”

Pete moved fast. The message went out through social media, each ping like a flare in the night. He sent Bradbury’s words: “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” It spread through town, a quiet plea.

Lillian’s voice softened, but her resolve stayed. “You don’t have to like everything,” she called. “But burning ideas, silencing people—that’s how we lose who we are, how we lose freedom.”

The mob paused as phones lit up. Some read Pete’s message, others stood, unsure. Ed stepped forward beside Lillian. “You don’t have to agree,” he said. “But if you close off every idea that doesn’t fit your mold, you’re no better than the ones you’re fighting. We fought for freedom, not to lock it away.”

The crowd’s anger flickered, then dimmed. Some lowered their signs, the weight of their own actions sinking in.

Lillian and Ed stood strong as the mob’s fury ebbed. Not everyone was convinced, but tonight, the message had cut through.

To the Batpoles!

\\//_

Crank shows up in his school bus, runs over all the protesters, then proceeds into the wall, the building collapses on the bus, and the only thing left standing is the staircase, which then catches on fire. Next comic, everyone is at the restaurant having pizza, and all is forgiven and forgotten.

nothing to see here people as the police cheif from south park arrives

Readers are at least relieved to know Les Moore has been kept safely out of harm’s way. He can come in at the conclusion and sum things up for us with a wise smirk. Otherwise, how would you know what to think?

Isn’t this exciting? Isn’t this deeply moving? And isn’t this totally believable?

NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA

NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA

The whole town will come together to hear Lillian read to them!

This arc has really opened my eyes…to what an absolute hack Batty is. OF COURSE comix boox had to appear. He can’t stop himself.

Comic nerds vs. MAGA terrorists.

This should be fun.

So far at least, no spot of the ol’ ultra-violence…..

More likely the protesters will get hurt.

They are more than protesters, they are vandals. The cops should get a search warrant for the leaders house to look for arson evidence.

This storyline is just the “I-wanna-throw-myself-onto-a-oncoming-train-rather-than-read-this” type of garbage

Or you could just, y’know…call the cops.

This is one of those strips where I’d love to see peoples’ reaction after they read it.

I think Batty has really blown it here. He had many unironic readers enthusiastically waiting to see how Lillian would talk down the mob. One commenter even suggested readers panning the story would soon owe Batty an apology. Almost everyone thought the story was about the freedom to read, book banning/burning is bad, or something. Lillian talking down the crowd by reading something from the book could have been a resolution with some merit. Instead, he introduced a new element, which appears to be unnecessary silliness. It really detracts from the serious nature of what appeared to be a really weighty subject for a comic strip like Crankshaft.

Are Windy Mindy and the Komix Krew going to show the protesters the error of their ways by utilizing some plot device Batty read in a silver-age comic book? How can anybody ever take Batty seriously ever again, if he does? Maybe he just can’t help himself. The man has comic books on his brain. A real one-track mind.

I don’t know why I’m surprised. I’ll still be curious to see where this goes, but I think Batty needs to bring in Timemop for a do-over.

Mopey Pete lives in Westview, as do probably most of the Bat Friends. In reality, Lillian probably wouldn’t remain unscathed in the half-hour it would take them to arrive at her home.

What a well-behaved mob. No one thought to bring some eggs or tomatoes? Seriously?

C’mon, paint brush guy. Throw the bucket of paint on Lillian. Do SOMETHING!

What would be funny is that the police show up and they’re the Keystone Cops. Not entirely unbelievable considering everything to this point.

Tom not only hasn’t read the book, he couldn’t even bother to Google “F451 quotes.” Tell us again how this is an Important Look at a Serious Subject.

Crank man!!!!!!!!

So are five Batmobiles coming?

A minute of Google and reading: "There must be something in books, something we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.” Ray Bradbury TOO MUCH WORK FOR TOM! Now, it’s-COMICAL BOOKS!

The “Old Bat” signal!

I seriously don’t think Batman will show up.

They’ll have to settle for Booster Gold