Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for February 18, 2009

I bet he had a ‘hard’ time putting that together.

Before I scrolled down, it looked like Sammy was floating through the streets in his armchair.

Yeah, somebody took a bite out of that sign. BAAD sign.

Well done with the animation. The timing of the wipers, the direction of the snow, all is appropriately reversed from the outside view to the inside view. Nice!

Hullo, Cleo gang…

We’re back again….. here on the 10 year old Ballard Street to comment on

the NEW Feb 18th  2019 “CLEO and COMPANY”

You’ll find it on Sherpa

http://www.comicssherpa.com/site/feature?uc_comic=cscwy

I just realised I’d been sitting here for a while, not typing, hypnotised by the motion of the windshield wipers….

Swish, plop, swish, plop….

Nice work, you guys!

If we knew what broke that sign, we’d know how bad it was….

I mean, if the poor thing was broken by vandals… it’s hardly fair to blame it.

But if it mysteriously steps out of its cement footing, chases people down the street, and gets broken by hitting them on the head….

Then it’s a really bad sign.

I know a really bad sign that’s perfectly intact….

I even called the county, to complain about it, to no avail.

It’s on top of an overpass…. with an arrow pointing right, denoting an off-ramp.

Beside it, a right hand lane appears, as though you should get into it to turn.

But the lane ends abruptly in maybe 100 feet, and if you don’t stop you’ll plunge off the overpass onto the highway below…. I’ve seen several cars screech to a halt in the dark.

The actual turn-off isn’t until you reach the other side… the evil sign is just an over-eager heads-up.

I picture it cackling quietly in amusement.

Anyway… thanks for putting up the new strips, Nighthawks!

(I suppose this is where you tell me no, it’s a re-run… sigh…. )

As for Sammy, some think he’s watched too many old detective movies…. and too many episodes of “The Naked City.”

He’s built himself a little stage set, where he’s comfortable in his dreams.

I think if he’s happy, what the harm….

but I do happen to know that his name is really Milton…

He calls himself Sammy after his hero, Sam Spade.

I was wondering if it should be a hard night in a dark city, or a dark night in a hard city. Whatever, Sammy fears not, as long as he has his trusty sidekick, Roscoe, by his side.

Uh oh. Looks like another lake effect blizzard has hit Cleveland. Can Claude & Cleo find their way? Stay tuned.

Maybe that’s where Cleo was born?

And it wasn’t even an optional stop sign (the ones with a white border).

Golly! There’s as much of that white stuff in Cleveland as there is up here! Good luck driving in that horrible stuff, Claude. Spring is just around the corner.

As Dennis pointed out, great animation Nighthawks and StelBel. Bad sign! Bad sign!

Looks like a scene out of a film noir.

Looks like Cleo took a bite out of it.

Is that Nighthawks’ all-nite diner under Sammy’s left elbow?

Why you gotta give me the blues, NH?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF5_hEbniVc

I wanted to say that I didn’t post a new cartoon today because I posted a new animation this Friday.