Annie by Jay Maeder and Alan Kupperberg for September 01, 2009

In the same spot as Annie was a few weeks ago… Rhoda, can you see him yet?

Quick, send out the search dogs! sniff sniff Yew somebody needs a shower.

To crash in the mountains with all that flat land around? Hmmmm

He crashed exactly where the Blue Circle wanted him to crash.

I’m on my way Aunt Marg………..Got my first aid kit……….lets see; lemon juice, razor blades. yep, I got everything I need.

I must say I’m rather enjoying this shift into teleportation, dinosaurs (Doris?) so reminicent of Dinny out of Alley Oop. And now poised I believe for Flying Saucers and the introduction of Aliens (?) Moon Maid perhaps ?

Back when Jay Maeder was writing his Biography on Dick Tracy, I recall him applauding Max Collins for killing the remnants of the Moon era (Gould had already softened it) and all that was left to go were the Flying Buckets and Moon Maids “electric finger”.(the most upsettig futuristic factor in that strip)

Now it seems Jay is doing the same thing with austre, traditional Annie as Gould did in Tracy (resulting in peak circulation - 625 papers, coming of 500 and falling circulation - it lasted a few years) In hindsight, for commercial reasons it served as a short term stimulant for that strip.

The current foray in this “direction” in Annie may be driven by similar considerations. But I tell you, I LIKE it. ! Its a refreshing change from the old “one, two, one-two” year in and year out.

My reccolection is, the only Annie “finger” in the occult or fantasy direction was the “dissapearing” majic trick Punjab’s “blanket” which completly enthralled me as a kid.

Now I can’t say if there was more fantasy back in the old days, I ve never followed the strip that closely.

Can anyone here explain the significance of “barely enough time to cut the switches”? Maybe he’d rather not crash with a running engine and propeller? Maybe it reduces the fire hazard? I’d be curious.

I’d guess shutting down the plane the minimizes explosion probability.

Well you have several switches on a small airplane that you want off. First is an electrical master switch, that isolates the battery. Then you have two ignition switches for each engine, as each engine has two ignition systems, with two spark plugs in each cylinder. Third, you want to shut off the fuel. All thus to minimize the fire hazard. Now, all you will have of the electrical system is a little beacon transmitter, that has its own battery and will send an emergency signal for a few days. And the satellite picks that up and the calvary comes to the rescue.

HEs a general. he should have some idea about survival. Light the plane on fire stupid and hope someone sees the smoke. I learned this by watching Man vs Wild and Survivorman. Also one must remember “Dances with wolves” when the idians comment how only a stupid pale face would light a fire in the middle of the day so all can see the smoke.

“I love the smell of Alpo in the morning, it smells liek, Breakfast”

Thank you, N7326 Foxtrot, excellent reply. Exactly what I was hoping for. (Dual ignitions and dual sparkplugs. I never knew that either.)

Morning, Anniephans!