Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for January 14, 2024

Jff, the speed of sound is fast. You are slow.

Is next spring when Pmm throws you in for skipping a stone on the ice?

TOM: “Some people say I’ve forgotten how to make with jokes! I show them!” ROCK: “thump thump skid” (mild smirks to indicate where punchline go)

Pro-Crankers: Tom proudly states that he writes these ELEVEN MONTHS in advance. This is what he’s been sitting on. Before you say “Then make your own funny comic!” in 11 months, you couldn’t? There is no joke in this! Here’s mine: Pam: “What are you thinking about, Jeff who is my husband?” Jeff: “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Pam: “I do not know! Why?” Jeff mildly smirks. (WRITTEN 2/15/2023, PUNCHLINE STILL PENDING) The difference: Tom gets paid for this.

It’s -10F this morning and won’t reach the day’s ‘high’ of -1 until two PM. Spring seems a long way off.

I fail to find why this is funny

Rocks can make cool sounds on frozen ponds.

More like “plunk”.

More just a plunk.

Does anyone get this?

Comics are not always “funny” Sometimes they are thought provoking. Humor is not always funny. Dry wit?

@Fetzee – That happens a lot with this ‘toon!

It’s funny because Batiuk is obeying the Biblical command “Let he who is without joke cast the first stone.” It’s in the Book of Armaments, I believe.

New skipping record.

I suppose I could have skipped today’s strip, but it seems that Jeff beat me to it.

I hear that Batiuk tried to get a distributor in another country, but he gave that up because the pay-Czech was “too small”… only 5 feet-2 inches.

No, Jfff. Before Spring arrives the ice on the lake will start to melt, and the rock you just threw will slowly sink to the bottom without making a sound…much like today’s attempt at a wry observation.

I can’t decipher Jff’s expression in the final panel. Pmm is smirking as if she were the one who told a “funny” (odd enough, given her confused/annoyed expression in the previous panel), but Jff’s expression goes beyond a mere smirk to something I would expect to see on a Bond villain who’s just filled the pond with plague spores.

In panels omitted due to space constraints, Ed strolls out onto the frozen lake, slips, falls and can’t get up. Pmm and Jff look at each other, then Jff says, “We’ll hear him splashing in the spring.” Ralph, Max & Hannah, Lilliopsaurus, etc., arrive and start placing wagers on what day the ice will break and send Ed to the bottom.

Everyone smirks.

What does the “W” stand for? Washington, Winnipeg, Wapos Bay, Winkerbeanville?

Where’s Crankshaft?

Pam: Dear Diary, Today I went for a walk by the lake with Jeff. Jeff picked up a stone and Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I see Jeff is wearing a toque with a W on it. In a previous strip Jeff was wearing a Winnipeg Blue Bomber sweat shirt. Does anyone know what Jeff’s connection to the Canadian city of Winnipeg is?

i bet every pizza parlor dawn quinn and cheif tommy go to they say montonis is there favorite then laugh like hyenas but i mostly think they eat momma celeste

“I’m mad because my mother made me throw away all my silver-age comic books!”

you ever notice how dawn quinn never responds to anybody ? too busy stalking tom batiuk like kathy bates in misery

Ice makes the coolest sound when you skip a rock on it!