Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for May 20, 2024

So, Mason, what next? Call Dingleberry on your cell phone to tell him you’re here? Blow your horn to alert him to your arrival? Or just walk straight to the door, knock and spend the rest of the week explaining the insanity that brought you here?

Is Mason planning on stirring up some Treble?

Good Lord, Masonne must’ve kicked a pregnant Cindy out of a moving car!

Seriously? “Claude Barlow’s biographer”? You can’t say “Harry Dinkle” because you have to remind readers that this inane arc is about your need to talk to a Baroque Era composer’s biographer about using said composer’s public domain music in the soundtrack of a major Hollywood picture that’s opening in just one month?

Can’t wait to see whose jaws unhinges the most during a smirk, Jarre or Dinkleberg. It’ll look like a showdown between two egg-swallowing snakes.

Either Cindy is cowering on the floorboards or Mason has gone full manic and is talking to himself. Well, with any luck he’ll bore himself to death.

“My GPS says to turn left at garage with ‘Batman &’ symbol.”

His car sure shrank a lot in one panel. From Porsche to Little Tikes just like that. Tomorrow, Mayonnaise Jar will be pushing it in one hand, making “BEEP BEEP VROOM!” noises, with Peppa Pig as driver.

Oh noes. This gonna gets more unbearable now.

Did he stuff pregnant 70 year old Cindy into the trunk?

…****headdesk****…

What kind of GPS does a search for around “Claude Barlow’s biographer” house?

“The movie opens in 3 weeks. Time to do research on the life and times of a – and I cannot stress this enough – poorly regarded 15th century composer so I, an actor in the movie, can select the entire musical score for a mega-budget space action/super hero movie. That releases in 3 weeks.”

Baffle everyone. Use a Tenor Clef on the garage door. They scare me, but look so cool.

Where’s Cindy?

For some reason I cant help but compare Batiuk with Jack Cranely (the creator of Sonic.exe) and Chris Chandler (the creator of Sonicchu)

At least Batiuk is nowhere near as disturbed as Jack Cranely and Chris Chandler are

Imagine that!!!!!

i guess by thursday we will be knocking at the door

With the disappointment I feel in the new direction the cartoonist is taking, I’d like to create a new type of comment. A Random Strip in Crankshaft History. I will obtain a random Crankshaft strip utilizing the GoComic “Random” button. I will comment on the random strip and render a verdict if it is better, IMO, than the present-day offering. I will stop if I ever discover a random comic strip that I judge worse or more offensive than the actual strip of the day. I am purposely leaving out details because I want to invite you to read those strips. Constructive comments and critiques are welcome.

Today’s Random Strip in Crankshaft History: Crankshaft from June 06, 2012. Andy, Rocky, and Ed are conversing in the bus garage. Andy says, “I hear they’re talking about taking away two of our calamity days for next year.” In the second panel, Rocky gapes and says, “Really?” Ed eyes Andy and quips, “Now that is a calamity!”

Verdict: The random comic strip is featured in a week of one-off gags, starting in the bus garage, and ending with Ed and his Dale Evans buddies. The comic features a joke that is not an Ed Crankshaft malapropism. It’s a serviceable joke. Hi Andy and Rocky! We haven’t seen you for a while.

Crankshaft 05/20/2024. Mason Jarre sits in his car talking to himself as he arrives at the home of “Claude Barlow’s biographer.” Cindy has inexplicably disappeared. The home of “Claude Barlow’s biographer” (we all know who it is, Tom) has a treble clef prominently displayed on the garage door. This is a joke that was funny the first time. After seeing it a few dozen times, the joke has lost its effectiveness. The Dinkle home may change color every time we see it, but that treble clef will be on that garage door every time.

Winner: Random comic.

Number of days without an appearance by Dr. Harry L. Dinkle: 0. I think we can safely assume the vile creature is lurking within that home somewhere.

We can stop referring to what the cartoonist is doing as The Funky Winkerbean Invasion.

It’s no longer an invasion. The conquest is complete.

Did he just type “Claude Barlow’s biographer” into Grandpa Google?

Mason’s going to be quite the stickout in small town Ohio

Credit where it’s due: Davis actually found two right-rear views of Masoné’s Tootsietoy Miyuccha in the Crankshaft Reusable Art Portfolio! Panel One’s car is not just a copy-pasted-cropped version of the car from Panel Two. I am impressed by Dan’s effort on this… especially given how little effort Tom put into the Writing™…

It’s 3pmEDT and nobody has said “it’s just a comic” yet?

WHERE IS CRANKSHAFT!

Uh oh