Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for October 15, 2024

Well, now we’re back to “Crankshaft” Classic in full force.

Is it striving for relevancy? No. Is it Pulitzer bait? No. Is it funny? No. And yet, somehow, that’s comforting…in a strange way.

“All that brownery, swirling around . . . it reminds me of something I see all the time . . . I know when I think of it I’ll be flushed with pride!”

THE BURNINGS! Every bookstore on the planet is on fire. Mass destruction occurs, civilization collapses. There is famine. There is war. There is plague. The death toll is in the BILLIONS.  Well, every bookstore except for Lillian’s! Which will be the only one left standing on the planet. Which will have a Robot Librarian to curate the exactly 3 copies of ALL THE BOOKS IN THE WORLD, all written by—HUH! All written by Les! The smoke of the Burning suburbs downwind chokes their nostrils. Big deal! Some people just want to watch the world burn, and some just want to stare at old leaves. So why did the homicidal mob want to kill everyone, then say “Eh, we don’t want to hear any more about this book that we’re committing felony arson over! BOR-RIIING!!” then walk away? It’s called WORLD BUILDING!

It’s “The Leaves’ Last Stand” a.k.a. a Custer Fluck.

I wonder what Cranky really meant to say. He can’t mean that the leaves are upset…

Bluster has multiple meanings as a verb and a noun:Verb: To blow violently and noisily, like the wind

The word “cluster” has multiple meanings: A group of things or peopleA collection of similar things that are grouped together,

Please don’t let Batiuk turn this into a “Last Leaf” excuse to bring up Dead Freakin’ Lisa Who Died.

Ha Ha Ha! It’s funny, because… Wait… No, it isn’t.

The bookbanners made the leaves fall-Lil has it on her camera

Fluster, noun: state of agitated confusion

Nice how Lillian is narrating the audiobook version of the strip today.

Crankshaft is well into his 90s. His raking days are over.

Would you believe that these painfully leaden attempts at puns are still preferable to the self-righteous story-line about censoring?

Wait, is this attempt to have the Crankshaft strip actually be a Crankshaft strip instead of a “very special Westview story”? Is it hilarious? No. Is it preferable? Oh yes!

Next arc: Crankshaft burns leaves and moves on to tangled christmas light strings.

Agitated or confused……….take your pick!!!!

A small victory but we’ve had two days with only characters from Centerville.

Ed has created an apt term for fallen leaves in a yard.

All those leaves will be there on the ground for you to blow with your blower – into the next yard, Ed.

Yep, it’s going to be a real Fluster Cluk of leaves on the ground any moment now.

“The colors remind me of the beautiful flames of a pile of burning books. Oops, did I say that part out loud?”

Archie Bunker rides again.

Lillian has appeared in the strip about 45 of the last 50 days. I think Batty has a crush on ol’ Lil. I wouldn’t be surprised if he renamed the strip Crankshaft — Featuring Lillian McKenzie.

Can Lillian’s spindly old legs support the whole strip?

And laughing insanely, Cranky pumps the leaf blower to high volume and blows the leaves into everybody’s yard but his own

Cranky’s really back! I’m SOOOOOO happy!

maybe montonis pizza can serve leaves as a seasonal topping but that would only be funny if someone chokes on it . ive seen lots of leave jokes lately some aint bad but battys are the worst

“I’ll get my flamethrower. All this talk recently of burning things makes me want to burn something.”

A Fluster Cluster.

Or somethin’.