Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for July 08, 2010

WHOA, who knew?!?

They’re hooked.

Anything that can get Petey AND Triple Ponytail Girl excited must be impressive!

I wish I could go with them

I’d listen to Mr. Spinnerack, kids. See him “walk like an Egyptian”? That in itself makes him an unparalleled authority on cartooning.

SPOILER ALERT: In tomorrow’s strip, Loris claims to already know about the lore of cartoons.

(I’ve been sleep-deprived for a week, Richard… kindly take that into consideration when reading my lame comments– not that I actually need to be sleep deprived to churn out lame comments.)

Can I audit this class?

Believe it or not, I can can actually remember the ink-on-paper era…

I studied journalism in the ink-on-paper era. Probably good thing that in the end I took a different direction.

Gee, and I thought they were available only on my ‘puter……………

The teacher looks like he is channeling Snidely Whiplsh in the second pannel.

I remember the ink on my fingers era…those pesky fountain pens!

In my day (and no doubt Mr. Spinnerack’s), you could buy your comic books at the drugstore! (“Hey Kids! COMICS!”) And if you couldn’t decide which one to spend your quarter (!) on, you could sit on the floor and read them right there, until the guy chased you out.

Hmmmm… Wonder why they don’t do that anymore…

(frogapplause, you might have constructed your pun better. Maybe “Loris claims she knows what the lore is.”)

Let me guess: Their last class will be a computer lab where they will log onto gocomics.com

What a day that will be.

The funny thing was when I first read the comic I was reading it in the newspaper:-D

I begin the day with comics here then transition to the newspaper funnies.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!

Mr. Spinnerack obviously knows the ancient forbidden lore of “Henry”, who had no mouth!

fritzoid: I’ll go you one better. When my brothers and I were buying comics at the drug store, they were 10 and 12 cents each. (Boy did we ever raise a ruckus when they went from 10 to 12 cents!) Remember the spinning rack?

What are these newspapers you speak of?

they aren’t using computers to do this?

fritzoid I remember those days, only it was at our neighborhood mom and pop grocery store. They welcomed us kids in, and we could stay as long as we wanted, sometimes they even gave us free ice cream, candy, or a soda. Pity our kids will never know that fun!

I’ve finally figured out who Mr. Spinnerack reminds me of! That guy in the Bugs Bunny cartoon who finds the singing frog that only sings when he’s alone!

Get lost, frogapplause! Go spoil some milk! If you’re so sleep-deprived, stop posting your lame comments! Braaaack!

I want to be in that class sooooooooooo badly now…

So do I, ElDo

Doctor Toon: Have you by any chance watched an episode of “Hoarders” on TV? Just a thought.

Ten- and twelve-cent comic books were before my time, but I knew they existed. Cheap ink on poor-quality newsprint, but what a bargain! Nowadays with their offset printing and their acid-free glossy white papers… Man, it’s almost like comics aren’t disposable anymore! Even with allowances adjusted for inflation, how many kids are going to want to spend all their money on one comic?!? Where are the new readers going to be coming from?

Of course, what I really wish is that Cul de Sac were an interactive CD ROM (although that term’s probably obsolete, too…) I want to find the hidden link (the design on Andre’s shirt?) which redirects us to Mr. Spinnerack’s complete course materials for the history and lore of cartooning…

Nothing like a trip to a comic book shop with a creepy old dude - yaaaahh!! Now that’s a graphic novel I do not want to read!

Fritzoid, comics were, in part, how we learned to read. I had a discussion about this just last week with a friend who owns a comic shop.

My mom always let us read whatever we wanted to read. She said if we didn’t understand something we read, it couldn’t hurt us, and if we did understand it, we were old enough to read it.

When we were kids, there was a newspaper stand in the downtown highrise where our doctor and dentist were.

Everytime we went to the doctor or dentist, my mom would let us each buy 1 5 cent comic. (usually Dell) Since there were 4 of us, she would not let us buy the 10cent ones.

Mom also got each of us a library card. All we had to do was be able to print our name. (Mom was still a volunteer at the library when she was 92!)

My friend at the comic shop told me the average age of comic buyers is probably college age. They have a hard time attracting kids.

http://shockdom.com/open/carl/

Mr. Russel, while there may be a superficial resemblance between a mere loris, and The Most Noble Badger, you must remember that a loris has nowhere near the sheer cuddleability of your average Badger.

I renamed my Spinner Rack to Dan,,, God Bless Richard Thompson!

The best way to get comics to today’s kids is probably as an app for their smart phones. … sigh.

The cartoon bossyheifer mentioned (Bugs Bunny is not in it, but I’m sure she was referring to One Froggy Evening): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uZbq8z9vOk

I suppose the resemblance is coincidental, but they do look similar.

-Cougar :{)

What is this “newspaper” you speak of?

Regarding newspapers- I guess they’re all cutting back (could not reach my normal shortcut to WaPo’s comics a couple of days) and now they’ve dropped all the King Syndicate and Dilbert and OBH, so I sent them a comment that I won’t be visiting their comics again. My local paper still carries King but I may have to go direct to get current day Dilbert.

You can get Dilbert at http://dilbert.com

-Cougar :{)