Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for September 17, 2009

Poor Walt. Another ‘senior moment’.

Scancarelli is still a good artist. I’ll say that for him.

Gertie has to catch a break sometime– she’s overdue!

I agree. Its gone on long enough.

Say…isn’t that Upton Nogood’s new wife sitting behind Walt?

Mr. Walt doesn’t recognize Gertie in that get up. Never mind that she brought him there looking like that, suddenly he’s forgotten.

Poor Gertie’s getting rejection from all directions! What a dramatic twist. Exciting arc, I just hope poor Gertie gets some comfort in the end.

will this story line never end?

It’s an excellent story line…it is life.

HectorPriam said, So she IS pregnant! I suspected that months ago but was too nice to point it out.

I meant overdue for a lucky break— but pregnancy would be an unexpected twist!

GREAT story arc !!! Also great artwork. NotNorman…have you forgotten…or are you getting a little “Old timers” like Walt….there was TWO dates that Earl and Gertie had. One at the club…and the other when he brought over a picnic basket of food…for a picnic…that WALT, Gertie and himself. I classify that as a date as Gertie couldn’t leave Walt on his own.

Me, I think this storyline is moving a little too slow, but I am curious to see how it unfolds. I just wish the characters and their feelings had been better established on the first go-round. Byrd expressed eternal love after the first date, Gertie seemed to say it was his lack of money more than anything that was the issue, both of which are a little shallow.

Yep, I think Walt has the missing tickets.

Isn’t the man be hind Walt one of the GA characters?

The limit of 2 or 3 panels a day is going to affect pacing, no doubt. In the three-dimensional world, 1 or 2 dates might not seem enough on which to base an engagement, but it would surely be difficult to portray an average courtship in the alloted space! I’m reading some 1940s Phantom and Buz Sawyer and Brick Bradford through Dailyink, and they really took their time back then!

For what it’s worth, those who feel that this story line is moving too slow, try reading Brenda Starr for a few weeks. Gasoline Alley will seem to move like greased lightning in comparison.

I think there are different ways to write and pace a strip…I have been looking over Dick Moore’s work, and one big difference in style is that Moores was much more understated and story-driven.

Scancarelli tends to go for a punchline at the expense of moving the story forward (ie, we had a week of unrelated shopping jokes as she got ready for tonight). So I don’t think it’s an inherent problem with the comic strip medium, it’s a matter of focusing on the narrative at hand.

To be fair, this may be an editorial dictate. Gag-a-day strips are much more common than continuity strips these days. Gasoline Alley is one of very few humorous-continuity strips left.

And while I LOVED Moore’s incredible line work, I’ll say again that Scancarelli is more than earning his pay with art so detailed you can barely appreciate it in print or online.

jumbobrain said, Scancarelli tends to go for a punchline at the expense of moving the story forward… So I don’t think it’s an inherent problem with the comic strip medium, it’s a matter of focusing on the narrative at hand. To be fair, this may be an editorial dictate…

Those points all make sense to me, except I’m not in much hurry myself. If there are some detours here and there for the sake of a punchline, I’m happy to go along. When I travel, I’m less concerned about reaching the destination than in having an interesting journey. I’ll pull over for lunch at an inviting diner rather than grab something at a McDrive-Thru. If there’s some good scenery, I don’t mind stopping to take it in. There are certainly other things in life where speed is secondary, where the journey can be even more fun than arriving.

I’m not trying to miscast what you say, because your points strike me as well-reasoned and politely presented. I’m just saying I enjoy this story everyday as it winds along… and we agree about the art completely! I’m lucky enough to have a few originals, and they are amazing.

Thanks Axe,

Like I say, I think Scancarelli is doing a good job here…for better or worse, he’s taken the established formula and made it work under his style. Which is what Dick Moores and Bill Perry both did.

I just wish Moores’ work were available though. I’ve only seen a bit of it, but it was really brilliant. He could move a story along with really graceful, understated comments and punchlines, so that when you read them in a sequence, it reads like a book. Who knows, if he were still doing it maybe the syndicate would order him to put more big punchlines in, like Gertie’s shocked look today.

Dypak has been a proponent of reprints of Moores and King in this electronic format, and I would love that too.

Obiously Walt has sundowned. Nice drawing of the chica in panel two.

I’ve been buying some Moore strips off eBay, if I ever get around to it I’ll post ‘em up. Maybe others could do the same.

This guy has a couple of months of Moores dailies for sale: http://www.oldsundaycomics.com/dcp022.htm

I sometimes see that book called Rover, too, but I don’t have it.

Shouldn’t there have been a Volume 4 of Walt and Skeezix by now?

Thanks Axe,

I have the Rover book…the reproductions are sharp but a little small. It’s a great narrative, covering when Rover’s mom first dumped him with Slim and Clovia, and they have to convince him he’s not actually a dog.

There’s another Moore collection published in 1976 that has some good stories, and one I don’t have, “The Smoke from Gasoline Alley,” which I gather is on the environment, but I don’t know if it’s a strip collection or something else.