MythTickle by Justin Thompson for April 02, 2009

OK, now you’re making it too simple, Justin. Even I get the reference.

I’m afraid that’s an Agamem non-starter. Troy harder next time!

The face that launched a thousend ships, might not be so pretty afterwards.

*From “History of the World, Part 1” Marcus: I say Chemist. Can you help me? Chemist: What are you looking for? Marcus: A pack of Trojans. Chemist: I just ran out.

A relative of hers worked at the cathedral. I don’t remember his name, but his face rings a bell.

Are the guys in the last ship going to stay at the Paris Hilton?

When the defenders at Thermopolae swore, was that a Sparta-cuss?

OW! OW! OW! Make them stop!

When they hire Helen to do this, is it called a Facebook?

AHAHAHAHAaaaa…I’m sorry.

Great strip, Justin!

Is that “bamf” a nod to Nightcrawler?

The face that “BAMF’D!” a thousand ships.

Do cell phones work on cruise ships? Are there roaming charges?

Then there’s the metric unit: if one Helen of beauty can launch 1000 ships, one milihelen is enough beauty for one ship, and one microhelen will entice one sailor to wolf-whistle…

The funny thing is, that when the second ship was ‘launched’…there was no Paris, or an Eiffel Tower. There was also no Rome yet either, since neither had been built yet. France and Italy didn’t exist yet. In Helen’s day, Italy was called ‘Latium’ and we only have Homer’s word for it. Cheers

And sometimes when there are too many ships, the sailors have to go to Helen Waite. And, actually, Iphigenia was the one who launched a thousand ships, but she wasn’t as pretty as her aunt, so nobody remembers her. (And looking at how the family turned out, Helen was smart to flee to Troy or Egypt or wherever… For all the trouble she caused, she was a pretty good egg.)

The Paris sticker in the last frame is an extra joke, it has nothing to do with the city. In the myth, it was ‘Paris’, son of King Priam of Troy, who abducted Helen and started the li’l Trojan skirmish. But since it’s all ‘bon voyage’ and such, I thought it’d be cute. It’s just a little nod and wink.

j

And those little “nods and winks” are just one of the many reasons I love this strip! I minored in mythology in college so its awesome seeing those little bits now and then :)

She gives them a head start…