The Vagabond!

Over at Again With the Comics, it's The Vagabond, the worst super-hero ever, from 1941. I don't know, I think it's a bloody great concept, but somewhat flawed in execution. Hmm. Could there be a new The Vagabond on the horizon?

Saturday! Mark vs. Beetle!

OK, until now I've not felt the need to point out the erroneous male color scheme of this female Mallard. It's to be expected from some metro-centric King Features office jockey. But evidently they've decided to take some artistic license here with the ducklings because I would contend that no one is that stupid. Either that or they've hired a four year old and he happens to like his duckies blue. It still doesn't quite explain why Mark and Homer seem to have joined the living dead.



Funny! Funny sh**! Go Walkers, go!

Grillo Awesomeness

Oh man, go check out this post by Oscar Grillo right now! Genius.

Carbon Alley, Where Art Thou?

Wow. Busy week. I think I may have survived it, but the comic needed to be put off. In its place I offer you this -


Roast turkey dinner! With cheesy potatoes, fresh cranberries, and Stove-Top stuffing. Delectable!

Beetle Goes A-Shoppin'

I don't care what you say, this is pretty damn funny to me. It's just so perfectly deadpan and nonsensical. I'd love to see several more panels. "Here's the ammo." "Okay." "Do you need the receipt?" "No." "Okay." "Have we all lost the will to live?" "Yes." "Okay."

Carbon Alley #42

You vs. Lion

So let's recap.

BE LARGE. Click here to calculate your BMI. Adjust accordingly with fast food.

SHOUT. Mainly derogatory statements. Mountain lions have low self-esteem.

PICK UP CHILDREN WITHOUT BENDING. Grasp them firmly by the head.

FIGHT BACK. Stick and move. Keep your guard up. Marques of Queensbury rules.

Hot Waterfowl Rappin'

Looks like Cherry's caught the vapors. The storyline, on the other hand, is colder than a foundered flounder, as the kids in Saskatchewan say.

Oh, Wikipedia, You So Crazy

Notice anything wrong with this Wikipedia article?

Carbon Alley #41

Shut the Duck Up

Quack Aahhh?

Of Course You Realize...

Hmm. I've had nothing to blog about since Sunday, and yet I am compelled to post something. Well, this is or at least would have been Armageddon Wednesday (I'll admit I got bored with that). And I have been back into the Marx Brothers again. I guess that can only mean one thing -




It's time for DUCK SOUP! You know, 'cause it's about war and stuff. Hail, hail Freedonia.... Well, just go watch it again if you haven't for a while. Watch it again... for the very first time!!!

If you think this post is nonsense, just wait until my comic tomorrow.

Tappa Tappa Tappa

I was reading a post about Disney's The Autograph Hound on 2719 Hyperion when this clip from The Simpsons came to mind. Cracks me right up.

Mark Trail Update

Seems like the Mark Trail craziness is actually creeping towards actual craziness, which is fine by me. Remember now, Homer called the duck Shirley, the name of his ex-wife. Oh, how I wish the final frame had this bit of dialog instead -

"I just hope we can hold out until OUR babies hatch!"

All would be right in my world.

Carbon Alley #40

Sergio Day

Happy Birthday to one of my very favorite cartoonists, Sergio Aragones! Everybody go online (as you are now) and pre-order the 25th Anniversary issue of Groo, written, as always, by Mark Evanier. I'd throw a link up but I'm kinda sorta in the middle of inking my strip. Had to get this post up, tho.

50 Years On the Road

This week marks the 50th anniversary of Kerouac's On the Road. It's hard for me to talk about this without getting over-indulgent so bear with me. I read most of it for the first time sitting in my car, parked on the shore of Lake Superior by the ore dock. I guess I was there because my roommate, my friend's cousin, was officially crazy... and I needed an honest, quiet place to experience it. Well, it consumed me. There was something so transcendent about the beat, hobo lifestyle of the late forties, early fifties. Jazz and friends and constantly, constantly... the road.

Two years ago I traveled west to see some friends, and when I got to Nebraska I jumped off the freeway onto old Route 6, the same road that these guys took from the East Coast to Denver, onto San Fran, and back again. It was a hell of a feeling and I listened to Charlie Parker and tried to draw myself back to that other time. Unlike Dean Moriarty, however, I kept it under 80mph.

Needless to say I continue to peruse it on a regular basis. Since then I've become aware of it's shaky foothold in the world of literature, scoffed at by John Updike and the like. But to me its simplicity adds a necessary pureness to this chronicle of the Beats.

All right, I'll go back to poking fun at Mark Trail.

The Joyless Toyland

Saw this on Stripper's Guide. It's by Myrtle Held, 1913, and was specially produced for the Christmas season. 'Cause everyone knows that there's nothing more Christmassy than infidelity and suicide. What the hell? I like how the tree in panel four appears to be screaming in terror, while the wooden duck looks casually on. The only thing she forgot was the sweet, sweet booze.