Moovians

  Ok now, Oaf finally shows a tiny hint of what Oop used to be. Actually uses his caveman instincts to at least lead them out of the ant den. Of course with the door like that, it may just lead them back into the mouse lab. And they are still shrunk to the size of the aphids, smaller than the ant scientist. So I guess we will see what happens next. I suppose with this stupid reboot, that counts as at least a tiny bit of action. I guess we'll have to take what we get. 🙄 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/31

The nonsense continues unabated. First, Doc says they've got to find a way out of there and find a way to get back to their regular size. Huh? How, by c losing their eyes, tapping their heels together three times & thinking to themselves, there's no place like home? Then Oaf tries to ask an ant for directions, who immediately wants to eat them. Then finally Dimwit Doc says they forgot to bring their ant disguises? WTF!!! Frankly, I read this strip just to see how much dumber it can get. And it outdoes itself every day and never lets me down. 😩  https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/30

Well, another weak one. Not exactly sure what this is about but from what I remember about ants and aphids from back in High School days, I think the ants would stroke the backs of the aphids with their antennae which would stimulate them to exude honeydew from their anuses.  Given that, if one of these ants start stroking Doc or Oop's back and expect honeydew, then they are going to be in for a big surprise. 😱 Perhaps Doc is expecting something else as to what the ant will do to stimulate honeydew production?  OK Queen, time to step in and execute them by biting off their heads and spare us any scatological episodes. 🤢 Although potty humour is a real knee slapper to very young kids, which is the level that Joey seems to be writing this to for her 2 kids, it's not exactly something us viejos find particularly hilarious. 🙄 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/29  

  Well, today is just a joke phoned in after the Christmas weekend. Probably the weakest, dumbest joke yet. Not much to say about it. Hopefully this has reached the bottom and the quality, such that it is(which has never been any good) will start to climb up. It appears that even Joey is getting tired of writing this idiocy. Perhaps the end is near? Crossing my fingers. Hopefully the powers that be will either get a new writer or just close it down for good. At this point, closing it down would be the best option to keep from besmirching the memory of the once great Alley Oop strip any further. Even the Benders at their smarmiest beat this crap!! Hopefully the exterminators will arrive soon and fumigate the whole place, then burn it to the ground to prevent any more of this nonsense spreading and metastasizing to something even more execrable, and put us out of it's misery. 🤢 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/28

 Well, this Little Oaf is perhaps 1% better than any of the previous ones. Little Oaf is his usual ignorant self. When Penelope asks if he would rather have super strength or be able to fly, he tells her either choice would be cool, but with his limited intelligence, he says he's got to go alphabetize his rock collection, which is likely about the only thing he can do, but one wonders how he even knows what alphabetizing is and how he classifies them. He really hasn't figured out at this point that Penelope is like a genius inventor so blows her off. Then we see that she did indeed invent something that allows her and an elephant (where did that come from?) to fly. She even appears to be carrying the elephant. On a scale of 1 to 100, with most Little Oaf's being a 1 or 2, I give this one a 3. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/27

 There were no updates to the Archives this week. I guess someone needed a break from adding a strip each week.

  So now we do in fact mention, as I said yesterday, that it keeps the aphid for the honeydew. However there is another  aphid that is a scientist and to talk to it, they get shrunk down even further. 🙄 What's next, getting down to the atomic level? And still without an enlarging ray. Let's hope they shrink into nothingness and end this whole sad affair. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/26 And in reference to yesterday's Merry Christmas strip, this is the first one of those, made as Hamlin turned the strip over to Graue in late 1971.

  Well, absolutely nothing happened today. Doc asks if they can be made big again, the ant asked why they want that, since "when you're small you've got it all".  When Foola asks "Like what?", it points to an apparently pet aphid. Of course in the real world, ants do keep aphids much like we do cows as they provide honeydew that the ants eat so in that sense it would be like a pet cow so there's that. Not that it's likely that Joey knows that however. So goes the Nu Alley Oop. Inanity piled upon idiocy. Not even a Merry Christmas as was the tradition for many of the previous writers. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/25

 The stupidity continues. So, the ant is an uber Thomas Edison ( 1,093 patents)  who has invented hundreds of other things since he did the shrink ray. He squirts a pheromone based one on Oaf, who immediately begins to dig like an ant. Of course it doesn't take much to make Oaf act like a total idiot so there's that.  Of course tomorrow that will all be forgotten and some other inanity will occur, maybe the ant sprays Doc and he really does become female? I can barely contain my excitement,  or not.🤔 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/24

  OK, so now there appears to be a bit of "action". The ant obviously knows nothing of humans. Asks them why they all look different, unlike ants who look identical, for the most part. Oaf of course makes another oafish statement. It then asks why they don't have wings. As far as I know, male ants with wings are only produced for a short period and their purpose is to mate with a queen and then die. So I guess that's a legit question since it is sending them to see the queen.  It says the queen will either put them to work or execute them. Oaf of course oafishly says "OK" and heads to the queen. Doc however starts claiming that they are females. Not too sure how he is going to prove it however, especially Oaf. On the edge of my seat as the suspense grows. 😪zzzzz https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/23

As usual, more inane silliness. The grouchy, pushy ant comes out of nowhere asking what Doc is working on. Huh? WTF is it talking about? Talk about non sequiturs. Looks like the 3 stooges are going to be tiny for a looooong time unless the ant already has an enlarging ray being developed. Doing one in real life (yeah, I know it's just a comic, an incredibly idiotic one at that) would take quite a while. I am however interested in seeing how Joey is going to write herself out of the story corner she has painted herself into. So far this story is just a bunch of hooooey, even more so than has been usual since NuOop was unfortunately created. Let's see, Ava gets abducted by some evil spirit, which the mouse observes and writes a note in code for Doc to solve so he can find her. He does and they come back to the lab, wondering who wrote the note. At that point, mini mouse announces that he wrote it. Why? Who knows? So he shrinks them down to make it easier to talk. Ava was out gett...

  It appears the ant is a humourless sort, not a good sign for him to invent an unshrinking ray. And of course Oaf forgets his foot wouldn't do much to the ant in the current situation, which is typical of the addle-brained dimwit. I see the ant even has a tiny hole labeled "Lab". Probably has all kinds of 1930's era science fiction equipment in there like the ever popular Jacob's Ladder. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hhaaSSCU5k) Ho hum, can hardly wait for the next riveting episode of this languorous tale.  Yawn, Zzzzzzzzzzz. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/21

  Ok, so, it appears this girl has eyes for Little Oaf. We see he doesn't know common terminology, is still fascinated by common modern things, like drinking fountains, and claims to be a good dancer, although today, just about any kind of body movement counts as some kind of dance, like the imbecilic floss dance. Then his buddy asks how his date was and he's so dense that he apparently stands there for the next several hours(what happened to his next class or classes after lunch?) until way past dark until he catches on. Didn't the lunchroom staff ask him why he's still there hours later when they went home? And didn't Penelope wonder why he wasn't home right after school, since it's after dark now? Wouldn't they go home together, either walk or have a parent pick them up? Joey just throws a bunch of panel "gags" together and calls it a Sunday strip. Gaaahh!! I suspect that even in the hands of a more accomplished writer this woebegotten cave ...

  1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 123 of 313 (+0) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 227 of 312 (+0) – 4 complete months 1970: 297 of 313 (+0) – 8 complete months 1971: 216 of 313: (+1) – 5 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months Just one 1971 strip added this week but at least it completed a month. There are now 2,535 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenure on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.30% of the strips produced during those 13 years.

  Ok, so now they are going in the wrong direction. Rody has shrunk them to ant size so they can understand what it says. I guess that makes it even harder for them to get back to full size. And with the ant apparently being the inventor of the shrink ray, the chances of it coming up with a reverser ray are even more slim. As stated earlier, it's not apparent how they created and constructed the gun in the first place. At least Doc seems to grasp the situation. Oaf and Foola are dimwitted enough to just go with the flow. And of course Oaf comes up with some off the wall statement about wanting to claim the status of queen ant. His brain has obviously shrunk also. Not too sure what the idiot is thinking, I would imagine there is already a queen ant, that could easily kick his ass, since ants have an enormous amount of strength compared to their size. The tiny ant has already lifted the full size Oaf up off the ground. He could end up being ant food (we can only hope...Please let tha...

  Whooo boy! I could almost boilerplate these dailies. More nonsense with a PhD (Piled Higher and Deeper). So an even smaller character invented the shrink ray. Of course that brings up the question as to who actually assembled it and where the parts came from? And of course the obligatory Oaf dumbass statement as Atom Ant lifts him up. Isn't the exterminator due any minute now? So the standard over the top dumbness continues. Steady as she goes. Full speed ahead. Hamlin must be spinning in his grave. 🤮 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/18

  Well, apparently Rody works fast. Supposedly made some advance on the unshrink ray while Oaf was outside. But Foola and Doc were inside with him when Oaf went out to get the acorn cap. As usual, it makes zero sense. And then when he went to demonstrate the advance, he comes up with bafflegab, claiming that since it didn't get larger or smaller that it was some kind of advance. Hard to believe but no matter how idiotic and stupid this nonsense is, Joey always find a way to make it even more idiotic and stupid. If she has any talent at all, that at least is one of them. Not that that helps us out trying to follow this hodgepodge of literary crap. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/17

  Well, the exterminators haven't shown up, but this was the next best thing. Luckily for Oaf, this is just a comic because in real life, that dog would have chomped him in half and ate him, instead of leaving him to look he just got scratched up a cat that was the same scale of size of mini-Oaf.  From the perspective the dog could have actually almost swallowed him whole. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/16

The nonsense continues. Somehow Oaf knows if you shoot water at a cat, it will run away. However, that hose is so small the amount of water coming out would be like from a water pistol, not some giant gusher as portrayed here. And the hose suddenly has a larger attachment at the end. Also, where did the hose attach to inside to get the water? Rody tapped into the water line in the wall or what? And then we have the dimwitted answer when asked what he's doing. The grass seemed a little dry? Where? That little bit of water wouldn't have much an effect on a normal sized lawn. Oh well, it's just a stupid comic. 😯  https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/15

  Well, it just keeps getting dumber and sillier by the day. So, now Rody (apparently the mini mouse's name) says there's no need to go out and get the whisker cap since it's still in development? Wasn't Oaf just wearing one when he almost (unfortunately) got eaten by a cat? Or was that for the curler? None of this crap makes a bit of sense. So then Rody says he has a new invention, a hose that shoots water, unlike apparently any other hose. So then Oaf exclaims that the water hose is better than anything Doc has ever invented!!!  However that's par for the course for this brain addled Oaf. I think I lose a few IQ points myself for every episode I read. But I'm sure Joey is just so proud of her storytelling. She writes as if she's a lunatic in an insane asylum, writing for the other inmates. Who knows, maybe that's actually her real situation and Glynn thought he was doing some social good by giving her an outlet for her delusions of grandeur. This crap ...

Well, it now appears that at least the school administration has figured out that Little Oaf has about the same education level as a one year old puppy, but instead of kicking him back down to Kindergarten level, they assigned him to carry the Math Club's box of calculators. He even has a title, Calculator Boy.   So he is more like a mascot to the club. The school likely has to offer education to all young kids so they had to figure out some way to accommodate his uneducated ass.  Still not sure why they let him come to school and events half naked with likely very smelly fur shorts. One can assume that that is the only pair he has. You would think the school would contact Penelope's parents about him, since he likely shows up with her every day. But then I have  to keep  reminding myself this isn't a  cinéma-vérité story   that we are viewing but a dumb comic strip. O h well. 🙄 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/13

  Archives Update 1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 123 of 313 (+0) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 227 of 312 (+0) – 4 complete months 1970: 297 of 313 (+4) – 8 complete months 1971: 216 of 313: (+0) – 4 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months Four strips added this week for December, 1970. There are now 2,534 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenure on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.28% of the strips produced during those 13 years.

This is looking good, this means they are trapped in the mousehole for ever. I figured that they would be a tasty snack for the Cosmic Cat, or whatever his goofy name was. I guess we will see just how this develops, since the Mini Mouse says there is no reverser ray. It's too bad Oaf only got a mean scratch down his chest.   So how does the mouse go out into the lab without getting eaten? How was he able to write and leave that cryptic note to Doc? Oh yeah, it's just a comic, it's not real life. 😏 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/12

  Well, I guess Doc figures out he might as well make his tiny self useful. Obviously has no hopes of ever being his normal size again. So much for his sex doll girlfriend. Meanwhile Oaf has found what looks like some old headphones, as best I can make out, that apparently have whiskers on them, which seems to get the mini mouse all aroused. He'll soon be doing the quickie humping of Oaf as mice are so famous for. Oaf won't know what hit him and is likely to enjoy it, dumping Foola and hooking up with mini mouse. This could turn out to be a Tijuana Bible version of Oaf. That would certainly spice things in this moribund tale. 😁 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/11

  Well, there's a new wrinkle. So Doc, et al, will be permanently shrunk? I suppose, if we had a good writer, that that would be the starting point of all kinds of interesting angles for future stories. But with what we have, well, we'll just have to wait with fingers crossed. With the mouse being the brains, I guess at some point he will invent a reverser ray. If not, well I guess the mouse will have some house guests in his mouse hole.  Oaf, as usual, comes up with some cockamamie scheme to shrink the entire world. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/10

  Ok, now it gets weird. 🙄 The mouse has been keeping an eye on Doc and has busted him about the robot in the closet. But then Doc doesn't have enough money for a wife, or even a girlfriend so he cobbled together an anatomically correct robot from parts out of his scrap pile, I guess. The mouse must be a fast learner if he learned everything about science from watching Doc. And he came up with a shrink ray, something Doc hasn't done yet. As I said before, the mouse has a higher IQ than the total IQ's of Oaf, Doc, and Foola combined. By far the smartest one in the room. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/09

OK, well, for something different. Being shrunk down is a new story angle here (yes I know it's been done hundreds of times already). I suppose it could turn out to be a different angle for the NuOaf. In the hands of professional that is, which is not what we have here. But I'll hope for the best.   https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/08

 OK, well now we know a bit more about the mini mouse. One could wonder how Doc and Ava somehow didn't notice the entry to the mouse lab, which appears pretty obvious. But on the other hand, I think I know the reason. 🙄 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/07

  1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 123 of 313 (+0) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 227 of 312 (+1) – 4 complete months 1970: 293 of 313 (+1) – 8 complete months 1971: 216 of 313: (+1) – 4 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months Big week with three strips added . There are now 2,530 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenue on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.18% of the strips produced during those 13 years. I haven't mentioned this, and maybe everybody already knows this, but there are no Sundays at all in the Hamlin archive. After finding the site mentioned earlier in the week, I have added Sundays to th...

OK so Little Oaf seems to be in the middle of a nightmare. Either that or he's just play acting. Doesn't seem to be any redeeming value to today's attempt. Not a lot of action either, much like always. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. 🙄 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/06

 Well, there's the real equalizer. Looks like Mighty Mouse got the drop on them. So to that end, it now outranks Doc et al, although everyone  outranks Oaf in this woeful universe. I suppose the shrink ray may end up being useful in further stories, perhaps Mighty Mouse will be added to the cast of characters even. Then Ava, who definitely needs that chair since her neck seems to have disjointed, likely pretty painfully, and maybe an after effect of the demon possession, got the chair she wanted. Perhaps she's auditioning for a female version remake of the Hunchback Of Notre Dame (or Hunchback of the Time Lab). Of course mini-Doc gets upset and tells her loudly (well, at his new size probably sounds more like a loud squeak) to send it back. It's funny how he's so pissed and forcefully yelling at her, when she could just squash him like a bug. Well, we'll see how this develops, not expecting much however.

  Well OK, so the tiny scientists somehow knew the demons were going to go back in time and prevent life from evolving? Since it obviously didn't I'm not sure what the purpose was. Never (at least yet) explained where the demon came from (I doubt we'll ever know) but at least we got a gag about cheese, which Oaf  conveniently just happened to be holding in his hand. And so it goes. 🙄 https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/04

  Well, as we can see, the smartest one in the room is a mouse. Oaf acts just like a 4 year old child, likely that is what his actual mental level is. I'm not sure what the hell Foola is doing, maybe trying to jam her finger down her throat to throw up? It truly is barf worthy. The look of astonishment in the eyes of Oaf and Foola in panel 1 and Doc in panel 2 is a nice touch, the only one, to be honest. They just gotta be on the lookout for the Cosmic Cat or Oracle or whatever it is in case it shows up and eats the mouse. Of course that would be the most action in this strip since it began. 😀 Please let it happen, please, in the name of all that is good and holy!!! 

  Hmmm, the plot thickens. 😁  So now along with the Cosmic Cat or whatever that other thing was, we now have Mighty Mouse or one of his relatives. I guess we'll see how this plays out, but I don't expect much. And of course Oaf acts like he has it all figured out (who knows, maybe he does. It may take a dimwit like him to understand this whole mess). I'm on the edge of my seat, eagerly looking forward to what adventure is to come (or maybe I'm about half asleep and looking at this like a bad dream). https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/02

 OK, so we're back at the Time Lab and ready to hear what happened. Foola asks her what had happened and Ava said she had this great opportunity to make money, then realizes that Foola is talking about the whole Demon deal, so there's the "gag" of the day. Perhaps tomorrow or some time in the future we will possibly get the explanation of that whole time travel trip. It likely won't make any sense so is likely to be anticlimactic. As far as Ava's appearance goes, my guess is that Joey came across that classic book "Black Like Me" and is trying to work that into the story somehow. I guess we'll see. (I read that book back in the early 1960's and it is a real eye opener) It's hard to explain why Ava looks as she does now. https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/12/01

  Well, that went nowhere. Oaf brought a jar of primordial soup back to grow some aberrant life form. Then he pipes up with his usual dumbass remarks and Doc wisely dumps the jar into the incinerator. So much for that arc. Ava does appear to have lost one of her shoes. Now let's move on to the next silly arc. Can hardly wait. 🥱

  Well, I must be getting punchy as this Little Oaf caused a slight smile as the Mom apparently has been sandbagging it and is on to Penelope's little scam with the gadgets, and has bought her own anti-convince-o-ray, a Gadget Reverser Pro. The Felix the Cat wall clock kitsch is a nice touch.  On a scale of 1-1000, all the previous Little Oafs have been -5's or lower, this one is likely a 1. It's not likely, but maybe, just maybe, Lemon may be catching on. Perhaps even suggested this to the hapless hack writer Joey.  It does appear that Little Oaf has somehow gone from being a paper mache creation of Penelope's into being accepted into the family openly. Of course, this is  a comic strip. 🙄

  1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 123 of 313 (+0) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 226 of 312 (+1) – 4 complete months 1970: 292 of 313 (+0) – 8 complete months 1971: 215 of 313: (+0) – 4 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months Just one strip added this week, this time from 1969. There are now 2,527 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenure on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.10% of the strips produced during those 13 years.

  Well, I'm afraid I don't get this one at all. Talk about just phoning it in, just put some nonsense together and get back to eating turkey. Apparently Ava said she didn't leave a note so Doc assumes someone broke into the time lab. Then it jumps to what appears to be an ad for a home security system, voiced by Oaf, who somehow (well, I guess like his handcuff craft) comes up with apparently the Safelab system and has a glint on his tooth, which is a ripoff of some tooth brightener ad. This has to be about the dumbest daily strip since the NuOop rebooted.

  Ok, so now we are getting modern. Ava reveals she dated a woman in college. That's so 21st Century. Or perhaps she means the demon was a female, which leaves wiggle room for the reader to make their own assumptions as to if Ava goes both ways (with humans that is). Nothing wrong with that, of course, just different from the Oop strip. But as we know, this isn't the Oop strip but Alley Oaf so pretty much anything goes as this is it's own canon. Next, we go on to the next 3 panels, where Doc promises Ava that her working conditions will improve (likely to ward off any talk of a union with Oaf and Foola). She indicates she would like to go on some time travels with them the next time they go (seems like this silly ass one would have made her want to stay back in the (relative) safety of the Time Lab).  Doc balks at that and offers to finally buy her the office chair she's had her eye on (wonder what she was using before, a folding metal chair Doc got at a yard sale or so...

  That's good thinking Doc. However Oaf is his usual oafish self. Build a stronger roof on his cave? Caves have roofs? And just how would this blithering idiot do it? At least it appears this silly arc is just about done. Now, on the next likely equally silly arc. I guess we are just gluttons for punishment. 😫

  Words fail me with mess. Perhaps someone else can find something eloquent to say about this? Talk about an arc that just peters out. Let's hope tomorrow they somehow end up back at the time lab and they can erase their memories and never mention this lame piece of crap again..Probably the worst arc since Lem/Say took over and ran it into the ground. Read it if you dare and have a strong stomach.  https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/11/25

WTF! I'm not sure what this is supposed to be? Is that some part of the demon being sucked into the jar? Oh wait, I think I got it. That was indeed the demon going into the jar looking for the kitten. And it was saying they forgot to put the kitten in there. It's also interesting that Oaf is actually the one who figured out how to do it. Maybe his IQ has increased from -1 up to 0 or even 1.  It's getting scary to think that perhaps I followed Joey's logic here. 😯 When I first looked at it, it appeared that it was Oaf who was saying that. Here it is, see for yourself:     https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/11/24

  Continuing on with the silliness. Foola just happens to bring along her macrame string, how plot convenient. And of course the "gag" continues in that she also brought some origami paper and pipe cleaners. Give me an effin' break. Not sure where she stored it, maybe she's a magician.  Then Oaf has to add to the silliness by saying he wishes he had brought along his handcuff craft. So he's either a play cop or he's into bondage. Now there's an out of left field remark, but with this stream of consciousness story that Joey is purveying, apparently anything goes in this wack-a-doodle tale. To quote Bruno Mars, "Don't believe me just wait". Check it out here:   https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/11/23 On to tomorrow's probably unrelated gag. 🙄

So Little Oaf goes to the mall and is bored? Figures... Then he is so dumb he sees a cardboard caveman standup and apparently thinks it is a real person! Just how dumb is this little idiot anyway. And if he is that dumb, just how is he faking his way in school? Plus, he's still walking around half naked with just those furry shorts on and no shirt. Is there no dress code at the mall or even school? Such goofy nonsense. If the little knucklehead wants some rocks or dinosaur stuff, why not have Penelope send him back to Moo to bring some back? And if he was indeed going to try to buy that kind of stuff, what was he going to use for money and how would he even know what it was worth vis-a-vis the stuff he was trying to buy. Adding to that, where would he get the money in the first place? Is he getting some kind of allowance from Penelope's parents? So many questions, no good answers, but that's par for the course for this dumbass strip. I vote, as I have before, for them to ki...

  1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 123 of 313 (+1) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 225 of 312 (+0) – 4 complete months 1970: 292 of 313 (+0) – 8 complete months 1971: 215 of 313: (+0) – 4 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months I guess Jimmy must be back from vacation as one 1947 strip was added this week. There are now 2,526 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenure on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.08% of the strips produced during those 13 years.

  Well, as far as the Oaf strips go, I'd have to say this is one of the better ones. Now of course, none of these are even in the same league or universe of any Alley Oop strip ever but STRICTLY basing this on ONLY the Joey strips, this one seemed to have a tiny bit of action and a slight bit of humour. Foola has apparently saved the day, and the future of the world's civilization, or something like that, while the other 2 stooges just stood around, as usual. Oaf was his usual dimwitted self in panels 2 and 4, which was slightly humorous and almost made me smile. 😏 On a scale of 1 to 100, I'd give this a 2 or 3. None of the others strips were above a 1, so perhaps Joey's coming down from her trip. Maybe.

  Oh hell! Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse, it just did. I was hoping this Ollie Arp BS was long gone. So apparently that dimwit is bringing some kind of nuclear waste to dump into whatever that green crap is. Then they see the 3 stooges, freak out and disappear. Not exactly sure what dumping nuclear waste from the future into Earth in the beginning or whatever this is is supposed to do something. Then Ollie's companion (don't recall her name and really don't care) shows up with another barrel of waste, apparently sees the stooges, then disappears when she sees Zanzarr. Then Oaf assumes they'll be back because they left the waste, or something. Just about the worst episode yes. I'm not sure how Doc knew they were from Universe 3 as I have erased all that Turtle/Time Speed cop BS from my memory. Perhaps some others have a better memory of what that story was all about. Joey apparently took waaaaay too many 'shrooms before writing this. Pro tip ...

 Well, once more Joey tops herself with complete inanity. So Zanzarr/Ava is pissed that Oaf threw whatever that crap is on it/her and threatens to alter all life on Earth. Didn't it/she earlier threaten to end all life on Earth? Maybe it/her softened it's/her stance once the crap splattered her? Maybe it/her evolved due to that? Stay tuned! (or on second thought, just go to sleep and tomorrow will likely go off in a completely different direction anyway). Then after splattering it/her with that crap Oaf dials his idiocy up to 11 (get the reference? 🤪), begging the pool of crap to hurry up and evolve into a tiger!! Gee Whiz!!! Once more a game of "Can You Top This?"   I wait with bated breath for tomorrow's riveting episode. 🙄

  Keeping in mind that this is Alley Oaf, not the once great Alley Oop, apparently Oaf and Foola somehow formed a union since they apparently are now employees of Doc. Joey teased this union idea a couple or more years ago. Just another silly, unnecessary added wrinkle to this inferior product. The time lab traditionally hardly had enough money to even operate, much less pay wages, which Oop would have had no use for anyway.  In the real Oop strips, the relationship between Doc and Oop et al was pretty much informal. Doc would get Oop to do some time trips for adventure or to get funds for the Time Lab, like when Oop went back into the old West to find out where some bank robbers had hidden their stolen chest with gold so it could be retrieved from the hiding place in the time frame of the modern lab. Or when O. L. Driller paid them to go to Earth 2 in search of oil or some such. The idea of Oop being an employee was never mentioned.

  Well, Oaf actually accidently did something right, and snapped Ava out of whatever her situation was (so now how do they get back to modern times? I guess Doc still has some kind of time machine?)  And of course we find (remembering that this is NOT  Alley Oop but Alley Oaf) that this Doc has a lab in a 1600 time bubble so the labour laws of modern time don't apply, which of course pisses off the 2 Stooges. Too bad that the real Doc from the Alley Oop strip (which is long gone) didn't think of that angle, but that would have been too idiotic for that strip. At least in this strip, Oaf and Foola glare at Doc, giving him the evil eye and Doc's lame explanation is slightly funny. This strip is to Alley Oop as the Bizarro world was to the world of Superman. 🤡

 Another ho-hum set of panels. So Ooola begs Zanzarr not to destroy life on Earth, although we know obviously that life was doing pretty much fine in the time era that Doc et al came from. Then Oaf says violence is usually the answer after throwing the soup on Zanzarr. Lets  hope this dumbass arc ends tomorrow and we can get on to another equally dumbass arc in whatever time era the writer chooses (likely by throwing a dart at a board with a bunch equally dumbass story ideas on it). Man, this crap is getting tedious! This BS makes the Mary Shelley arc with her running up the snowy Alps in pumps look like a great classic story. However that was the ersatz Bender Alley Oop while this is Alley Oaf, two completely  different characters completely, with ZERO commonalities. This Alley Oaf has to stand 100% on it's own as there is no link whatsoever to the classic Alley Oop. I won't even compare it to even the Bender version, much less Hamlin or Graue. In fact, fr...

 No strips added this week so the archive remains at 2,525 stips or 62.05 of the strips with Hamlin's byline. 

" The Trouble With Tribbles" anyone? So now we're ripping off classic Star Trek episodes? 🙄 I figure this strip should also reflect the grown up Oaf, as it is just as silly and insipid as the weekday edition. Little Oaf, as usual, presages the grownup idiot. At least Joey is consistent(in this instance), I'll give her that. Penelope's "lab" certainly has acquired all kinds of gear, kinda like going to an Army surplus store. In the header, Little Oaf is wearing a mask, but of course not in the strip itself nor is Penelope. Also in the header somehow he has trained some dinosaur to carry tea and water on it's head, although it doesn't look too pleased by that. Not sure what that bunny on her shirt is, I can't quite place it, but I imagine it's a ripoff of some other strip. Maybe from Rabbits, although that wouldn't exactly be a ripoff since that's Lemon's strip.

  Ok, it is indeed a bit of whimsy. It certainly beats the humdrum nonsense we've seen so far in this silly arc. Taken as a gag a day strip and not as an adventure strip, it to me is a bit better than anything in this arc so far. I'll take what I can get at this point. A day at a time. The strip today seems to be in on the gag and poking a bit of fun at itself, not taking itself seriously. That may be the best tack to take, as this whole arc is the height of silliness. Time to bail and get on to the next one. This may be the best one of this arc, but like an old boss used to say "being King of the pigs isn't really that big of a compliment". 😏 Perhaps a bit of the old Mad Magazine writer is showing through.

  Well, like Oaf, Joey is also out of ideas obviously. In the meantime, why doesn't Doc just transport them back to modern times and be done with this nonsense? Apparently since Oaf and all came from today's world, whatever this creature is claiming it will do either didn't come to pass or if it did, it just became whatever passes for today's reality. Where is Spy vs Spy when we them? 😴

  Well, so much for even a mild "joke" today. Since this is no longer an adventure strip and doesn't even try to be, but a gag a day wannabe,  perhaps Joey should read a copy of "Jokes For The John" to get some humour ideas. Maybe one joke out of a week of strips turns the corners of my mouth slightly upwards otherwise it is like an unfunny Seinfeld show, which was how he famously described it as "a show about nothing".  Along with it being hard to get a hair appointment, it must also be hard to find a cobbler to fix the heels of her shoes, which keep appearing and disappearing. Life was tough in the primordial Earth. 🙄

  OK, so the reanimate souls apparently works. Appears to have a few bugs however. 🙄 Guess we'll just have to wait to see what happens from here. As I said yesterday, in the hands of an experienced, talented writer, this has some opportunities. The current writer however hasn't a clue to where to go from here. It's day to day. The last two panels show a tiny bit of humour however. I'll take what I can get at this point. At least she's trying. 😏

  It's hard to believe, but it looks like there may be a tiny bit of action today, instead of the slow slog we have become used to. Actually a bit funny with Doc giving her a warning about leaving the job without requesting time off, then her blasting him with her flame thrower breath. Whatever has happened has turned Ava into a flying fire breathing monster. Under the direction of an accomplished writer, this could turn out to be the first actually exciting storyline since the NuOop came out. Sadly however, I have a feeling this will be just another dead end. Hoping for the best, fearing for the worst, fingers crossed. 🤨

  Well well, looks like perhaps Ava has succumbed to the intense atmosphere on the primordial Earth (we can only hope) and appears to have been toasted to a crisp. Oaf is his usual dumbass self, a true pendejo . Who knows, perhaps (however unlikely) there might be some kind of a semi-interesting story here?  Nah! 😪

  Umm, so Pac-Man looks realistic? And Little Poop gets freaked out from a more realistic opening screen? Seriously? Actually, I vote (as I and others have before) to just drop this dumbass Little Poop Sunday nonsense and do a long form Sunday episode of the (execrable) daily story. Maybe move the "story" along a little quicker instead of wasting time with this piffle. Maybe get to the star crashing sequence where Ava and all the rest get crushed? Or Ava transfers them all just in the nick of time to Hamilton's time where they meet up with Mentis and Oaf can do his idiotic "ALLEY OOP!" yell while he swings on a conveniently placed vine? Or.....?

  1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 122 of 313 (+1) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 225 of 312 (+0) – 4 complete months 1970: 292 of 313 (+0) – 8 complete months 1971: 215 of 313: (+0) – 4 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months One 1947 strip added this week. There are now 2,525 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenure on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.05% of the strips produced during those 13 years.

  Well now, perhaps there may just be some kind of "story" starting here. Ava appears to be floating and her lab coat appears to have tatters on the fringes, as if she's been through "something". I'm not holding my breath however, with this writer. Perhaps we "may" find out why she went here and left the coded message for Doc. Also, notice that both Doc and Ava are freaked out, while dimwit Oaf is smiling and greets her like it's just another day.  On the other hand, this is likely to fizzle out like all the hapless misadventures that have taken place since the NuOop started. Now, if only the new star can crash into them and end this strip for good. It's unlikely we can be so lucky however. 😩

  So now Oaf has become an epicure? And with no water on Earth yet, whatever that crap Oaf is tasting must be just powder, I guess? Leave it to Oaf to just jump in and try eating whatever that is. Let's just hope it's poisonous and Oaf dies by tomorrow's panels. Please let the star crash into these three stooges tomorrow and put us      out of our misery. 😧

  Missoulian Spook "This pattern originated when Dan Bailey crossed his Muddler Minnow with Theodore Gordon's Bumble Puppy. Bailey called it the White Muddler. Real fame began after Vince Hamlin, Alley Oop comic strip creator, used it with great success on Montana streams. In 1956, Hamlin drew it into one of his cartoons as the "Missoulian Spook" hanging from the mouth of a leaping trout. Joe Brooks touted it to great popularity using Hamlin's name." Missoulian Spook Orginator:  Dan Bailey, 1940s. Hook:  Mustad 9672, or equivalent, size 4-12. Thread:  Grey 2/0. Tail:  White turkey quill segments. Butt:  Red chenille. Rib:  Flat silver tinsel. Body:  White floss. Underwing:  White calf tail. Wing:  White turkey quill segments. Sides:  Thin teal flank strip. Head and collar:  Spun deer hair clipped to shape. Vince and his wife, Dorothy, were our neighbors at Pine Creek outside Livingston, Montana. They had a one-story log cabin w...

  Oh Brother!! So now Doc has somehow, in his spare time, developed this gadget that you swallow and allows you to breathe methane, etc. And with no apparent testing, assumes that it will work just fine. Hang on to your hats folks, this could, but likely won't, get interesting. The only thing that could really make this great is if he times it to just a few seconds before and dead center in the spot where the planet crashes into Earth. Of course that won't happen, it will just be another lame jokefest from Oaf. 🥱

 So the nonsense trend continues. I'm guessing 4 billion years ago would likely be when the Earth was struck by some object. Some quick research found this: Water arrived on  Earth  at exactly the same time that the moon was created over  4 billion years ago , according to a new study. This phenomenon is thought to have  happened  when an “ancient planet” called Theia smashed into  Earth It will be interesting (highly unlikely however) to see what our aspiring "adventure" writer does with this scenario. As usual, we get another silly "joke" by Oaf in the last panel. With any luck, our hapless trio will arrive seconds before the planet smashes into the Earth. Unfortunately it will likely be some lame event where Oaf goes looking for an arcade like the last time travel fiasco.

  So apparently Ava reanimated something or another and went "somewhere" into time and space. Meanwhile Oaf does another Oafish act and starts dialing a bunch of numbers. Much hilarity ensues...NOT!  If only Joey would take a comedy and/or adventure writing course instead of inflicting this amateur pablum on real Alley Oop fans. 😢

 Gent and Wootie started this blog so that people who could no longer express their viewpoint on the "Alley Oop" GoComics webpage could have a place to do so freely. Although a lot (well, frankly, most) of the comments here have been on the negative side, it should be obvious that, as the number of followers of the strip continue to grow, there is a different point of view out there. The biggest advocate of how great the new version of the caveman is a guy named Joseph. To see how different his views are, read his blog "What's Going On In Alley Oop" (https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/tag/alley-oop/) where every few months he gives a summary of events in glowing, giddy terms. Read his reviews and be sure and vote on how you feel about them.

  Oh boy! Looks like Doc is getting out one of his fancy re-enacter's get ups, like when he had that ready made Revolutionary War outfit in his closet when they went back to Hamilton's time. Perhaps he's taking the gang along to observe Hamberden getting shot in the Civil War? And of course we get "treated" to another dimwitted Oaf gag...(GAG!)🤢

  More dumbness today, as is usual for the Sunday strip. From the dialogue, it appears that the movie they were watching was one made from the daily Oaf nonsense. The reference to a pocket size time machine is a clue, plus a plot that didn't make them think at all. Time to dump this Little Poop crap and make the Sunday's just an extended daily strip that advances that "plot", such that it is. 🤦‍♂️

  1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 121 of 313 (+0) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 225 of 312 (+0) – 4 complete months 1970: 292 of 313 (+1) – 8 complete months 1971: 215 of 313: (+0) – 4 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months One 1970 strip added this week. There are now 2,524 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenure on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.03% of the strips produced during those 13 years.

OK, so the trip to the Civil War was actually planned to have Hamberden get killed. Pretty devious use of the time travel cube. And now that Doc has done the hitman job, he's immediately recruited to do another one. Slippery slope indeed. In the hands of a skilled adventure author, this could lead to an interesting tale. Unfortunately Glynn neglected to find one and settled for a two bit hack to attempt to come up with something, anything, that resembles an interesting tale. Oh well, ya get what ya pay for. 🤢

  Just keeps getting dumber and dumber. So Doc takes Hamberden right into a battle in the Civil War and says he will be back in a few days. Dimwit Hamberden says make that 2 months! So, even assuming the idiot has some cash on him, no one back then would have any idea what modern cash looks like and would assume it's counterfeit or worse. Plus with his 21st Century clothes, they would assume he's some strange weirdo from some other place, or at least a spy. He could easily end up in Andersonville Prison which would amount to a death sentence. So, what does he eat, etc? Rations were likely pretty scarce and would be nothing like he was used to, if they even gave him any. He's likely to get shot and wounded or even killed (we can only hope). Such silliness. 😒

Well, let's see how this goes. Really don't expect much. Hamberden at least has the presence of mind to comment that it doesn't seem historically accurate (DUH!). I assume he's talking about them from the future going back to the Civil War era, with what will be sure to have them still dressed in 21st Century clothing, (except for Doc in his ready to wear Revolutionary War getup, perhaps he doesn't have a Civil War costume, even though it's close to Halloween) as when they went back to Hamilton's era and Oop did his off the wall stupid "ALLEY OOP!" yell as he swung from a tree or some such (too lazy to go back and look up that idiotic episode, including that dimwit Mentis, good riddance to him). One disclaimer, I realize that was the Bender era so all bets are off with this clown team that passes for writer and illustrator now.

  Well, another day of complete nonsense. Not sure where Doc's going with this, but, at this point, I really don't care. Just let this dumbass arc end and let's move on to something less silly. Where are those idiotic time cops when we need them? Or even the turtles or whatever the hell they were. Isn't Oop supposed to be back on trial in one of the other dimensions or whatever they were? Maybe if Joey would storyboard this crap instead of just pulling this nonsense out of her ass every day perhaps it would make some sort of sense. But at this point, I doubt it. 🤢 Thanks John. (wish there was an emoticon for flipping the bird). Can you at least take that loser you chose with you to exile? Please?

  Oh, for Pete's sake, just when you think it couldn't get any dumber, Joey doubles down with this idiotic nonsense. The guy is worth billions and dimwit Doc offers a 50% off coupon at a store? Give me an effin' break already. All the time travel has made Doc a halfwit, just like Oaf. 🤢😒 Of course, halfwittedness is   Joey's natural state so she writes what she knows. What a talent. With any luck, now that Glynn has gotten the boot, maybe there will be some sort of change to right this sinking ship. For those who may have missed it, here's the good news link:  http://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/10/26/john-glynn-and-andrews-mcmeel-part-ways/

  So, apparently Doc is now angry at Mr. Hamberdin since he called Doc's chip flavor a terrible mistake. So if Doc is hopped up enough with that killer combo Stenk gave him, there's a tiny chance that we may see some manner of "action" here in the next week or two.  Not likely though. 😢  

Well, at least they are getting a bit real here with someone finally asking Little Poop where he's from instead of just accepting a half naked little weirdo attending school with somehow not enrolling and none of the administration or teachers asking who he is and who his parents are. One has to wonder just how he does in the classroom as he actually would appear to have the knowledge level of a preschooler. This exchange today is an example. Such BS..🤢

  1939: 118 of 312 (+0) – 2 complete months 1946: 199 of 313 (+0) – 3 complete months 1947: 121 of 313 (+1) – 0 complete months 1948: 30 of 314 (+0) – 1 complete month 1949: 286 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months 1954: 246 of 313 (+0) – 6 complete months 1956: 313 of 313 (+0) – 12 complete months 1963: 54 of 313 (+0) – 1 complete month 1968: 138 of 314 (+0) – 2 complete months 1969: 225 of 312 (+1) – 4 complete months 1970: 291 of 313 (+0) – 8 complete months 1971: 215 of 313: (+0) – 4 complete months 1972: 287 of 313 (+0) – 7 complete months Two strips added to the archive this week. There are now 2,523 strips in the archive, spread over 13 years from Hamlin’s 40-year tenure on the strip. That pushes the Archive to 62.01% of the strips produced during those 13 years.

  Well, that's quite a favor, being asked to be a hitman. And when Doc says he's too cowardly, Ms Stenk offers to hop him up, like the fabled Assassins, who supposedly used hashish to get pumped up (seems like meth or coke would be a more likely substance so perhaps that's some of the mystery ingredients). She mentions secret ingredients too secret to not be known by the FDA. Perhaps something from the Russian GRU or FSB? 🤷‍♂️