On today's Little Oop - 18 October 2020

 In an interview before the reboot of the"Alley Oop" strip, the creative team talked about the new direction of the Sunday strip. Joey, acknowledging that the young Oop idea was suggested by John, said, "Little Oop is going to be very different from Alley Oop, thematically and tonally. Lemon is doing it in a totally separate art style, and the jokes are built and paced differently. Little Oop is in middle school and is dealing with typical pre-teen stuff like crushes, homework, and not getting eaten by dinosaurs. There likely won’t be any time travel, unless you count the slow and unceasing march of time that bears down on each and every one of us, bringing us closer to our life’s end with every passing second." So what the heck happened? No Moo, no dinosaurs, no interest. Now the strip has become a 21st Century, run-of-the-mill kid strip with mildly amusing gags. Makes the Benders' Sunday recaps look like a breath of fresh air. In today's strip (https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/10/18,) young Alley Oop can't handle the heat even though he comes from a very hot and humid time period where everyone walks around half dressed. But Joey tries to explain that doesn't count because it's a dry, volcanic heat. I can tell you that my oven also has a dry heat but I also know that it gets pretty damned hot in it. If Joey doesn't understand that dry heat can be hot, she should try sticking her head in her oven for a minute. Might solve a couple of problems at the same time. Penelope, despite it being "unseasonably warm sits around in long pants and a lab coat, oblivious to the heat. I guess this is another strip where the characters have to dress the same every single strip or you won't remember who they are. And Oop, dumb as ever, brings his electric lamp into the sprinkler. Maybe he should turn it on to see if it would help.