On Alley Oop - the Week of May 9- 15, 2021

In my last review of the strip about a time-travelling caveman, the Terrific Trio (plus the old coot) had just been placed in jail by the terrible Chrabs and found themselves with a tough-cookie cellmate, Kay Chesapeake. The gang feels they need to escape and spend a few days talking about it, conveniently forgetting their time-cubes that can magically transport them to anywhere they desire. On Tuesday, Oop finds a loose stone which opens the door to a secret room that Kay built in her spare time. Somehow the room is fully furnished and has a door that opens to the outside and freedom, something that Kay hasn't used because she doesn't like change. Of course, none of this makes any logical sense. You can't make a room and furnishings out of nothing and something this elaborate would be easily observed but hose kind of facts never bother Joey.. It's just another example of Joey writing the most ridiculous storyline possible in her continuous quest to be zany which she always fails at. Just as the main characters are about to escape, Ooola notices that the guard has appeared so they return to their cell. The guard takes them to see the queen where the three fear they are about to be killed. But - no shock here- the Queen finds them "adorable{ and, of course, Oop thinks she is talking about him. That joke is one that Joey has retold over and over since she took over the strip, one where if the comment is favorable, the lovable scamp Alley Oop concludes is about him but if it is unfavorable or dismissive, he always thinks is about his travelling companions. Time to get some new material, Joey. 

It seems impossible but each new story is more boring than the previous. Our heroes travel to a new dimension "just because" and find it is set in the Old West - "just because". They find that the populace is terrorized by big blue crabs, who are called Chrabs ("just because"). The Chrabs destroy everything where there is any kind of conflict, well, "just because". And there lies  the irony that likely sails right over the pointy heads of Sayers and Lemon. What keeps readers interested in adventure comic strips is conflict. Without it, you might as well just have another run-of-the-mill gag-a-day strip, which is exactly what this strip is. Maybe Sayers intended this as some of sort of satirical commentary with the Chrabs representing the syndicate suits who, in these overly sanitized modern times, police their features and remove any type of conflict so as not to offend someone+. Nah - that would make too much sense and we all know that Joey avoids sense whenever possible.

What's the deal with Ooola lately? A couple of times this past week, Jonny shows her backside and it is not a pretty sight. Way too wide for our heroine, who was always drawn on the svelte side by Hamlin.