Moovians

 

 

 

 

How do you describe today's strip? "Beyond dumb" is the first thing that comes to mind. First, we find that the NASA budget has been cut so badly that the door signs are cheap, hand-written signs on paper ala "Funky Winkerbean". Doc explains that they will have to complete rigorous training before they go to the moon even though a few days ago, he said that he had inventions that could withstand the crushing gravity of Jupiter as well as the noxious gases. If they have all of these magical devices, why do they need any kind of training at all? Alley finds a door with such  a sign that says "Fake Moon" and assumes that the moon landing was fake. That, even though he has been to the moon twice before. It's another one of those gags that depends upon subversion of the real world because there isn't any way that the sign on a real NASA door would say "Fake Moon:. Of course, trying in vain yet again for "zany", Joey raises the ante wi...

 

 

 

 

Just to let you know that I haven't forgotten about the archives. The reason there hasn't been any updates is because there hasn't been any new strips added since the week ending May 2. Although the pace was glacial before with only one or two strips added a week, this is now eight consecutive weeks without anything added. I've suggested to GO Comics how they could easily fill out the archive but the only response has been that they will forward my comment to the appropriate department and then I never hear anything. If there is ever any more activity, I will add a new post.

 I'm late in commenting on today's strip but it has been a reoccurring gag with Lemsay to have one character make a reference to the last name of a famous historical person only to have Oop think they are talking about somebody else, usually a cultural reference. In this case, it's Oop assuming that Doc is talking about Phil Collins and even though this is a riff that's been used at least a half dozen times, it received 35 "up votes", the larges number this week. Does it even look like Phil Collins? Well, Lemon draws a better Phil Collins than he did a Ronald Reagan but it still isn't close. And I've included a pciture of Phil from 1969 to show how far off Jonny is. Phil wasn't even close to being bald in the sixties and I doubt he was wearing turtlenecks back then. A link to "Another Day In Paradise". https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2021/06/26

 

 

 

 

I was curious what the NASA headquarters looked like in the 60s and it took not even a five-minute Google search to find pictures of the building that was used from the early 60s until the early 90s. It, of course, looks nothing like depicted by Lemon. You can chalk that up to his usual laziness but whether it's his inability to do the basic research that would be expected for this type of strip or just his slapdash approach where anything goes as long as it sort of resembles an office building isn't clear. It got me thinking of a comment made a couple of days ago where a poster on the "Tarzan" board said that Russ Manning's work on Tarzan sucked. If that poster wants to see sucky artwork on a supposed adventure strip, he should get a look of Jonny Lemon's work. To say it sucks would actually be a complement. Today's strip is a good example of the "as if" nature of Joey's writing. As I suggested yesterday, the Terrific Trio would find a reall...

 I don't know how Wootietoot used to do a daily review of this strip. It is such a mess, lacking in any semblance of the basic principles of decent storytelling techniques and peppered with unfunny jokes that make the main character look like he might lose an intelligence contest with Joel and Rufus over at "Gasoline Alley". Alley Oop has really become that stupid. Two-and-one-half years into the the Lemsay era, we still have not seen Oop do battle with anybody. Wrasslin' with the Minotaur or an alligator where they end up singing "Kumbaya" doesn't count. The past eight strips have seen, mercifully, the end of the Chrab story and the start of the moon landing story. Why the moon landing. Well, "just because", my stock answer for what happens in this strip because nothing is ever explained, at least in a way that makes sense. If my count is correct, and I admit I might have slept through a couple of the stories, this is just the fourth time-trav...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My last review was on the June 5 strip and I must admit to having jumped the gun in my joy at what seemed to be the end of the Chrab story. Eight days later, the thing is still running, giving us more contrived jokes, best exemplified by the 6/7 joke about the demise of "Friends" in Universe 3 after a sixty-year run. We find out that Ollie Arp, stylishly dressed in a bowling shirt and fedora, is responsible for sending the Chrabs to Universe 881, not to destroy it, but to save it. Why he didn't bother to explain it to the Chrabs isn't explained but why should this story be any different and make sense? Ollie decides to take the Three Stooges back to 881 to see what their meddling had done. And they find out that the universe has been destroyed - all within the last hour. (holy cow) There are just so many things that are bothersome about this eight-day sequence not even considering the consistently lame jokes and the dull, uninteresting art. How was the "entire un...