On Today's Alley Oop - 15 June 2021

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 universe" destroyed in so little time with what appears to be a 19th century level of technology? Is this planet really the extent of the "entire universe"? How do they make that assessment based on a single location? And why after fixing the blame on "our heroes" are they let go with no penalties? I mean, shouldn't destroying a universe, or even a part of it, result in a little jail time? 

The biggest problem, though, is the role of Ollie Arp in all this. What is he supposed to be, some kind of God that can decide what civilizations live and which ones die? Where and how exactly did he get this power? Yeah, I know Joey is the one who grants him his powers but there is something offensive about the whole idea. That it makes absolutely no sense doesn't help.