On Today's Alley Oop - 21 September 2021

 Comic strips are an interesting medium to see how the author develops the story. Hamlin was notorious for taking readers down a certain route and then all of a sudden throwing a wrench into the story and taking it in a different direction. Usually, but not always, the change was effected by some malfunction of the time-machine. Part of the fun of reading the stories was to see how the characters would adapt to the different environment. But no matter what happened, the action always seemed realistic and the characters' reaction believable once you accepted the basic premise of a time-traveling caveman. A good example was the recently posted story on the classics page where Oop and Boom are supposed to go to New Orleans at the time of the Louisiana Purchase but end up in Paris instead. The two decide to stay in Paris to see what happens rather than have Doc retrieve them and a great story involving Napoleon ensues followed by another story involving 19th Century pirates.

In contrast, Sayers' stories always seemed contrived where the events don't seem to follow logically. The characters reactions are mostly unfunny one-liners rather than heroic efforts to figure out how to get out of their predicament. The predicaments themselves are, in the end, not real conflicts so the characters never have to resort to their wits or strengths to get out of a situation. She hasn't yet written a story where there is any honest dramatic conflict where the reader wonders how our heroes will get out of their dilemma. And usually the solution involves some form of deus ex machina or magical event to come to the rescue. The current story showcases all of Joey's failings as a storywriter. Why does Doc go with Oop and Ooola to visit Moo. Just because. Why does Wonmug hold all of the time-cubes? Just because. How do they get broken? A dinosaur just happens to walk by and steps on them after Doc just happens to drop them. Thus we get to today where Doc says they are stuck in the Stone Age. And some magical event will probably happen to return them to the present.

But wait. Anybody who has read this strip from before Lemsay took over knows that the time-machine controls the time-travel. Carole Bender created the "amulet" as a way for the time-traveler to connect to the time-machine so they could mostly control their own travel. As such it is an extension of the time-machine not something meant to replace it. Lemon has been on record as saying the time-cube was created to replace the amulets and because he was too lazy to draw the amulet, although not in so many words. So saying they have no way to get back to the 21st Century is pull BS because Ava should still have the ability to bring them back with the time-machine. Otherwise, if the time-cubes have replaced the time-machine, why have the time-machine? And why have Ava? This just smells like a fake story with fake drama brought to us by a fake writer. And the "Stone Age", as any long-time reader knows, should be the "Bone Age".

Today's fake action: https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2021/09/21