Cartoon Nine Six Nine

Discretion

Two people talking at a bar. One grouses: “I make sausages. I’m good at making sausages. And it kind of hurts my feelings that nobody wants to see me do it.”

It’s nothing to be ashamed of.

There’s some interesting stuff going on in “Gil Thorp,” the 65 year-old daily comic strip about a high school sports coach. The strip hasn’t been great for a while, but a few months ago they hired a new writer who doesn’t seem to know (or care) a lot about sports, and then they hired a new artist who… I dunno, maybe she’s a good artist, but comics, which require consistent character designs, don’t seem to be her forte. Also she doesn’t know anything about sports, either.

The few remaining “Gil Thorp” fans have been pretty vocal with their displeasure. In response, the writer just started a new storyline, wherein the longtime radio announcer for the Milford teams is replaced by a new announcer, Jackie. Jackie is immediately harassed by unreasonable red-hatted jerks who decry any change at all, ever. The jerks are an obvious straw man for the strip’s critics. Here’s today’s strip, in which Gil and his girlfriend Beth sympathize with Jackie; those stupid complainers “don’t care if it costs you your job.”

I don’t want to cost anyone their job (and I don’t think I will), but this is a remarkably thin-skinned and impotent response by the writer; exactly who does he think he’s winning over? Also: the art IS bad (in my opinion) and the storylines have become typical newspaper soaps, and veered completely away from the high school sports action/ relatable teenage problems that always made “Gil Thorp” a must read. Maybe the “Gil Thorp” brain trust should listen to their fans, at least a little, instead of rejecting what they say out of hand.

Just my two cents.

Margreet the Great graces us with this hilarious nine six seven:

I love this. It’s hard to hate the astronauts for being so phone-obsessed because they seem so happy. I especially like the astronaut who is “liking” the Earth.

Margreet de Heer is not a cartoonist, she’s an alchemist; she takes my base cartoon ideas and turns them into something golden. Thanks, Margreet!

Everyone, you can be alchemists too: draw.