Glorious Gil

More Gil . . . it's addictive. You may think that we in the "making fun of comics" business have it easy. No problem, right? Read the strips, find the lamest, most annoying, or most confusing one, type it up, and voila! Not so easy. Sometimes they are all just so middling, lame in a non-descript way, full of lame puns that don't even bear commenting upon. Then I discovered Gil Thorpe (I used to skip it in the N&O). Making fun of Gil is like taking candy from a baby.

Case in point: The strip above, which . . . is three unrelated panels? They're unrelated, right? Am I missing a connection?

For any of you true Gil aficianadoes out there (not you, Sara Sidle - it's a different Gil), you will discover that I have NO IDEA who these people are and how they relate to each other. I only read Gil for the possibility of mocking, not to retain and assimilate info. Moving on.

Panel 1: These folks think Von Haney is "smooth." Yeah, baby! Von, I'm guessing, is the guy who's been working at the local radio station. He's the Delilah of Thorpeland, playing dedications and spinning the tunes. His song choice here is "You Don't Know Me!" I actually LIKE that song! Hey, Von Haney IS smooth. Right on. You'll have to click on the strip to enlarge it. That way, you can see that the "woman" in this panel is absolutely bizarre. Her hair is the anti-Mandy do. Her glasses are . . . strange. Her lips are painfully swollen. She reminds me of the one Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark who grabbed that burning medallion and had the imprint burned onto his hand. I mean, this guy (on the far right in the photo). Oh yeah, and not to be outdone, the guy in this panel has a nice pencil thin mustache.

Oh yeah, what the heck is "Michael Buble?" Well, you can find out here. He's a real singer, a young looking guy. Gil Thorpe is making cultural references I am not hip enough to get. Pardon me while I slit my wrists.

OK, I'm back.

Panel 2: Does it have anything whatsoever to do with Panel 1? Is the guy on the ground Von Haney? If so, that means that this panel takes place much later than Panel 1 ('cause Von's not spinning the tunes here). Or, it means that Von pre-records his radio shows. So, I'm guessing it's not Von. Just two random dudes getting ready for "Hoop Camp." Uh, Hoop? Isn't the correct term "Hoops?" Whatever. It's just two dudes shooting baskets while lit with an angelic aura. They are lit with the heavenly glow of the glorious blessed. God is watching them. He knows how bumpy things really CAN get for "the big man."

Panel 3: Lest we get the idea that this strip is about Von and his righteous tunes, or the heavenly big man, we get Kelly and her colleague screening calls from Gary! I guess they work in PR or advertising or some other "hip" and "creative" field. You can tell this because they have a Picasso on the wall and a flat screen monitor on the desk. Is Kelly the "mystery woman" Von talks about in Panel 1? Is Gary one of the guys in Panel 2? How does he call while he's on the court? No, I guess he's not one of those guys.

Who are these people? How do these panels relate? If you are a cartoonist, can you just string together 3 panels and call that a "strip?" Or do you have to take the effort to make them relate? Because if you can just put random things together, that would make the whole field of creativity much easier!

Kelly Clarkson. Albert Pujols. Kyoto Protocol. HA HA HA!! I like this random trick!