The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Friday, August 13, 2010


Okay, I've run out of things to say.

No I haven't! Ha ha, I was kidding! This is the Saturday part of the little story arc where, as I mentioned, there's a pause for commentary or mopping up. And I just noticed something; this strip enlarges on themes presented in Tuesday's strip, specifically Dill being slightly clueless and somebody saying DARN in frustration (only this time louder). If I had an academic bent I could probably draw some conclusions from the persistence of these themes, but my bent is slackjawed ignorant so it's more likely I thought of the same jokes within a span of days but didn't realize it. 

Looking at this strip now I'm annoyed by the middle panel. The feather in Alice's hat and the escaping gob of Squeezie Pop are too similar in shape and size, and it cuts down on the instant readability that's necessary when strips are reduced for newspaper reproduction. Which, judging from the minute end product that freckles the comics page, is readable only by microbes, viruses and nanobots, who may be the last creatures now subscribing to newspapers. And that would explain a lot of things  

4 comments:

Jo said...

Stop fussing. I think the similar shapes between the feather and the Squeezy-Pop give that panel a certain... symmetry and don't detract from the overall effect at all. It leads your eye to the next panel!

And I especially liked the coup de grace in the last panel, "Well, she's right..." *dies laughing* Talk about adding insult to injury!! Poor Alice!!

Perhaps you should add a fish slappin' bear to comfort her!

richardcthompson said...

It was whiney, wasn't it?

On the other hand, I liked Alice's wide open gullet-view of a mouth in the last panel.

gilda92 said...

Heya! Dill slightly clueless? NoNo.
I love Dill. He's an intuitive. I feel a certain affinity for Dill.

Joyce said...

I just love the "SKWISH" noise ... I can hear it in my head!