The Silent Penultimate Panel Watch

Ka-boom

2007-07-04T11:28:00.001-07:00

The watch has been a little less than vigilant recently, and look what's happened, a fireworks explosion of SPPs: (and how about that clever timely metaphor?)

9 Chickweed Lane by Brooke McEldowney
For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnson
Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Overboard by Chip Dunham
Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

I need to get back on the stick here.

Confidential to commenter Kris:
Uh, yeah, holy crap, that's me. What's up? Somewhere in my box of old VHS tapes, I still have a copy of our performance at Mid-stock '92. Those were the days, man.

A very special SPP

2007-06-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

A poignant, heartwarming silent penultimate panel today:

For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston

How heartless can I be to make fun of this one?

Of course it's maudlin and false, but, darn it, not everything has to be Richard Yates-level depressing (or even Funky Winkerbean-level.) There's nothing wrong with a little Canadian schmaltz for breakfast.

So what are the chances now that April and her band will have a change of heart and agree to play at the benefit concert?

A new debut

2007-06-25T22:07:00.001-07:00

After all this time it's rare to see a debut anymore on the watch. So today please welcome:

In the Bleachers by Scott Moore

In the Bleachers is one of those wacky single panel cartoons that sprouted like beans after Gary Larson retired. This one's gimmick is that it always has something do with sports. In turn, the LA Times buries it deep in the back of the sports section next to the horse racing results, tide charts and WNBA standings. (Still, that might be a better location than in-between Marmaduke and the Bridge column.)

If you ask me, there just aren't enough human-head-in-a-jar gags these days.

Trippy SPPs

2007-06-23T17:31:00.001-07:00

I'm back briefly with one totally trippy silent penultimate panel.

Frazz by Jef Mallet

While visually interesting, doesn't this distract from the gag a little?

And doesn't the Frazz silhouette look like something from a Krazy Kat background?

Metapost: Sporadic postings ahead

2007-06-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

and behind. The daily watch may become a little less regular than what I like. It's a simple case of TMSTD.

Golf lessons

2007-06-15T18:35:00.001-07:00

Missed Thursday, quick update today.

Monty by Jim Meddick

I don't always talk about myself here. I'm a rare blogger who doesn't feel it's important to tell you what he had for lunch, or how much corn chips cost at his work's vending machine. (They just went up to 90 cents!) But I will tell you that I've started taking golf lessons at the neighborhood community college. I figure only this way will I ever understand half the jokes on the comics page.

Nothing but Cathy to talk about

2007-06-13T22:00:00.001-07:00

Things have been slow on the SPP front since I returned from my time off. Another apparent shut out today.

So, for the most part I just ignore Cathy, my eyes pass over just long enough to see if the next-to-last panel has a word balloon in it. Have these abstract shapes been going on all along?

It's like they're living in the Sea of Holes with Jeremy Boob. But I doubt Cathy will ever save Pepperland.

Purple rectangles

2007-06-12T21:55:00.001-07:00

Two today, Tuesday

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell

Mutts again. Out of nowhere it's become the new Boondocks of SPPs.

Want to draw a comic strip that takes place at a driving range but have no idea how to draw one? Try the Cathy solution:

Have your character stand inside a purple rectangle, and the gag makes perfect sense.

Sally Forth

2007-06-11T20:39:00.001-07:00

Monday, one:

Pooch Cafe by Paul Gilligan

Ted Forth, the girliest hands in comics:

As Francesco Marciuliano writes Sally Forth with 2000-era sitcom rhythms, Craig Macintosh's art has remained stuck in the eighties. Thus we Sally Forth make quick-witted contemporary pop-culture references while wearing shoulder-padded power suits. Sally Forth has become one of the most bizarre things on the comics page.

Two day update

2007-06-10T22:42:00.001-07:00

Busy weekend, no time for blogin'

Saturday:
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

Sunday:
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell
Piranha Club by Bud Grace

When Mutts first appeared here a week or so ago I made a comment saying how rare it was for Mutts to use an SPP. Now it has become one of the most frequent guests here over the past few weeks. These things go in phases. Interesting.

Double shut out

2007-06-08T20:57:00.001-07:00

So I just might be shut-out for two days straight. This is unprecedented for the watch.

Today's Betty shows how to create awkward silence without using an SPP.

The blank spot over Betty's head in the second panel creates the comic beat.

Yes, and Mark Trail just gets awesomer.

Shut out

2007-06-07T20:09:00.001-07:00

I think we have a shut-out today.

The closest I found was today's Monty with a silent third panel. And after that, there are still three more panels to go. If anything, Jim Meddick can draw more squares in a single daily strip than any other cartoonist.

Meanwhile, in Lost Forest, we have been stuck in one of the most interminably boring storylines ever. For about the past eighteen years now, there's been nothing in Mark Trail but people talking about birds and airports (all sentences exclamation-pointed, of course.) Today, after decades of inaction, something finally happens. And it's awesome:

I notice these things.

2007-06-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

Two for this Wednesday:

Blondie by Dean Young, Inc.
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell

Blondie may not count:

It really isn't a silent panel. The punchline--Dagwood's hair going crazy--actually occurs in the second panel, it's just obscured from us and Blondie. The second panel delays the punchline. It's delayed not by awkward silence but in a slightly different way.

I don't know what it all means, or if it's clever or not. I just notice these things.

Cellphone talking

2007-06-05T19:38:00.001-07:00

Only one today. Things have really slowed down since my break.

Overboard by Chip Dunham

Meanwhile, this week in Rex Morgan is non-stop cell-phone action.

Graham Nolan at least tries to make things a little exciting with extreme angles and close-ups. If this conversation continues any longer (and in standard serial comic strip time, this could go on for months,) it will be interesting to see what Nolan does next--maybe a panel from the point of view of an ear canal?

Very silent.

2007-06-04T21:10:00.001-07:00

Two silent penultimate panels today:

Bo-Nanas by John Kovaleski
Frazz by Jef Mallett

For some reason, both of these panels seem more silent than normal. They might actually be well done depictions of awkward silence.

And again, I get a little silly with the photoshop (or GIMP, actually)

Quick Saturday wrap-up

2007-06-02T17:07:00.001-07:00

Three to wrap up the week:

Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis
Prickly City by Scott Stantis
Sally Forth by Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh

Non Sequitur wins the week with three SPPs from Monday to Saturday.

Peanuts

2007-06-01T18:52:00.001-07:00

Three today:

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller
Overboard by Chip Dunham
Peanuts (1960) by Charles Schulz

Doesn't even know his breed? At this point, ten years into Peanuts, Charles Schulz still hadn't figured out that Snoopy was a beagle. So many of the characters, running gags and facts we all think of as essential to the Peanuts universe were not invented until ten, twenty, thirty years after the strip began. It makes you wonder where Calvin and Hobbes would be now if Bill Watterson hadn't called it quits after only ten, quick years.

Mutts

2007-05-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

A rare one today:

Mutts by Patrick McDonnell

This one probably wouldn't work without the SPP. It happens sometimes. Every once in a while.

Gosh, those little guys are cute.

Switcheroo

2007-05-30T18:01:00.001-07:00

Two today:

Drabble by Kevin Fagan
Frazz by Jef Mallet

I'm surprised I never thought to do this before:

Deja Vu

2007-05-29T18:21:00.001-07:00

Only one for this Tuesday, from the reigning all time champ of SPPs:

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

Wow, talk about deja vu.

Meanwhile, Dan Piraro does his twentieth kids-today-sure-do-wear-baggy-pants gag of the past year.

How about something more timely--like a good kids-today-sure-do-play-that-bug-music-too-loud gag or maybe even a what-ever-happened-to-movie-stars-like-Tom-Mix gag.

Quick Monday update

2007-05-28T20:02:00.001-07:00

Only one for this Monday, from the reigning all-time champ of SPPs:

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

I missed posting yesterday, Sunday. Who knew a quaint little ocean-side cottage wouldn't have WiFi? Sorry about that, but I assure you I am back on a regular schedule here. (As if you were worried.)

Sally Forth

2007-05-26T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to count today's only candidate, Sally Forth. It actually is pretty clever.

An infinite amount of time can pass within a single panel and also in-between panels. It is something that is unique to the grammar of comics and Francesco Marciuliano and Craig Macintosh use it to make a pretty clever joke.

Meanwhile, in my L.A. Times today, Berkley Breathed embarrassingly pretends he is influential and relevant to mainstream entertainment. Read it here.

Friday update

2007-05-25T18:38:00.001-07:00

Quick, Friday picture-only update.

Bo-Nanas by Jon Kovaleski

Look for quick updates all weekend. The Mrs. and I are heading out of town for a couple days for the holiday weekend. I come back from a long blogging vacation only to immediately go on a real one.

Pointless pictures

2007-05-24T21:21:00.001-07:00

Two today:
Piranha Club by Bud Grace
Prickly City by Scott Stantis

The Get Fuzzy streak ends.

In Prickly City, a girl and a coyote have commandeered a dirigible. There's no reason plot-wise or joke-wise for them to have done so, they just have. Sometimes the pictures are there just so that the word balloons have something to point at.

Silent cat

2007-05-23T20:12:00.001-07:00

Get Fuzzy's streak continues:

Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley

Thank you, Darby, for keeping me in business this week.

There are plenty of 9 Chickweed Lane fans out there, and I do not mean to insult anyone, but...

For the past week and a half, I haven't even attempted to read it. For some reason, when I see this much text blocked together on the comics page, my brain refuses to comprehend. It's not that I can't read without the aide of pictures and sound effects, but I definitely have some sort of mental block here. Am I missing anything by not reading? Or is this just the prose equivalent of McEldowney's stretching-cat weeks.

It would be funniest if I didn't add anything to this.