Thursday, January 5, 2012

Mary Worth 1,203

I have always known that this is what the staff was thinking when I walk into a restaurant.

44 comments:

heydave said...

That is absolutely the creepiest killer-face I've seen in a comic.

Wanders said...

I'm not back but I just had to find a way to post on my cell phone. Also frightening: Mary standing in the background. That'll haunt me. (no secret messages when I post from the phone. Sorry.)

Punky said...

Thanks for the post, Wanders - that panel was well worth immortalizing. And Mary's specter looming behind the potted plant is perhaps creepier than Bill the Manager's "give me just one moment, I'll grab my gun" statement. Just how many weapons DO they have stashed back in that kitchen, anyway?

Anonymous said...

@Punky: seriously! "Let's see, he's between me and the exit--I'll hold him in place with this whisk, spatula, and paring knife combo!"

--wheelhead

"eloge" I got nothing.

Chester the Dog said...

Weapon from the kitchen? How about last weeks meat loaf?

Anonymous said...

The Santa Royale PD must be crawling to the diner on their hands and knees.

KitKat said...

Let me get this straight: Bill is poised to physically attack a customer because a waitress said that another patron claims Customer 1 is a kidnapper. Maybe instead of "Good Eats Diner" it should be called "Rush to Judgment Diner."

Panel 1 is truly bizarre, even by Mary Worth standards.

heydave said...

And yes, I absolutely love Mary's portrayal of Mrs Bates! Shoulda mentioned it earlier.

Thorpnotized said...

So exactly where is Mary standing today? In the first panel, she's behind glass, looking into the diner from outside, and is to the left of Wayne and Emily. In panel two, she has moved to their right and is now looking through the window to the outside.

I Googled "restaurant kitchen weapons" and found this interesting story from AOL Travel:

http://news.travel.aol.com/2011/08/09/london-rioters-interrupt-tourists-fancy-dinner-get-scared-off/

It seems rolling pins and fry baskets are the way to go...

Maggie said...

"Maybe I can grab a weapon in the kitchen" is so awesome I'm thinking of stealing it and making it the new byline for the Apartment 3-G blog.

tuffenuf said...

The po-po had better hurry. Wayney McMomJeans has alread grown two sizes toward full blown Hulk-ism.

I could get to Diner from the East Coast faster than the Santa Royale PD crawling on my eyelashes!

Anonymous said...

Where are the Pulp Fiction guys when you need them?

Maude Findlay said...

I would laugh so hard, if after all this drama, Thuggy & the girl just turn out to be a random non-hostage daughter & her cranky dad. I know it won't turn out that way, but still, I would laugh SO hard! Mary would be banned from the diner.

Word verification- ''fackl''- which sounds like yet another fine product from the folks that bring you Kelk!

Mike in Cleveland said...

Thorpnotized, and anyone else: After careful study of previous strips, I think I have some of the geometry of Diner figured out.
There appears to be a glassed-in vestibule, or perhaps air-lock, at the entrance and Mary is standing/lurking in it. The first panel is a view looking out; the second is a view looking in. Other parts of the geometry have me completely baffled: Sometimes the entry is in the middle of the diner; other times it seems to have migrated to the far end of the diner. How Mary got from the kitchen to the air-lock without tripping over McThuggy is anybody's guess--a tunnel? Or, more realistically, a four-dimensional tesseract?

Chester the Dog said...

I just read back to the 3rd, and Emily had every chance to escape her kidnapper. Or at least shriek at the top of her lungs, but, nooo, all she can do is whine ablut her free ice cream (if the DINER even has that flavor in stock), which I thought she got early last week before she started coloring. I guess I was wrong, or confused, or thrown off by the lack of continuity in each strip.

And how does Bill the manager know that she may be the missing girl?

My WV: "chodku", the flavor in the freezer next to the rainbow swirl.

Anonymous said...

I think we are headed for a Hollywood-style car chase with Mary in hot pursuit of McThuggy.

KitKat said...

Anonymous @ 3:16 PM: If only....

Thorpnotized said...

@Chester the Dog: On 1/3, at the top of the first panel, it states, "BREE HAS JUST TOLD BILL, THE DINER MANAGER, ABOUT THE SITUATION".

meg said...

His victim satiated with "ice cream", "Wayne" turns to leave, only to be confronted by:

The Masque of the Mauve Death

or

The Hot Pink Reaper

djangosmom said...

Preview of tomorrow's MW:

Bill Dinermanager leaps from the kitchen twirling knives like Jackie Chan.

Vicki said...

I once knew someone who worked at a fast food place, and after hours her creepy middle-aged manager was caught stalking her at her home, hiding out in the bushes underneath her window!

I think this "Bill, the Diner Manager" might be friends with him! I mean... that really weird smile and the "weapons-in-the kitchen"-thing is even creepier than Wayne, The Kidnapper!

djangosmom said...

Mary is about to morph into "Vigilante Mary"

Punky said...

When the police don't stir from their doughnut break to help, when Bill the manager fails to materialize with a weapon from the kitchen, when even the prospect of free rainbow swirl ice cream won't slow this miscreant down, just one woman stands in the way to save the day.

Dave in Parma said...

How unfortunate--I was wrong about Wayne: he is going to dine and dash.

And Bill: nice "excuse me whilst i go get a weapon" gesture.

And now it is time for 'The Meddler' to spring into action. Apparently her superpowers include casting distorted reflections on any glass surface to make the evil-doers believe they're surrounded...

Russ Morin said...

Best panel in a long time! I love Mary standing ominously in the background. Tee shirt????

KitKat said...

Ooh, Mary is readying her meddliest stare! I just know that she is about to unleash her "finger of doom" at Wayne. Of course, nothing will happen on Saturday, but Sunday might be fabulous! (I'm not saying WHICH Sunday. This is a leap year, after all, so life in the Worthiverse can proceed at an even slower crawl.)

Ice T said...

I'm not sure whether which panel is creepier - the one from yesterday or the one from today.

But they might be onto something here. Perhaps instead of Mary being the central character, going forward we only see her shadowy figure standing in corners, looking in the window, etc. Always watching, always waiting.

Thorpnotized said...

Mary's fist-of-death yesterday (1/5) was much better than the normal face touch. It's interesting today how Emily's little hand seems to be touching Mary's ear. By the way, where is Emily's body in the lower pane of glass?

duckduckgoose said...

The holidays are over and
Wayne's gained a ton
on the run.
Ronnie has gone for
a Kitchen weapon.
A knife? Grey Poupon?
They're leaving the diner!
Little girl still a whiner.
No time for dessert.
Mary's alert.

(We all know that look.)
Where's Ronnie the Cook?

duckduckgoose said...

Don't count on SR's Finest
to rescue her highness.
They aren't at the Diner.
Plus, Mary is finer
and she's looking real scary...
our Mary.

KitKat said...

Bravo/brava to duckduckgoose!

heydave said...

No way will they ever catch McThuggy. He looks different in every panel; who could describe him?

Shmoopie said...

Emily looked like a young girl on the verge of womanhood when this story began. Today she seems to be 4, going on 5. Or is the scale all off with the incredibly hulkyfying Wayne towering over her ?

I've been working on a project that took nearly all of my time and energy for the last two weeks. I've resisting sneaking to MW&Me throughout the day as I normally do. Rather, I saved a visit to the blog for the end of each day before collapsing into bed. That way, I collapsed laughing. Although there was the distinct danger of actually splitting a gut, I want to thank you all for making my day--every day--with your hilarious comments..... I mean your deep psychological insights!

tuffenuf (child model) said...

"Is she a child model?"....

REALLY?
Really, Mary???

Is that the best, least hokey thing that you could come up with?

I think: "Shoe's untied!" might have worked better!

birdie said...

Now that Mary knows she can dodge bullets, she seems to think she's invincible.

Or is she really counting on Thuggy to be a gentleman and refrain from hitting an old woman?

Sandi Ego said...

My daughter says, "Finally little Emily is piping up!" No kidding. I can't wait to see Mary throw her medium length sweater over Wayne's head and render him incapacitated. Bill, now would be a brilliant time to show up with a kitchen weapon.

KitKat said...

Why does Emily (if that really is her!) feel free to point out things like Wayne not paying the check, or that she's not his daughter, yet she hasn't asked someone for help? Come on, kid, make up your mind!

heydave said...

Of course, the cops would come in with sirens blaring. I'm just surprised the SWAT team truck hasn't entered the scene.

Punky said...

Last night, while heading into the kitchen to get something, I found myself saying "Maybe I can grab a weapon in the kitchen!" and attempted to strike Bill the Manager's lean-and-point-and-grin pose. It wasn't pretty. My friends looked at me like I was demented. But I was chuckling inside.

Robert said...

Love that Mary broke out the old "I know people" routine!

Shmoopie said...

Sunday's strip is either setting us up for another shootout or possibly a HOSTAGE SITUATION! Or maybe Bill the Manager will come at Wayne McFrownyface from behind and crack him on the head with a frozen leg of lamb. Now that's a weapon you would find in a well-stocked kitchen.

Dave in Parma said...

Oh no! Wayne is trapped! Go out and run into the police, or go back into the diner and run into the Meddler.

I'd take my chances with the police.

meg said...

Wayne to Mary:

I'll have my people call your people.

KitKat said...

Sheesh, the squad car arrives with siren blaring?! Maybe tomorrow the SWAT team will shoot Wayne. This is all on the word of a meddlesome old biddy. Apparently one is guilty until proven innocent in Santa Royale!