Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mary Worth 1,357

Another fun fact from the Costa Concordia disaster: "It is the largest passenger ship ever wrecked. The 4,000 people who fled its slippery decks—nearly twice as many as were aboard the R.M.S. Titanic in 1912—represent the largest maritime evacuation in history" (Vanity Fair, May 2012). It looks like the Unità del Mare may beat the record!

Today's Full Strip

15 comments:

Peggy Olson said...

Wilbur is showing surprising wisdom by moving toward the lifeboats.

Listen -- is that Is the orchestra starting to play on the deck?

fauxprof said...

Referencing panel one, that may be sort of what a lifeboat looked like on the Titanic, but today they are large, enclosed boats with a capacity of 150 souls. Giella has drawn a rowboat for a lazy day on a small pond.

Peggy Olson: I hear it too...and we all know what's playing. (One Sunday, years ago, we were at Mass, and the hymns included both the one about "for those in peril on the sea", AND "Nearer My God to Thee"! I was afraid the church had struck an iceberg.)

KitKat said...

After reading the Vanity Fair piece about the Costa Concordia, I too am stunned and dismayed that Ms. Moy incorporated this plot. What WAS she thinking? "'Ripped from the headlines' worked for 'Law and Order,' so why not for me?"

I'm unable to say anything else.

Nance said...

Apparently this was a Theme Cruise: Miami Vice At Sea, with Don Johnson as your host.

(These past several strips are almost painful in so many ways, the least of which is the information larding. As a former creative writing teacher, it's excruciating to watch how M&G keep packing in Tidbits of exposition via the lame dialogue of Wilbur.)

Anonymous said...

Who's the fresh person patting Dawn on the cheek at a time like this?

Word verification: rownou
Good advice!

heydave said...

This plot line, and I am being generous, is truly painful yet embarrassing and infuriating to watch.

So how did McThuggy get out of Diner and onto Boat?

And where is Mary?

Robb said...

Wow. Not one person of color on this cruise ship. Mary lives in a very white world.

Anonymous said...

Life is brutal. Drown Dawn! Drown!

Anonymous said...

I just want to express my feelings here. Thank you, SandiEgo, for showing us the Vanity Fair article. KitKat, Nance, heydave, I'm feling all the sentiments you expressed, but mostly anger. Anger that Moy had duped me into thinking that this was somehow going to be an original take on that disaster. Duped into mocking out something that had actually happened to a lot of unfortunate people. As I can no longer think of anything amusing to say, I'm going to have to drop out of this blog for the duration. I hope to rejoin you at the next "plot."

Mike in Cleveland said...

Huh, somehow the posting showed me as "anonymous." Sorry, the emotional howl was from me.

Punky said...

Mike in Cleveland, I hear you. This story is beyond insensitive. Was this really the only way to cure Dawn of her depression? Out of every possible plotline imaginable? I rest my case.

Big Tex said...

I appreciate the readers who are appalled at the bad taste of this plot, but look at the possibilities to teach "life lessons" here. A panel of Wilbur, a sandwich in one hand, going down for the 3 time while Dawn weeps piteously from a lifeboat would make ALL of this worthwhile. Let's see where they go with this!

LouiseF said...

Hmm. . . It's my understanding that a way to cure (or at least slake the effects of)depression is to change your environment or do something different. None of that seemed to work for Dawn, and she's soon going to be nursing (as will Wilbur and everyone else on the boat) a nice case of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,provided they survive that is. Once they get home, I predict a plot where both Wilbur and Dawn go into a coma each time the word "boat" is mentioned. . . No more dinners on the "Bum Boat" with Mary as a result.

Vicki said...

I'm just wondering how Mary is faring with "Ask Wendy" and if she is getting worn out by now!

You know, Wilbur probably uses autofill templates that knock out standard replies. He just fills in a few blanks...punches his time card, grabs a sandwich from the vending machine and goes home.

Unlike Wilbur, Mary probably labors for HOURS on each reply and tosses and turns all night! (She might even have a hair or two out of place by now!) And I do hope in her weariness she is still keeping track of where she puts her medium sweater.

Anonymous said...

Those poor passengers! Once they climb the chain-link fence, they have to cram themselves into the same boat that Captain Bligh used during his astounding journey to Timor...or maybe it's the James Caird, the boat that carried Sir Ernest Shackleton and five men from Elephant Island to South Georgia.

In any case, that boat ain't gonna hold enough people.

--Beagle Vet