I've been sick the last few days, and too sick to write, but Mary Worth brought some soup over last night, and I'm starting to get back on my feet.
So, today I'll just point out that Mary's reaction to being asked to lie for Beth is adorable. Simply adorable.
But she's scrunched up her face as if the idea of lying is as distasteful to her as asparagus is to Beth's mom.
ReplyDeleteThe composition of Panel One is unusual. Your eye is drawn to the vase of red roses, as if that's the focal point. I can imagine the roses screaming, "Save me. Please get me out of here!"
ReplyDeleteMary looks like she's picking at a particularly onerous Face Zit.
ReplyDelete(Poor Beth. She has the worst profile I've ever seen. I hope SuperTom Harpman never looks at her sideways.)
@Wanders,
ReplyDeleteSo you say, but was the soup white??
@Peggy Olsen,
The vampire roses have no reflection in the mirror! If they're screaming, it's for blood!!
@NonnyMus--you beat me to it! Either mirror or highly polished surface, it ought to be reflective, and those roses just arem't showing up. The vase casts a shadow, though. I'm scared.
ReplyDeleteThe thought bubble should read
ReplyDeleteooooooOOOOOOO(Because by the time I get serious, she'll be in a home or dead)
@Peggy Olson: the roses could be the first vibrant color (outside of the professor's chest and swim trunks at the pool parties) ever seen in this strip.
@Wanders - better to have Mary cook magic potion soup for you than Beth to cook super-salty whole fish for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but this whole plot is really, really, stupid. Stupider than usual. Is Beth a 15 year old girl hiding her new boyfriend from her parents? Is Moy still in high school, herself?
ReplyDeleteMary Worth, the voice of reason.
ReplyDeletePlatitude alert. They're on their way.
ReplyDeleteIf Tom and Beth get really serious, Elinor may know in about nine months.
ReplyDeleteWho brought the fleas into Mary's apartment?
ReplyDeleteWhoa! I just noticed that Mary's drying her black fishnet stockings on the lamp.
ReplyDelete@Yahoonski, Yikes! Creepy!
ReplyDelete@Everyone, Comics Kingdom is having problems again. To see today's strip, click on "Buy a Print".
I'm still trying to figure out why Elinor would even come and ask Mary where her daughter is. Is Beth such a social pariah in this town that she couldn't just tell her mom "I'm going out with a friend to dinner"? and have that be plausible?
ReplyDelete@NonnyMus at 6:15 AM, thanks for the tip re Comics Kingdom. I figured that the CK people could not bear to run today's strip, which features a famished Tom so eager for Beth's vittles that he practically falls out the door before she can ring the bell. I thought that Bobby and Gina were a well-matched couple of zeroes, but Tom and Beth are even more pathetic.
ReplyDeleteFlashback: In today's Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Martha Stewart's column answers a question about moving decorated cakes. Martha's response mentions neither John Dill nor Mary Worth, nor their practice technique. Professional jealousy? Did Chef Pierre once snub Martha?
Thursday: Some doors have peep holes. Tom's apparently has eyelashes. Thanks to Beth for pointing directly at it. As if it didn't already feel self conscious.
ReplyDeleteThursday
ReplyDeleteGaaaa! The ants are on Beth's back! Between the ongoing ant infestation, and the vampire roses yesterday, this strip is turning into a very cheap horror flick.
On the other hand, it seems that Tom, like one-armed Jim, patronizes Santa Royale's famed Blue Shirt Store.
"On second thought, Mary, I'll just stay here and enjoy your dead-on Jack Benny impression. Do Eddie Cantor next, please!"
ReplyDeleteUh, I think Moy is attempting a bold audio illustration of Beth jauntily punching Tom's door bell.. . . Eyelashes on the peep hole indeed! Beth's giddiness is pretty unbelievable, but maybe she is so giddy because she has left Mary bound and gagged in her apartment since MW informed her that she won't keep her trap shut should Elinor Kinley contact her regarding Beth's whereabouts. I notice Moy's abrupt transition to the scene outside Tom's door following Mary's declaration yesterday. . .
ReplyDeleteTHURSDAY
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of jacked-up, awkward, impossible dialogue is this? I'm going to build on it to anticipate Friday.
Beth: Hello, Tom! Are we ready to do some cooking?
Tom: I am!
Beth: Great! Because get ready...I'm here to show you how!...
Tom: I can't wait!
Beth: Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get in and get on with the cooking! It's my hope that you have food that's nutritious.
Tom: Ha Ha! Not me!
Beth: But not you, I'll bet on that. Looks like another trip to Food Team for us. Shall you drive?
Tom: You bet.
And thus, we continue to get nowhere in this sophomoric plot.
Beth continues to ring Tom's doorbell even after he has answered the door. How annoying...
ReplyDeleteIs this double entendre week or what?
ReplyDeleteAre you ready to go for it??!? can't be far behind...
After their cooking lesson, Beth will continue her middle-school rebellion against Elinor by sneaking cigarettes behind the schoolyard, rolling up her uniform skirt at the waist to make the hem shorter, and applying lipstick while looking into a parked car's side view mirror. All of her efforts to keep things from Elinor will be dashed, when Elinor finds one of Beth's notebooks, with ''Beth Luvs Tom 4-Evah!'' written on the cover in hot pink magic marker, circled with a heart.
ReplyDelete@Maude Findlay at 12:22 PM, in that notebook will be pages of "Mrs. Thomas Harpman ... Beth Harpman ... Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Harpman ... Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Harpman and family ..."
ReplyDeleteWow, these are two really plain human beings. Guess there truly is someone for everyone.
ReplyDeleteBravo, Nance! You've nailed it!
ReplyDelete