The Comics Curmudgeon

I'm sure there's tons of this sort of thing online, but I doubt much (if any) of the rest of it is this funny. The impressive thing is that no alterations are done to the strip itself. How someone can muster the effort to unfurl such involved back stories for Family Circus characters is beyond me, but it's worth your time to savor. Here's an excerpt:

"They say that smell is strongly associated with memories, and when she got just the faintest whiff of mimeographic fluid from the papers she kept in the chest, suddenly she was twenty-one years old again, and working as an assistant in that downtown office. There weren’t many women in business jobs in those days, but her boss, Mr. Franklin, seemed to take her opinions about things seriously. They spent a lot of time in his office, talking about sales strategies and advertising, and somehow she barely even noticed it when it became something more — something much more — than just a business relationship..."

Enjoy more at joshreads.com!

Family Circus art ©King Features Syndicate
Comics Curmudgeon excerpt ©Joshua Fruhlinger

Dark Horse Classic Comic Characters #2: Popeye (2000)

To celebrate the release of the Fleischer cartoons on DVD, here's another terrific faux-syroco statue from Dark Horse and Yo! Studios of Popeye! As usual, they've done an incredible job. The sculpt is amazing - a great, dynamic pose without sacrificing strength or balance. The paint work is perfect for the retro style of the series.

It comes packaged in a foam-lined tin box, complete with an informative pamphlet and collectible pin. While these extras are very well-done, I'd prefer simpler packaging and a lower price. I wound up recycling all the tins, as I've bought most of the statues and don't have room for the packaging, too.

Unfortunately, the only example I've found of this statue for sale is this eBay dealer, and it's pretty expensive there - $125.00 +shipping! I think you can find it out there somewhere cheaper than that. Even if you can't, Dark Horse did another Popeye statue in 2004, and it's just as good and much more affordable!