Car Wash of Terror
With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we learn that Dr. John Patterson is unable to read this safety sign:
Do NOT allow children to operate the pressure washer at any time.
Don't look for it in the comic strip, just whenever you go to a coin operated car wash. Of course I will have to grant that Dr. John Patterson wasn’t aware that the local car wash had such water pressure it was capable of generating an indoor tornado.
Apparently Michael did not find this moment to be so traumatizing as to keep him from going to the Doogie Dewitt’s Dewitt Yourself Car Wash, which is the only other time I can see any Patterson using pressure wash. Edgar did better in that strip than Farley does in the car wash in this strip.
Most of the time Mike uses the drive through car wash as in this strip. The one time we see anyone washing the car by hand it is in this strip and it is Elizabeth.
The best car wash story is probably the one where Mike takes Rhetta Blum to the car wash, only he doesn’t know how to close the windows. It is in this strip, this strip, this strip, this strip, this strip and this strip.
All those car wash strips, and yet I can honestly say that today's car wash strip is the worst of the bunch.
Do NOT allow children to operate the pressure washer at any time.
Don't look for it in the comic strip, just whenever you go to a coin operated car wash. Of course I will have to grant that Dr. John Patterson wasn’t aware that the local car wash had such water pressure it was capable of generating an indoor tornado.
Apparently Michael did not find this moment to be so traumatizing as to keep him from going to the Doogie Dewitt’s Dewitt Yourself Car Wash, which is the only other time I can see any Patterson using pressure wash. Edgar did better in that strip than Farley does in the car wash in this strip.
Most of the time Mike uses the drive through car wash as in this strip. The one time we see anyone washing the car by hand it is in this strip and it is Elizabeth.
The best car wash story is probably the one where Mike takes Rhetta Blum to the car wash, only he doesn’t know how to close the windows. It is in this strip, this strip, this strip, this strip, this strip and this strip.
All those car wash strips, and yet I can honestly say that today's car wash strip is the worst of the bunch.
posted by howard at 11:11 PM
6 Comments:
I can't get over Elly's face in the first panel. This is what passes for "pleasant" in Lynn's artwork today, but Elly looks so very much like a hideous hag or a squash-faced troll. With dead little dot eyes.
I remember using the pressure washes when I lived up in Canada, back in the 90s. While I don't remember what the safety signs said, I do recall that I -never- saw a parent allowing one of their children to use the wands.
Especially not a freakish, deformed dainty dollboy child like Mike!
With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we learn that Dr. John Patterson is unable to read this safety sign:
Do NOT allow children to operate the pressure washer at any time.
That, or Lynn blithely ignores it when she does see it; she's 'good' like that. As for the strip with Farley, what the Hell did Elly expect to happen? That a dog would like the idea of a car wash? Did she learn nothing from all the times he freaked out whenever a storm was coming?
Personally, I love how stilted the dialogue is in this strip. "To the car wash. Mike and I are going to wash the car." In a medium where economy of dialogue is an asset, Lynn proves yet again that she can drive the wrong way down the street and write stuff that sounds like a lesson from an ESL class. I wonder if John says stuff like this all the time to drill where he's going through Elly's Canadian Shield of a skull. "To the grocery store. I am going to purchase some groceries." "To the barber shop. I am going to get a haircut." "To the divorce attorney. I am going to get the hell out of this marriage."
On the other hand, given Gordo's eventual Auto Imperium, maybe it helps to specify in Milborough. Otherwise, a trip to the car wash might involve, say, eating cinnamon buns or seeing a movie or taking a rocket to the Moon.
Anonymous,
While I don't remember what the safety signs said, I do recall that I -never- saw a parent allowing one of their children to use the wands.
I got my safety information from on-line searching not an actual car wash and I also found this lovely story.
DreadedCandiru2,
As for the strip with Farley, what the Hell did Elly expect to happen? That a dog would like the idea of a car wash? Did she learn nothing from all the times he freaked out whenever a storm was coming?
I liked the Farley in the car wash story, precisely because Elly was punished for making a silly choice. That is perfectly in character for her and she got her just reward. As for today’s strip, a kid reading it (assuming kids actually read these things) might think it would be fun to ride a high pressure water hose.
dlauthor,
"To the grocery store. I am going to purchase some groceries." "To the barber shop. I am going to get a haircut." "To the divorce attorney. I am going to get the hell out of this marriage."
LOL. I love your examples.
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