The... umm... *Triple* Duce...

(From Real Life. And GPF. And Shortpacked! Because... well, you'll see.)

Dangitalltoheck.

Y'see... As you no doubt have ascertained, I have not posted in several days, now.

This is not because I no longer like you guys.

This is also not because I haven't had any comics catch my eye and give me something to talk about recently. Au contraire. In fact, I wanted to talk about Real Life. And GPF. And Shortpacked!

But my Blogger account was acting squirrely for some strange, as-yet unclear reason and it would not let me post.

*Grrrr...*

I wanted to talk about Real Life because, quite frankly, the strip I've thumbnailed is funny as crap. And it highlights perfectly everything that I like about RL: the fact that it is, in fact, true to life. Even though, yeah, things like time machines and alternate realities enter into the picture, the basic reactions of the characters are still... normal. Real. In this strip, it is shown in perfect detail what goes through Greg's mind when he figures out what time he has to get up in order to get to school on time.

And it breaks his brain. Which I can relate to, because that happens to me. Quite often. And this is exactly what I want from a strip called "Real Life." And it's funny. What's not to love?

Shortpacked! is next.

This strip, to me, was the climax of the recent "Drama Tag" storyline. First, we have Robin accidentally pulling Shortpacked's drama tag, and she absolutely panics. She doesn't want drama. She's seen that before, and it it wasn't particularly fun, emotionally. The world of Shortpacked has been something that has offered her peace. She can finally pursue her Perverse Sexual Lust for Greg Killmaster. She can attempt to seduce Ethan with action figures. In other words, Shortpacked has given her a normal life. And she doesn't want to lose that.

So when she accidentally pulls the drama tag, she tries desperately to change things back. She's panicky for a little while, but then, here at the climax, she remembers something new that she's learned.

Batman is comedy gold.

And so when I read the first panel of this strip, I cheered. Batman saves the day.

Then, on the second and third panels, I felt my jaw involuntarily drop open.

WTF???

Robin can't... she can't die, can she? I mean... she had the costume. She was Batman. Invulnerable. Hilarious. She was defending her new life against something that would destroy it, and I could just tell she was going to succeed. And then she gets shot? What's up with that?

The long and short of it is that David Willis had me on tenderhooks to see what was going to happen. And that deserves a comment regardless. Good stuff, that.

And finally, GPF.

I'll be brief, because I've already ranted quite a bit.

I get along with GPF. I like Nick, and Ki, and Fooker, and Sharon, and Fred, and the whole gang, right down to that bear friend of Fooker's who lives out in the woods somewhere. I like Darlington's sense of humor. I've read Eric Burns' YHMAYLM Essay, I saw the flaws he pointed out, and I liked it anyway. So help me, I adored Surreptitious Machinations.

So... another year long arc? Where do I sign up?

And now Nick is holding a sword, in a world that's supposedly based on Ki's story, the Council of Ethendale.

Dunno about you, but I'm hooked.

...And now I'm going to bed. You should to. Get some rest, or something.

_Kneefers