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The Morning Line: When Parents' Bedrooms Attack
Big Nate: Funny, funny. Now: We think we just threw up in our mouth a little bit. (NEA Inc.)
We cannot lie: Today's "Big Nate" so took us by surprise, we almost choked on our wheat Chex. And really, what greater compliment can we pay a gag strip than to admit that it impaired bodily function in regards to foodstuffs? That it, in other words, literally made us gag.
The source of our involuntary uvula-clench is the left-right combination of the last two panels. Relatively speaking given the page, this delicious strip puts the "Er!" in "subversive" as we're left to surmise what Nate's daddy-o did for countless hours while holed up in his bedroom as a boy. And it doesn't really matter what the Grandma means, because we experience the moment through -- and right with -- Nate as he says: "...I'm a little bit creeped out."
May we just say: Eww. Because who among us, Dr. Freud, hasn't momentarily, accidentally envisioned a parental unit or two in flagrante? And then who among us hasn't immediately gagged involuntarily?
Well-played, Lincoln Peirce. Well-played. Now promise to never, ever do that to us again.
LATER TODAY: Guided by readers, you understand, we explore more comic-world subversion.
By
Michael Cavna
| July 30, 2008; 6:00 AM ET
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The Morning Line
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Posted by: Not Clueless | July 30, 2008 7:57 AM | Report abuse
On an almost related note...in today's "flash back" episode of Sally Forth...Sally has pregnancy boobs! Panels 1 & 2...standard Sally. Panel 3, she is a vision of fertility and life force, and only pictured from mid-torso up! Wasn't expecting THAT this morning.
Posted by: Omaha | July 30, 2008 9:33 AM | Report abuse
... and in Judge Parker, Sam is trapped in a commercial plane with chatty fellow travelers!!
...and he hates golf! But he's going golfing!
(Wonder if he'll hook up with that smokin' flight attendant???)
Posted by: JkR | July 30, 2008 9:50 AM | Report abuse
BTW, Nate looks very Calvin like in the third panel...
Posted by: JkR | July 30, 2008 10:50 AM | Report abuse
That is a good one. I wonder how much should be read into Nate apparently knowign what we're talking about?
Posted by: EricS | July 30, 2008 12:34 PM | Report abuse
A week or so ago, Frazz had a joke about only reading catalogs for the female pictures. Lots domain mastering going on in the comics lately.
Posted by: yellojkt | July 30, 2008 5:29 PM | Report abuse
Anyone who can do that "for hours" is a better man than I.
Posted by: AK | July 31, 2008 8:55 AM | Report abuse
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Dodgeball- the woman (Ben Stiller's wife in real life) says "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit" when asked by Ben Stiller to go out.