Project Wonderful Banner

Saturday, June 06, 2009

That damned Launch

What's Mallard raving about today?

Himself, D-Day.

I would have thought you couldn't get any more self-congratulatory than a week of reminders, but to compare your endeavor to D-Day, even self-deprecatingly?

Honestly...much hubris?

20 comments:

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

I disagree. This one is actually funny, and since he obviously isn't saying his comic is anything like World War II, I'm not real clear on what the philosophical objection is supposed to be. I mean, I hate to defend Tinsley, but come on.

Factinista said...

The only problem is that Mallard got started on May 30, not June 6. So first he forgets how the first comic went, and now he can't remember what day it launched.

Jazzbumpa said...

Uh . . .

Who is "He?"

What is the giant hand holding?

Geox - help me find the humor.
Being "topped" by a battle that claimed about 9000 allied casualties is profoundly unfunny.

Then - what factinista said.

Tinkley has no shame.

12xuser said...

It took me a while, but I figured it out. The giant, Godlike hand is supposed to be Tinsley, and it's holding a pencil.

I suppose this is supposed to be self-deprecating humor, but it ends up being a bizarre complaint by a cartoon character that his creator is better than him. Way to congratulate yourself, Tinsley.

Anonymous said...

Holy HELL. So, God is minding his own business, apparently spending some time pruning the hedge bushes, and this wanker walks up, and expects praise for starting a comic strip?

Ducky, I could think of several thousand examples of things that top, "yaaaay i make drawer-ings!"

s said...

I have to agree with GeoX here, this comic is perfectly defensible. It isn't all that funny, in my opinion, but perfectly reasonable.

Michael Foley said...

I agree: defensible, just not funny.

What isn't defensible is the way he continues to draw hands. From this angle, it should be impossible to see the index fingernail. Unless Tinsley is horribly deformed, or someone broke his fingers for an unpaid debt. At least this time the pencil doesn't look floppy.

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

The joke--and this seems pretty obvious to me--is that Mallard is obsessing over petty bullshit like the origins of his strip, until Tinsley points out that this is indeed petty bullshit compared to things that are actually historically consequential. The humor lies in the massive gulf between the importance of DDay and the importance of Mallard Fillmore. Okay, it's not all-time comic genius, but I don't understand how you could find it offensive unless you're looking for any excuse to be offended.

Rev. G said...

Look, we're forgetting the big issue here. That pen the gropenfuhrer is holding looks like a pair of tiny pliers.

rewinn said...

I am glad that, so far, I am the only one with a mind dirty enough to have laughed at "He always has to top me."

Congratulations to y'all; you're better people than I am!

Bill the Splut said...

It's hard to believe today, but at the time of D-Day right-wing Republicans were still accusing FDR of "socialism" because of the New Deal economic recovery programs, and referred to WWII as "Roosevelt's War," as if he had started it. 1944 was an election year, after all!

And what do you think Tinsley's views would've been like in 1944? He'd be drawing penis-chinned FDRs nonstop, complaining about...well, something. Something that didn't matter, just like he does now.

MALLARD: "France SURRENDERED....so AMERICANS must save the froggies....while DADDY NEW DEAL's Fireside Chats ignore LITTLE DOG FALA-gate...."
Unrecognizable caricature of FDR: "The MEDIA NEWSREELS love PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT, who is me! Even after I RAISED TAXES!...And forced liberal RATIONING and VICTORY GARDENS on everyone else!"
(That'd be from a Sunday strip, where he had more room for words....and ellipses....)

D-Day was how much more infinitely important than Dullard? Science has yet to discover a number that high! However, Tin Ear is devoting one strip to D-Day, and TEN to himself. Do the Tinsley math, and see which he himself thinks is more important.

Bill the Splut said...

CORRECTION:

I re-did the math, and Tinsley's devoting 10 days of strips to himself, and today's counts as one for himself, but only as half a strip on D-Day. Possibly less, as he's representing himself as God.

The Splut regrets this error.

twiso said...

This sort of thing - hell, this very same setup and punchline - might just have worked as self-deprectating whimsy if Tinsley had ANY TALENT AT ALL WHATSOEVER.

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

Yeah, today's comic would definitely be more effective if this was the ONLY time he saw fit to mention his anniversary. The previous days seriously dilute the impact. But viewed in isolation, I think this one is an okay strip.

CW in LA said...

It seems like Tinshley is suggesting that God (?) arranged for D-Day to occur when it did precisely to overshadow the anniversary of the Duck's debut. It don't know if that's hubris or not, but it sure is weird.

And as insufferable as the Blondie 75-year-a-thon was few years ago, at least 75 years is indeed something to get puffed up about. What's so awesome about a 15-year anniversary? As someone else suggested the other day, maybe he's not holding out even for the 20-year mark because he expects his syndicate (or maybe his liver) to give up on him by then.

brashieel said...

The funny thing is that I always assumed this was a legacy strip from further back than 15 years.

That being said, this one is unobjectionable. Even somewhat amusing.

Gold-Digging Nanny said...

Zombie Mallard Fillmore? Patrick, I hate you for even suggesting it.

Hungry for Spam said...

Also more important that Mallard Fuckwit's first comic - Tetris was created.

Anonymous said...

I've reviewed the comic in question. Pen(cil), my ass; those are pruning sheers.

David in NYC said...

Hmmm... I thought it was a really tiny tuning fork.

But pencil? No, I didn't think that.