Foolishly, I suppose, we thought FOR SURE Brooke McEldowney would make some reference to Halloween in his strip over the years. At the very least, we were expecting the female characters to be dressed as sexy somethings -- painters? pilots? poop emojis? -- but McEldowney gave us nothing. So we soldiered on and explored a half dozen or so strips that ran on Halloween. Edda writes an incomprehensible sentence on the chalkboard. Thorax either milks a cow or breaks up with it. Both seem equally possible. Edda finds some confidence only to have a friend tell her to "drop dead." A former nun (Diane) and Catholic priest (Francis) get married, which fogs up another nun's glasses. Thorax becomes "shadow president" and for some reason a chicken reads three teleprompters that all say "cluck." Amos & Edda's relationship is tested when Amos accidentally kisses Xiulan, a fellow cellist who is also a pilot, because of course she is. Finally, Edda does a solo ballet dance that's interrupted by a dog putting his nose in her butt. Mostly, we end up spending a lot of time at an insufferable dinner party with Brooke McEldowney.
The Chickweed strips we discuss this episode:
The vexing chalkboard, magnificent cow, and Drop Dead Janice are here.
The nun with the boob-eyes, the Shadow President, and Xiulan's damp kiss are here.
The dog nose in the butthole is here.
This episode's not very spooky journey includes:
- Meditation
- 2-liter bottles
- Rocket launch
- Space X
- Elon Musk
- Plumbers
- Halloween decorations
- Edda
- Cows
- Thorax
- The Bechdel Test
- Janice, Edda's friend from the ballet company
- Diane & Francis
- Sister Steven / Sister Caligula
- Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart films
- Yet another ellipsis problem
- Shadow governments
- Teleprompter
- Tony Orlando & Dawn
- Amos, Edda, & Xiulan
- Showgirls
- Speed skating, ballet, or modern dance?
- The mysterious white dog again
- Happy Halloween!
Show Notes
Nam myoho renge kyo for 15 minutes.
Not a sexy poop emoji costume, but a sexy pope costume.
Does this comic strip pass The Bechdel Test? Probably not.
For context, this is Caligula.
A moment from To Have and Have Not.
"Knock Three Times" by Tony Orlando & Dawn.
The Showgirls pool sex scene. It is very NSFW. Skip to 2:15 for the splashiest part.
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