32: The Old Boy

by on February 24, 2016 at 1:00 am
Chapter:
Characters: ,

The Cheese Triangles arc (Pt. 2)

Jack gets one heck of a surprise from a peek at something he probably wasn’t meant to see! What an unpleasant old bugger he is. But could there be another, nicer side to him? We’ll have to wait and see.

 

Help Me Out – for Free!

 

woody allen in stardust memories

The director meets more of his fans, and hears the same refrain. In Stardust Memories

 

I mustn’t whinge or sound desperate, about Facebook and Twitter likes and shares, but here are the easiest and quickest (free!) ways for you to help my endeavour:

  • Spread the word with a social media ‘Like’ and/or preferably a ‘Share’
  • Encourage me with your feedback in the Comments box, below!

 

Help: by Spreading the Word

Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter or wherever… a ‘Like’ but even more so, a ‘Share’ is gold to us indie creators! Actually, it’s the next best thing to actually earning money for our work. It takes a second or two to do, but means so much to us, and can achieve so much! If you know others who would relate to and enjoy the comic, then please let them know about it 😀

 

Help: by Encouraging Me, in the ‘Comments’

Encourage
Seriously gang, please leave a comment – even if it’s just one line. We indie creators sometimes feel like we’re creating on a desert island without much idea of whether anyone’s actually interested or not. “Helloooo… is anyone seeing this?”

Feedback
It doesn’t all have to be “John, you are so wonderful”, either. Let me know what things you prefer about the comic, compared to others, and would like to see more of. Every bit helps. I can’t guarantee to please everyone, nor should I, but it can help keep me on track.

Thanks all for your support so far.

 

Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fightin’

Remember back in the 1970s, when ‘Everybody was Kung-Fu Fightin’? I seem to recall that kids were karate-chopping things left, right and centre! Including fences. If you were smart, you stuck to balsa wood and polystyrene. I suspected that the demos we saw on National TV shows probably used balsa wood. All of this was probably thanks probably to the TV Series, Kung Fu and Bruce Lee! We even ended up with Hannah Barbera’s ‘Hong-Kong-Phooey!’ cartoon. I touched-on this Eastern/Martial arts craze a while back, in some comic episodes: The Quest, Some Flippin’ Guru You Are and Kung Phooey.

 

Sometimes I wish I’d done Judo, like so many of the other kids. It would have done wonders for my self-confidence. Especially with bullies.

 

 

Maybe not quite so bad as in 1980, when The Vapors where – somewhat worryingly – turning Japanese?

 

 

Am I right in recalling the singer of that band actually pulling his eye-lids wide, with his forefingers while singing that song? I certainly hope not. I haven’t much of a clue what it’s about except perhaps that he’s in prison, feeling sexually frustrated. The Vapors must have thought that that was a very Japanse thing? Here’s an intriguing lyric:

“I want the doctor to take a picture,
So I can look at you from inside as well”

 

New Format: Website!

Another update for you. This time quite a boring one: I’m rebuilding this webcomic in the WordPress Content Management System. Hopefully it’ll be better for all of us, once it’s done and I switch us over to it. It’ll be

  • easier to navigate
  • quicker for me to update and maintain
  • more robust, technically
  • a better performer with search engines (maybe)

I’ll also be able to put in better archiving and there’ll be a site-wide search. Plus ‘tagging’ so you can find episodes more easily by their characters and themes. Yay!

Next Episode will be on Wednesday!

So, until Wednesdays update – that’s right! – another one is coming this Wednesday!

 

 

** Stay Groovy, all you 1970s kids! **

– John White

If you enjoy today’s strip and article, please leave a ‘comment’ so that I know? And please ‘Share’ it – in whichever way you prefer. Every bit helps, to get my comic ‘out there’ – and – encourages me to stick at it.

Thanks!

↓ Transcript
Young Jack was walking home from school along the country lane. He was also, quite to his astonishment, avidly reading the Frank Herbert 'Dune' novel, which his chum Neal had lent to him only that morning as they both walked to school.

"Cor..." he thought, "This Dune novel is actually pretty good!"

He might have thought 'really good' but it was early days, so 'pretty' would suffice, for now. You see, for once, Jack was trying to keep his enthusiasms in check, so as not to become obsessed with this latest thing, just as he did with every other damned thing. Sometimes, he worried terribly that any great new thing might even eclipse Star Wars, given the chance. It was a prospect so terrifying, that he preferred not to dwell upon it much. Suddenly an angry voice yelled out at him.

"Hey, you boy!"

He looked up, wondering where the angry voice was coming from.

"Yes, you behind the fence!" It shouted again.

Jack's head swivelled right, then left, and up, and with a start, he saw a furious looking, red moustachioed face darkly glaring down at him. The old man, had what looked like a riding crop or brass-tipped wooden baton gripped tightly in his driving-gloved fist. Knuckles whitening, he bellowed again:

"Are you the pesky little beggar who's been Karate-Chopping me palings?"

Jack was momentarily confused, until he saw the bony finger of the other hand pointing down at 3 damaged fence slats. The tops were roughly snapped off. It was then that Jack began to feel that slight tightening sensation around his backside. He was 'bricking it'.

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