Pray for Her

Hey guys. Do we have any readers who are medical professionals, or have friends that are medical professionals that could give us a second opinion? I just want to get it confirmed that this is a typical examination for a patient suffering possible dissociative fugue symptoms, or possibly a catatonic state.

• First: insist the patient stands up while you talk to about her in the third person. 
• Next, have a man she doesn't recognize hold her hand and murmur soothing sentiments with the goofiest grin ever, while you go get your stethoscope from the car. 
• In fact, nevermind that, bring the patient to your equipment. 
• Have her stand outside on the sidewalk while you hover around her with your invisible stethoscope, making educated guesses about her pulse and breathing. 
• When the patient inevitably collapses and/or disappears into thin air, freak out dramatically and demand someone else call an ambulance. 
• Now's probably a good time to go back inside. 
• Find the patient's roommate and ask them to locate the patient's hand and hold it while you look on anxiously and think about getting a snack.

Can we all agree this is pretty par for the course?

White as a Sheet

 Thursday September 17, 2015

Friday September 18, 2015

Lu Ann, everyone in this strip is white as a sheet.

I like to imagine that Margo is just sprawled out on the sidewalk/carpet between Lu Ann and Eric, and that every time they move around, they have to step over Margo like she's one of the corpses in Clue the movie.

Frightened

Monday September 14, 2015

Tuesday September 15, 2015

 Wednesday September 16, 2015

I don't really have the heart to rag on this anymore until we start talking about what caused Margo's mental break. It better be a hallucinogenic gas leak in Gabby's apartment, created by Diane Devine, or something equally bizarre. (Although if that's the case, I'm almost certain we'll hear about it second-hand, like the fate of Evan Graham.)

Speaking of the Evan Graham-era... what was the point of Greg Cooper coming back to New York if he wasn't one of the spooky strangers haunting Margo? Is he going to appear again? Yes? No?

Simple Explanations

It's like Tommie and Lu Ann's outfits are sucking them into a carnation turtleneck singularity.

This strip is making it very difficult for me to stick to my resolution to be less harsh on Frank and more harsh on the writing.  I mean the writing is pretty terrible, but Tommie's hand looks like a sea lion's flipper and Eric has rapidly deflated between the first and second panels. 

Must criticize the writing...focus...OK, we've got it...Margo's acting really bizarre.  Can someone please do something about it so we can move on to whatever fresh hell awaits us in the next storyline?

Tommie, Please!

Ommie-Tay, this is my oss-bay, please try to be ool-cay. Okay?

Actually, I wonder if this sudden turn of events will inspire Lu Ann to immediately reverse her decision to quit the gallery and return to painting once again?

An Old Friend

"Hey guys, it's me Eric Mills. I haven't talked to Margo yet about how Eric Mills I am, I thought I'd reveal myself to you guys first so we could gossip about her."

"LU ANN, go in the other room, I'll talk to the man. I've changed into a collared shirt to project power and confidence. Eric Mills imposter, you getttt ouuuuut!"

Missing Person

Things not to worry about besides Margo's disappearance.

1) That burglar stole all the squiggle art and kelly green décor.
2) That everyone believes Margo is overworked even though she has no clients, fired all her coworkers and hasn't been to the office in months.
3) Tommie growing her hair out to an awkward length.  Keeping the bangs was a mistake.
4) That Tommie and Lu Ann are wearing bizarro outfits and rotating around each other in a white walled room.

Nurse Dawkins Has Set Me Free!

WHAT IS GOING ON.

Are Tommie and Lu Ann talking about "celebrating" how Tommie was "set free" from work earlier than usual, using the most unnatural and overblown language possible?

OR, has Nurse Dawkins set Tommie free from her already-tenuous grip on reality, baptizing her into the Cult of White and Carnation Pink? Is Tommie entering a new era of her life, where she can leave her important (and salaried) work in the medical professional to spends months on end in a cabin up in the woods, meditating and taking care of animals WAIT, NO, EFF, THAT ALREADY HAPPENED.

The Hunt for Margo Magee

A waist!  We have a waist!  Albeit, one ensconced in the wide elastic band of a sweet peacock windbreaker suit, but I'll take it.  And I think Lu Ann's turtleneck is starting to eat her thumb and index finger.  Maybe you guys should go check the street corner again for Margo...that's the last place we saw her.

Unpredictable

WHOA, is second-panel Tommie a tribute to Aaron Williams' subtle gesture in 7 Days in Hell? I mean, of course she's not, someone who draws ladies in turtlenecks and blazers--in July no less--is probably not up to speed on the latest HBO mockumentaries, but Frank should know an obscene gesture when he draws one.

P.S. this conversation has happened at least twice already, I'm over it.

Where is Margo?

Wait, we've gone from the apartment to outside to the M+M Agency, with no assist from a narration box? And how does Lu Ann know about Greg being in town? Did Margo vent about their encounter in some kind of stream of consciousness swear-laden monologue in the apartment?

Man, I give up trying to force logic onto this. I'm just going to sit around the office pinching my chin like Lu Ann.

One-Sided Conversation

Another day, another character talking to themselves on the corner of Main Street, USA sorry, midtown Manhattan. = And of course the professor is right. You don't give away a stake in Manhattan real estate! 

Refused

WELP I GUESS THAT DRAMA'S OVER! Nice try at leaving A3G by... giving away part of an apartment? Still a little unclear if we're talking about her room in A3G or her 33% stake of the apartment building. Whatever, it was never going to happen. This deflating announcement, made to no one but the New Guinea impatiens, actually made me laugh out loud this morning, so kudos to keeping the comics comic.

No Buts

Thursday July 2, 2015

Friday July 3, 2015

Um so I'd say this storyline is definitely trending dark now. The crazy awkward phrasing of "I'm going to wish I had a gun to shoot myself" makes it more weird and sinister. And I mean, we all knew Margo was a sociopath, but severing every meaningful relationship with no emotional breakdown or catharsis? I can't see a reasonable plotline that doesn't involve therapy.

Luckily, the girls one and only friend happens to be an amateur therapist! Paging Apartment 3H!

Argh!!

CHARITY???! Lu Ann, you fool! Don't you know that's one of Margo's trigger words?? I think we can all expect Kill Bill levels of violence to break out at this point. That, OR, more yelling and crying?

Crazy Talk

"A stable job?!  A permanent stake in Manhattan real estate?!?  Aren't you listening Margo?  No one would want those things!"

What's the Big?

Jeez, Lu Ann, what are you, trying to sell the apartment this morning? Do you really need to have this conversation right this second? Calling Margo a million times and then busting into her identically decorated office is probably not the right way to kickoff this conversation, and may result in a big deal and/or drama.

Margo Looms

"Whelp, I'm off to the hospital for a triple graveyard shift.  Definitely won't be home for dinner tonight when you have to tell Margo your plan to break the financial contract you have with her and disappear forever.  I'm sure it will be fine though, Margo's been so calm and understanding lately."

On an unrelated note, did they change the lampshades to mauve?

Upset

Thursday June 25, 2015

 Friday June 26, 2015

Okay, so a little more exposition on Lu Ann's future plans: she will NOT be staying in New York, which overturns the theory that she will bum around/hook/live in squalor until Margo takes her back. Barking Monkey's theory that Margo will have a complete breakdown and Lu Ann will stay to help her through the tough times makes the most sense to me, which doesn't mean it will happen, but at least it would create a tidy (if impermanent) reason why Lu Ann can't leave the apartment, no one can leave the apartment, no one can ever ever leave.

Meanwhile, doesn't Tommie look DEVASTATED by this news? She's already thinking about setting up a home gym in Lu Ann's room, I guarantee it.

Something Planned

Tuesday June 23, 2015

Wednesday June 24, 2015

Tommie's getting emotional. I think she's probably had this exact conversation before with Lily. Hint: it ended with Lily running into the woods and not going back to school for nursing.

Seriously, where are we going with this? Theories, in order of likeliness:

1. Lu Ann escapes to SOUTH DAKOTA!! to spend more time with her intolerable family and that Cody fellow
2. Lu Ann leaves but comes right back after an interlude of living on the streets/hooking/meeting a bum with a heart of gold
3. Lu Ann actually does leave, as part of a long, orchestrated goodbye to the strip, which will be retired at the end of the year
4. Lu Ann was deemed to be too similar to Tommie, so she gets replaced with a new ethnically diverse roommate: Keisha from the Magic Attic Club!

Whaddya think?