Puck 428
on February 5, 2018 at 9:03 pm
NEW VALENTINE’S DAY VOTING INCENTIVE!!!
The February voting incentive is here, and it’s … a voting incentive! (Now with EXTRA INCENTIVE!) (And remember: fans who donate $5 or more a month get a say in what voting incentives run! If you want to join their controlling ranks, HEAD ON OVER TO PATREON and join the select club!)
VOTE FOR PUCK AND WARM MY ICY HEART!!!
As for this comic…
Fan favorite Hotdog Guy returns as another bookend segment as we transition between story arcs! He’s good for that. And honestly, I’m not sure whether he qualifies as a ‘fan favorite’ given the fact that I don’t think I’ve heard many readers say much about him. If they do, it’s usually something like, “Who’s this guy and why is Puck holding a hot dog?” It’s a long story.
Next week, it’s time for another ‘fan favorite’ to make an appearance.
Have you tried to replace goldfish in a desert town?
It’s called a pet shop! They don’t have pet shops in desert towns?
I hear that they like to be themed to match their location.
At a beach, fish.
In the desert, lizards.
Jungle, monkeys.
Sewer, rats.
Tundra, penguins.
At least, that’s how it works in many computer games.
So in the U.S. Midwest, (very ordinary) dogs and cats? Methinks there is an anomaly here.
What are you? One of those Pet Shop Boys?
Call the police, there’s a madman around.
But Gecko, it’s a free hot dog, right?
Free with purchase of therapy. Which (it’s already been established) is being paid for by the Canadian healthcare system. So, government-issued hot dog?
At least it’s not government cheese. I hear that the cure for that is a hay maker to the gut.
I hear that government cheese is actually really delicious. I’ve always wanted a chance to try it.
On the other hand, I’m on the southern side of the US/Canada border.
Everything in the US tastes slightly better. It’s because all the tasty chemicals are outlawed up here.
A late gourmand Lady of my acquaintance told me that supermarket cheese < Cracker Barrel cheese < wheel cheese. I guess all of them are better than government cheese, which I have never tasted. And I guess I never will till my bf kicks me out 😛
I agree with that breakdown, though I dispute one part of it: it has long been my opinion that there is no discernible difference between the grocery store ‘no name’ cheese and the Cracker Barrel variety. (Or Black Diamond, or whatever other semi-pricey cheese variety is available in your area.) I think they come from the same dang factory. And seeing as one option is almost half the price of the other option, I always go with the cheaper.
I want to know what’s on his small screen. Or, at least, I think I do.
Looks like either a movie or a NSFW movie.
It’s safe for work. But probably not encouraged at work.
Quebecois Fried Internet Video?
@shamdon
I was thinkin’ JACKAL-P#RN.
It’s a game. My Singing Monsters. We’ve seen him playing it before.
Thanks EG 🙂
When zooming in I figured it had to be some mobile/tablet game. The colorse were just too dispersed for a video.
Could be worse. Imagine if he was watching p@#$ with the sound off?
(Hmm… how to increase the creepy factor…)
Redhead p@#$. (There we go).
Is there any other kind?
Therapy and hot dogs. Only in the world of Puck.
They go together like grape jam and bacon!
I swore I wouldn’t comment on another page until Hotdog Guy came back…
That’s not really true, I’ve just become too lazy to comment anymore
Well hey, I respect that. But good to know you’re still out there, silently lurking…
As long as you are voting!
Just reading is fine by me too. Though I do greatly appreciate votes, I’m pleased as punch even if someone just looks at the comic.
@EG
I knew someone was watching me….
Hot Dog Guy – face never seen.
Daphne’s Dad – face never seen.
COINCIDENCE ?
Unfortunately, they have been seen together.
//www.puckcomics.com/?comic=puck-80
Oh, DAPHNE’S Dad! I was thinking phoebe for some reason. Duh!
How are you sure that was Daphne’s dad? Could have been his mom. Or some middle man.
@Thisguy
@EG
Actually, I suspect “Daphne’s Dad” was employed at the TORONTO MUNICIPAL ZOO JACKAL ADVENTURE before he abandoned her.
We should prolly pass on any details of her actual conception.
YUKKKK !!!
Not sure if I would call Hotdog Guy a favourite, my response to seeing him is more a casual, “oh, cool, it’s Hotdog Guy.”
So, I guess Indo like seeing these old recurring characters show up from time to time.
Pork or beef hot dogs?
I’m going to say beef. I’m a Sinai Kosher man myself. Not that I’m Jewish, but it’s a good hot dog.
@EG
To paraphrase famed comedian Will Rogers, I neva met a Hot Dog I didn’t like.
The best hot dogs I’ve ever had came from a now-non-existent stand-later-restaurant in Fishkill, New York. But, to this day, I don’t know whether they were beef or pork. In this latter-day world, I favor beef franks.
My (almost) Human Pet Baldie came home all smiles one day.
He had brought home mebe FIFTY PACKAGES of Turkey Dogs.
For some mysterious reason, the supermarket had marked them down to TWENTY-FIVE CENTS a package !!!
After seriously considering SUICIDE, I tried one – flooded with canned chili, of course.
Not bad, really.
That was a year ago and the Basement Freezer is still producing them, tho the stock is low by now.
I dislike turkey franks. Or chicken franks. Or pheasant franks. All of them are just no good.
There was a brand of inexpensive chicken franks that I used to be fond of. Until they changed the recipe to contain “40% less fat”.
They apparently replaced the missing fat with industrial plastic, because that’s what they taste like. 😛
I don’t ask my hot dogs to be healthy; I mean, look what they’re made of. (No, actually don’t look. Ever. What has been seen cannot be unseen.) But at the least, I expect them to not taste terrible.
Health is the enemy of a good hot dog. The key ingredient is always skin. Skin is just tasty.
@TRenn
Despite the fact that Hot Dogs are made from (I’d rather not say), the ones that BOAST “Natural Casings” creep me out !
I’m not eating Hot Dogs because “Natural” concerns me !
Best hotdog in my area is at Fudruckers! the hotdog is ok, but the bun is fresh out of the oven when they give it to you. makes all the difference in the world!
Yeah, I’ve long felt that the bun and the toppings are key. Around here, I like Easterbrook’s wonder dog. Good bun with bacon, cheese, tomatoes and onions.
And now I want hot dogs.
@EG
Those are fine toppings !
Often I am too lazy to even squirt on Ketchup.
@eg: those toppings will definitely make a good dog, though I also like dill pickle relish.
The other topping that will sometimes just call to me, Chili, Cheese, onions and brown mustard on the bun. It calls to me, I tell you, like a siren in the storm at night….
Hebrew National franks are great, too, and you can’t beat their ad slogan: “We answer to a Higher Authority.”
I honestly find the idea of a mashgiach going through the processing plant to be very reassuring. I feel he’d probably notice it if someone were, say, dumping crates of squirrel carcasses into the meat grinder. Not that I’m against squirrel consumption, but I want to know what I’m buying.
All this talk reminds me of my ongoing PROBLEM WITH EGG ROLLS.
Most Asians adore PORK. (Pacific Islanders, Polish, and ME – too). Many of their best dishes involve PIG.
So when Baldie straps me up in a leash and drags me thru Costco (Canuck Alert – it’s a store), we pause by the Frozen Asian Food Cooler.
Veggie, Chicken, Tofu Egg Rolls abound – WHERE THE %#)*^%+ IS THE PORK !!!
At which point I begin SCREAMING vile obscenities, that would get me arrested, but they are all in CAT.
Sadly, I am so Goddamned CUTE & FLUFFY that busty young women begin cooing and petting me, and I calm down FAST.
I LUV COSTCO.
We have Costco here. I am not a member.
@EG
If you are in the market for wonderful, flavorful, authentic PORK Egg Rolls, I would advise that you do not become a member.
If you are in the market for observing attractive young woman – YES !!
@EG
How-ev-ah – Their Kirkland Brand Beef Hot Dogs are inexpensive and delicious !
I’m with you on Hebrew Nationals Susan! I usually serve them cut and cooked with Saurkraut with Mashed potatoes, Apple Sauce, and Sour Cream on the side.
…heaven
Yum! I like ’em cut up in a mix of Heinz Spicy Ketchup and BBQ sauce, sprinkled with chopped onions and grated cheddar.
Pooh, now I’m all hungry and it’s 17 minutes to lunchtime. 🙁
Dang girl, you makin that? now I want that for lunch too!
don’t forgitz the Ritz!
I wanna know how Puck lays down on that couch in that skirt and doesn’t, um, “flash” anybody. I knew a patient who could do that and I always admired her. sadly, she is in prison now for soliciting
The great thing about an illustrated universe is that it can make the impossible possible.
Well, she could be wearing underwear.
I know, I know–that’s crazy talk. Just sayin’. 🙂
I think that’s a given. But still, ladies seem very concerned that no one see said underwear.
That’s because ladies’ underwear is a turn-on for certain men – you know who you are! – and we don’t want to encourage them
@Typeminer
There was that most wonderful episode where TRACEEE forgot her … um … undergarments.
Fortunately EG rushed in and saved the poor dear from further embarrassment.
That’s why I like him. He’s nice to TRACEEE.
(prolly due to some lizard-to-lizard bonding thing)
I love the hot dog guy! I miss his cart, though. Ah, the memories.
I do wonder as well as an earlier commenter, what is he watching or doing on that tablet?
He still has the cart. It’s just at the other end of the room. And the Hotdog Guy is playing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqreWm5ZpHw
@EG
Uh Huh….
That little song is especially telling.
“grow, BREED, and collect tons of fun creatures”
Yep, HOT DOG GUY is DAPHNE’S DAD.
I was thinking back to the college days when she would stand by the cart, but, yes, I remember that you put it in his room now.
And that game is just wrong, on many levels. Especially if you have to pay for the instruments and what-not.
You don’t have to pay for anything in that game. It’s the right kind of free-to-play, where everything’s free, but if you want to speed things up or take shortcuts, you can pay for that. I’m also biased because it’s produced by a Canadian company that’s local to my area.
Well that is refreshing — I might just have to check it out, then. Right after I click Fat Bassist in my weekly hope that it is back online…
It’s not back online, sadly. I’ve been hassling my brother to at least throw the comics on Smackjeeves or some other free webcomic hosting site. He shut it down because he was paying hosting fees and only, like, three people would visit every week. (You were likely one of those three.) He didn’t feel it was worth it. But now there’s no easily accessible source of his comics now, which sucks.
This strip does make me wonder what familial relations are like among the Fey. Because judging just from this strip, Puck might be an unusually empathic exception to the rule.
I like to imagine that if Puck actually is as old as the comic claims, she’s spent most of that time holed up in dingy one-room apartments doing very little. She’s somewhat prone to ennui, and I think has a mildly depressive personality. So if anything, this whole comic’s sort of been a documentation of her unexpected awakening into the world of family, friendship and love. Such as it is.
But what about her birth family? At least I assume she didn’t just spring forth, fully-formed, from a tree in the lands to the West one day. ^_^
I think we can’t assume anything here.
When is the last time you heard of a fairy having family drama, other than spousal jealousy? Well, there’s Tolkien and the family drama of the Silmarillion, what with weird old uncle Fëanor wanting a lock of Galadiel’s hair, but those are Elves, and Noldor to boot!
Probably when I read Tad Williams’ brilliant book, “War of the Flowers”.
Okayyy, we have identified an outlier 😛
You rarely hear about fairies having family drama … because there are no survivors.
http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_544.php
Hot Dog Guy is my personal favorite of the non-main characters (given how rarely he shows up, I personally classify him as a side-character. Unless you say he’s a main character. Then he is, in fact, my favorite main character).
In regards to the alt-text: I’ve never seen a hot dog that’s shorter (or just as long) as the bun. So for me, it always made perfect sense that they look like that in cartoons.
I can’t actually argue that they’re harder to replace compared to gold fish but it still made me laugh out loud.
Well, if your hot dogs are considerably longer than your buns, it means that you’re purchasing mismatched buns and dogs. The hot dog should be almost exactly the length of the bun. Like this: https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/564243d1180000a700304513.jpeg?ops=1910_1000
And yeah, Hotdog Guy is definitely a minor character, given the fact that most readers seem to not even know who he is.
Yeah, ours are usually like half an inch (total) outside the buns on both sides.
You need to talk to someone about that. That’s a problem.
Don’t know whether everyone sees this, but on my screen, the HuffPost link doesn’t fit in the comment panel. 🙂
Yeah, that happens.
@Typeminer
That happens when “someone” is too lazy to construct proper HTML.
ARUGULA !
EG’s reaching for THE SQUIRTGUN !!
(cat scurries away – with alacrity)
@EG
I’d eat those Hot Dogs.
But I’m admittedly not terribly picky.
In my experience, people tell you things like “Having loved ones is stressful” all the time, but no-one listens. You have to experience it, and then it’s too late – because you love them.
Yep. No one ever listens to curmudgeonly Grandpa when he tells you how crummy life is because, well, you really don’t want to believe it. But curmudgeonly Grandpa got that way for a reason.
My bf has an old book called “The Portable Curmudgeon” on his (many) bookshelves. It’s one I like to get out at glance through when one of my “friend girls” is yammering about their boyfriends and I go, “Yeah?” and “Oh. no!” at intervals.
Just to let you know, I binge read the entire series over the last few days, and am a new fan. So add one to your list of readers. (It is a drag waiting a whole week for the next installment, after reading 30 a day.) BTW, another SW Ontario reader from Sarnia where we also have interesting colored air.
Ah Sarnia. I actually quite like Sarnia. It’s got a beachy ‘quiet town on the water’ feel with only minimal urban blight. If it weren’t for that state across the water from you, I’d totally recommend it!
And I’m truly sorry that you now have to wait a week for each comic. You can also take the approach that many readers do with my work: forget about for two or three years then rediscover it when there’s enough content to actually amount to a decent read. That’s good too!
Or you could do like the rest of us and wit till somebody comments on a strip other than the current one, click back, comment back, get interested and read a bunch more!
ATTENTION! I voted for Puck. Did you?
I did.
I guess you should vote for yourself. Pax
Loving your signature Starbursts colors as always, man. 😀
They hide the awful backgrounds!
When I was a mere lad, I had a goldfish. I named him “Christopher Fish.” (After yours truly.) We had to move, so we left him with friends.
It survived? If your goldfish survived, you were a better goldfish owner than I.
Wait. Puck is fairy. She is likely to live longer than all her friends combined. I mean, since now, since she already DID lived longer TO now.
Well, maybe except Phoebe.
… how is she going to deal with Colin and Daphne dying of old age?
Well, seeing as this comic has a time dilation issue where one day can take upwards of two years to pass in real time, I don’t think we will ever get there.