bizarre cameos | This Week in Milford

April 24, 2026

No, …your children are ON Jeopardy!

Filed under: bizarre cameos, freak faces, Pissy faced Mimi, Valley Tech — robmize2013 @ 10:24 am

Boy it looks like news of the Milford walk-out has spread all the way to Valley Tech, where Mimi and Paul seem to be walking on eggs for their safety from ICE. Or at least his and his childrens’. Love the big award on the wall; who knows how old it is, but I’m sure if Mimi won it it will be broadly displayed for all to see. Do they even know about Isis situation at all? Why would they? Dont they have their own school program etc. to worry about? Mimi is Gils ex. Why does she care that much about some student at another school? They never connect the dots around here, they just jump around assuming everyone in creativity is on the smarts. Does Gonads have any thoughts about it?

Of course Mimi must have heard from Gil how her daughter made an ass out of herself (again) and Im sure that paints a fine picture of the job she did raising this fine young lady. Im sure they also went over who is more responsible for Peanut turning out the way she did, although she has many years of life and maturity to turn it around, even if some of it may be spent at Milford Modified or some other correctional institution.

If Alex Trebek was still around Im sure he would love to pose this answer to his contestants – “This comic strip has been around for 68 years and has gotten progressively worse over the last 5”. Well, Ken Jennings can do the honors. Maybe it’ll even be a Daily Double.

I guess Mimi’s assistant Paul is not from this stolen land we call America. So he is concerned about his kids, but Mimi has to fill him in on a law thats been in place since 1898. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthright_citizenship_in_the_United_States But I love how she has to clarify something to him that (again) should have been a known fact when she applied for this job and met (or hired) her staff.

At least something comes out of a mouth in this strip thats not totally hoo-hah. Pretty much everything else is.

Hey, when are we going back to that birdie putt?

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March 7, 2026

Which career would that be, exactly?

Filed under: bizarre cameos, Coach Kim, Fat Guys, freak faces, Gil's Mom, High Five Fail, Lantern Jaws, metapost, Miserable characters, Pissy faced Mimi, Valley Tech — teenchy @ 9:34 pm

meta: As I sit here composing this post, mrs. teenchy walked into the room behind me, peered over my shoulder and asked, “What comic strip is that? Their heads look like they should be on Easter Island.”

Yesterday’s nonsense about the pending Gil/Beth nuptials takes an even more bizarre turn today. We gentle readers are expected to believe:

(1) The happy couple would invite rival schools’ coaches to their wedding, including the ex-wife of one of them

(b) The happy couple would hold their wedding ceremony in a high school gym

(iii) The mother of the groom, having lived through all of this for her son’s first marriage, would give a rat’s ass about (1) and (b)

Everything Rob posted yesterday about wedding planning is spot on. If this is Beth’s first rodeo, it would seem she’d care more about it; since it’s Gil’s second, Big Mama Thorp should keep her trap shut and her nose out of it. Not like she’s been in Milford all this time to make any judgement calls. Pretty rich that Big Mama would think Beth’s not good enough for Gil, given his first wife left him for another woman. We haven’t seen any such inclination on Beth’s part… yet. Given Barajas’ obsession with LGBTQ characters, it’s only a matter of time.

As for that first wife, she remains one of the more miserable characters in this iteration of the strip. While Gil seems to have happily moved on, Emily still feels compelled to dunk on her ex-mother-in-law. She has also decided she’s not marrying Ericka. Which one of those statements earned the high-five from rando VT female?

More importantly, which career does she plan on focusing on now: professional golfer or high school athletic director? She certainly hasn’t been focusing on her children, her golf pro/live-in lover, or her high school crush who won’t leave her alone. If anything, she appears to have been focusing on her diet. Yo, Henry: if Emily’s not planning on rejoining the tour, it’s time to write Ericka out of the strip.

Bizarre Cameos Dept.: the role of Emily Clover is being played by the late John Madden in P1 and by Britney Spears in P3; the role of Coach Kim is being played by Gil Thorp in bronzer.

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February 4, 2026

Wow! That car got 30 years newer just rolling off the lot!

Filed under: bizarre cameos, Gil Thorp, Jami Thorp, Keri Thorp, noises, Pissy Faced Keri, same story 2 days straight — teenchy @ 6:22 pm

When Foxy tossed Keri the keys to the yellow Corvette, it looked like a third-generation model (or “C3” in Corvette-speak), specifically one built from 1974-77. Here’s an example:

Now she’s out on the road and the ‘Vette has morphed into a sixth-generation (or “C6”) model, built from 2005-13. Here’s an example:

Can’t blame the time jump of different artists: Louie Chin drew them both. What do we know about Louie Chin, the third guest artist in the ongoing cavalcade of guest artists? He’s based in New York, has worked in a variety of media, and has a fairly impressive portfolio. His style seems somewhat restrained next to those of Kit Mills and Jason Margos, but it also seems more light-hearted. At least that’s my hot take.

As for the plot: Add poor impulse control to Keri’s laundry list of issues. Maybe we should’ve already added that after they decked Dort or got knocked up by Pedro. Putting this many ponies under their control probably isn’t such a good idea. Not too late for Emily to get her a certified pre-owned Subaru Crosstrek.

Hard to say if Gil’s being facetious about teaching Jami to fly a plane, or whether he’s trying to find some way to keep his apples from falling too far from the tree. He doesn’t look too serious about it either way. If anything, he also looks about thirty years younger than he does when Merrill and the other guest artists draw him. Speaking of looking younger, in the Bizarre Cameos Dept., the role of Gil Thorp in the first panel is being played by a young Johnny Cash.

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January 14, 2026

Misdirected Energy

Filed under: actual action, basketball, bizarre cameos, Coach Gonads, Fat Guys, freak hands, Goshen, hands in the air, Highlight reel, Keri Thorp, Pissy faced minor character, shadow figures — teenchy @ 11:25 am

All sports action today (yay!) so let’s break it down.

P1: Ball-busting powers notwithstanding, Gerads is nothing without his jheri curls. Bill the zebra needs to feed him a chill pill.

P2: Any guess as to why Keri randomly shouts out “Collier” mid shot? Yours is as good as mine.

P3: Gerads oughta be telling this to his players and not his assistant. Still don’t understand why these two and Gil are coaching the girls’ teams and not the boys’. Reckon Henry didn’t give those deets to Guest Artist Jason Margos, or forgot that he already had Ochoa coaching the Lady Mudlarks. I’m sure he’ll have some excuse for not following his own canon. Bizarre Cameos Dept.: The role of Goshen assistant coach Darby is being played today by a pre-heart attack Kevin Smith.

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January 7, 2026

An audience with the Pope + a Ouija board = an ordained minister?

Filed under: Beth the bartender, bizarre cameos, boring memories, Coach Luke, exposition comics, Gil Thorp — teenchy @ 9:25 pm

If Guest Artist Jason Margos got the memo from Henry that today’s Gil Thorp readers don’t care about sports, he didn’t get it until after he made the effort to draw a decent looking set of bleachers, folding chairs and scoreboard. Hardly any fans in the stands, so maybe that’s his way of acknowledging the supposed reality.

About that reality. We’ve got a little bit of retcon going on today, or at least some embellishment on the Gil/Beth backstory. Luke called bullshit on Gil’s little charade on Marty Moon’s show and he wasn’t wrong. Now Gil goes the extra mile and admits that, even though he told Beth he was married, he hung out with her well after last call and on more than one occasion. Luke did not “lie about the whole thing” and Gil was not being completely honest with Mimi about his interaction with Beth.

The fact that Mimi and Ericka were already sniffing each other up by that time is probably why Mimi wasn’t bothered by the whole thing. The fact that Luke sees through all of Gil’s bullshit is probably why Gil feels comfortable asking him to… be his officiant? What exactly qualifies Luke for this role? Did he join the Seventh-Day Junkists?

Bizarre Cameos Dept.: the part of Gil Thorp is being played today by Walter Matthau. Also, since when does Gil dress up to coach?

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December 27, 2025

In Which Gil Visits the Big Rock Candy Mountain

Filed under: Beth the bartender, bizarre cameos, Brown Hair, freak hands, holiday strip, Lantern Jaws, Milford Idiots, oversize objects — teenchy @ 7:35 am

“Gil! Gil Thorp! Gilpa! The Gilmeister! The Thorpinator! Goin’ to the heart of Africa to bring back a boulder for Bethany! Gilghis Khan! Makin’ an honest woman of the barmaid! Kaiser Gilhelm! Buyin’ the cow when he’s gettin’ the milk for free!” – Richard “The Richmeister” Laymer, if he was in today’s strip

So that’s where the candy bar and vape money went. Holy crap is that a huge rock or what? That thing must be visible from the International Space Station. Thank goodness the last panel brings us down to earth; the second one must have been drawn from the perspective of one of Gil’s knuckles.

Beth looks more than thrilled at the prospect, so I’m guessing this isn’t much of a cliffhanger. Looks like we’ll be getting wedding plans and prep worked into the storylines, leaving even less room for sports. Here’s hoping we won’t get another Thorplet dropped into the cast in nine months. The last thing this strip needs is a Cousin Oliver.

Bizarre Cameos Dept.: The part of Gil is being played by New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain, or at least it would be if it still existed. The part of Bethany is being played by the late Ace Frehley, at least in panel 2.

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December 6, 2025

At Least We Know Who Passed the Eating Disorder on to Keri

Filed under: bizarre cameos, Fat Guys, freak faces, freak hands, Lantern Jaws, Mimi Thorp, oversize objects, recycled storylines, They called it Puppy Love — teenchy @ 11:37 pm

Okay, so I stand corrected. Coaches engaging in public post-game drinking is a thing. Not so much a thing where I grew up, but then again a lot of closet drinking goes on there. Emily apparently has a post-game ritual of her own, and it involves binge eating. How else do you explain her gaining 25 pounds since the post-game handshake with Gil?

Obviously there’s no comparing Merrill’s ability to draw the human figure to Mills’, unless the criterion is who can draw the most consistent fat bottom lip. Still you’d think she could draw the same character consistently from one strip to the next. That’s something that eludes Merrill. Thankfully that character is written with consistent personality attributes and dialogue; otherwise we’d be completely unable to recognize her.

Sorry to make y’all spit-take. How do we go from a sneering “I will show him no mercy” and “I know that man better than he knows himself” to a pudding-faced “Gil’s a great guy”? What sort of mental gymnastics are necessary to write those words coming out of the mouth of the same character? I suppose evil, sneering Emily could be putting on a game face for her coaching staff, then putting on a “that’s my excuse for ending up with Gil instead of with you” face for Roxy…

… wait, where and why is Emily seeing Roxy? Why would she not be going home to Ericka? Roxy still has a thing for Emily, and is coming on to her aggressively yet again. Emily is over her, but had to think about it before saying so. Is Emily testing the waters to set up a threesome with Roxy and Ericka? Reckon that’s our cliffhanger for this weekend.

Bizarre Cameos Dept.: the part of Emily/Mimi is being played today by Chaz Bono.

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November 25, 2025

It Might Not Be Hockey, But It Has a Face/Off.

Filed under: bizarre cameos, Brown Hair, Coach Doyle, Coach Kim, Coach Tays, freak faces, Gil Thorp, hideous scar faces, marital discord, Milford Alumni, Mimi Thorp, Miserable characters, Pissy faced Gil, Pissy faced Mimi, recycled storylines, same story 2 days straight — teenchy @ 4:15 pm

Since we’re in game mode (shocker!) today, let’s do a panel-by-panel breakdown.

P1: “There’ll be no opening coin toss. We’re playing Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who kicks off and defends which end zone.” Bizarre Cameos Dept.: the part of Coach Babu (or is it Ochoa?) is being played today by Kristen Schaal.

P2: Pronouns matter: “He‘s the father of my children.” Were they your children when they were getting an abortion, Emily? Working through all their other issues? Thought so. Way to reduce the actual involved parent to a mere sperm donor. Adding the Coach Doyle tag as we surprisingly haven’t had one before. Guest Artist Kit Mills draws Doyle less Velma-like than did Whigham; no biggie since this entire strip has become Velma.

P3: Something something old married couples look alike, even if they’re not married anymore. The nightmare fuel none of us were asking for, even if it comes with dialogue ripped from the pages of a Marvel or DC superhero comic.

unseen P4: All the assistant coaches, on both sidelines: “Fine, but don’t drag us into your shit. Y’all should’ve gotten counseling. You might not have saved your marriage, but you might’ve spared hundreds of kids, a few adults, and two high school athletic departments the consequences of your divorce.”

Post title inspo: the poster art for a bad movie starring two hammy actors.

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