Three identical panels today, save for eyes, mouths, shirt wrinkles, and background randos. Oh, and those word balloons, which is what we probably should focus on.
Isn’t it funny how Gil never seems to get bothered when his older child pulls some stunt? Isn’t it funnier that Milford High hasn’t had a walkout before this? Not even during the ‘Nam or any of our other little excursions? (That’s my signal to the hive mind to hit the archives.)
Then we come to Ochoa. Is she pulling another retcon, like the time she forgot that she got into a fight with Gil as a student? In making the leap from supersoph hoopster to fully grown lesbian coach, she got a lot of informed backstory. She also got a lotta nerve. I reckon it’s okay to insult your co-worker in front of your boss as long as it’s in a language that’s different from your boss’s first language, n’est-ce pas, salope?
As for that co-worker, someone needs to check his motivation. Luke “No-Neck” Martinez echoes the law-and-order party line. Easy for him to do: he’s got a pity job from his boss and his wife’s a highly successful cardiac surgeon. This practically makes him the Establishment. Of course he’s big on pulling the ladder up behind him. Given that ICE goes after anyone darker than Gil and with the barest hint of a Latino name, both he and Ochoa need to keep their heads on a swivel.
Gentle readers, I really don’t know where to begin today. Of all the insane retcons we’ve been subjected to in the Barajas Era, this has to be the insanest. Gil Thorp, Flying Leatherneck, straightest of the straight arrows, man with no gaydar, so clean cut he was able to coach the girl’s tackle football team as a student, now turns out to be a ninja vandal with a Kevin Pelwecki mullet?
Not only was Gil a vandal, he was a vandal with superpowers. Able to spray paint graffiti without even pressing the nozzle on the spray can. Able to TP a multi-story building with a simple blind heave over his shoulder. (Especially impressive given the Charmin Forever Roll had yet to be invented.) Able to perform the mental gymnastics necessary to draw the line when vandalism goes too far. Able to justify said vandalism as “Milford tradition.” And, best of all, able to not get caught.
What are we supposed to draw from this? That Gil empathizes with Keri? Or that there’s a double standard in Milford when it comes to crimes and misdemeanors when a Thorp is involved? Wonder what Mike Knappe and his butter knife or Corinna Karenina would think if they saw Keri dodge a trip to juvie or Valley Modified yet again.
Gil’s little fourth wall break is just the chef’s kiss. “Nothing good can last forever” can apply equally to Mudlark vandalism, Gil Thorp the comic strip, or this blog, for that matter.
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?
Long-time TWIM readers will recall that we bloggers used to rail on Neal Rubin’s repeated failures of the Bechdel Test. Strong female characters were not Rubin’s strong suit. When he finally got around to creating one, he killed her off; the only other one to even come close kinda petered out toward the end.
Say what you will about the Barajas Era, but Bechdel fails seldom, if ever, happen. In fact, if there was anyone who’d ever reboot Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For, it’d be Barajas. Today, the only male character referenced is not only not the subject of the conversation between two women, but is shown to be a clueless cuckold. Pretty shabby treatment of the guy whose name is in the title, n’est-ce pas?
Ericka has shown herself to be a fairly strong, confident character in her own right, at least when it came to aggressively pursuing Emily. So why this sudden insecurity about Roxy, who has been out of the picture for four decades and whose feelings toward Emily weren’t clearly reciprocated? Could it be that Ericka recognizes that the only way the ex-Mrs. Thorp allows herself into same-sex relationships is by being passive?
Seems like someone needs to work these things out, and not in the gym. Reckon this is our Saturday cliffhanger, whether we like it or not.
Wrapping up Joan Rivers Week with Joan’s triumphant return to The Tonight Show, at the behest of Jimmy Fallon.
Okay, let’s see if we’re following this retcon correctly. Emily spearheads the effort to round up bodies to join the new Milford girls’ football team. Gil becomes their coach because he’s “the only one who wants to help.” The future Dr. Pearl thinks this whole football thing is a ploy by Emily to get Gil to notice her, but Emily has already told Gil she’ll go to the dance with him.
The only way the Emily/Gil situation doesn’t cause a stir is if Gil is also a Milford student and, hence, in Emily’s cohort. If that’s true, that drives a stake through the heart of my “Cradle Robber Gil Thorp Was My Beard!” theory. At least the cradle robber part.
As for the other part? Well, Roxy was all boo-hoos when Emily said she was going to the bonfire with Gil. Then Roxy said jealous spurned lover stuff to Pearl, who then surmised that Roxy was in love with Emily. Turns out Pearl wasn’t wrong – but how did this attraction turn mutual all of a sudden?
Did it start when Roxy dry humped Emily on the football field? There has literally been nothing implicit or explicit to that effect since then until Roxy said she knows Emily feels the same way. Now she tops that off by grabbing Emily’s hands and biting her nose. This feels less like mutual attraction and more like a bi-curious girl fending off a sexually aggressive lesbian.
Any way you look at it, Gil still comes off as Emily’s beard. It’s just a question of when he started playing that part.
Boy Henry sure thinks he’s fooling us old-timers. Ive been reading this strip since around 1980 or so, after we got the Chicago Tribune after the Daily News folded. I dont recall a single strip where Mimi was a student, let alone try out for the football team, AND have future principal Pearl as her classmate. (Dont tell me Pearl played too!!) In 1982 I still remember a pitcher named Larry Cutter, who later was drafted by, you guessed it, the Chicago Cubs. (No he didnt throw a pitch for them, and Harry Carey couldnt do the honors of spelling his name backwards, which would be Rettuc. It was all imagination, just like this is.)
My God, in 1982 girls in my school were just starting to play interscholastic basketball and softball. The hoops team was so lousy they lost one game 100-12. (Im just guessing on that score, but you get the picture. They sucked.) Football? We didnt even have our own field until 1985, and this premise of Mimi being in high school 43 years ago, while fairly realistic, is still a big stretch with Gil being around since 1958, 24 years earlier. Yes there are married folks 24 years apart, and I dont recall when Mimi first was written into the strip, but I guarantee there is someone out there who can attest that the entire log of 1982 strips of Gil Thorp did not have any girls sports in them. Let alone girls football.
I can also say that no girl in my class would even dream of getting married to any of the gym teachers, or coaches, and for a fact, they didnt. I can say that without knowing a lot of them. Just …no.
Back to the story – Mimi signs up for the team on a signup sheet hanging on the wall. Really!! Like its the Glee Club or something. Just like now, nothing at Milford is anywhere near reality, then and now. They probably figure the interest will be so minimal that they wont even bother having tryouts– every warm body that signs up can play. And good luck getting enough of them to field a team, and they should expect to play both ways too. So buck up ladies!!
And… it cant be worse then soccer?? Okay… those 2-a-days in 90 degree weather with pads on… way more use of hands, real tackling, plays instead of just kicking the ball around, what drugs these people are on Im dying to learn! AND…. who said they will wear pads, when 43 years later the boys dont show any signs of them??
Rob’s on vaca and I don’t know that tdrew ever said he was gonna post the Friday strip, so here’s Joan Rivers with a twofer.
October 24, 2025
What’d I say about suspension of disbelief in my last post? Have y’all done it yet? Me neither.
On to chez Thorp where poor eyeless Beth has to hear her squeeze’s ex-wife’s backstory one more time than she ever wanted to. Mind you, not complaining about the artwork here. Guest Artist Kit Mills has developed a model for Gil and Jami and mostly for Keri, though she’s looking a little Italian nonna there in panel two. Mills even understands Jami’s challenges as he struggles to find his mouth with his drinking glass. Told ya Mimi should’ve had him wear a helmet on that jungle gym.
We’re continuing to operate under the assumption that school districts in the Thorpiverse consist of more than one high school. Otherwise the statement about “the district ended the girls’ football league” wouldn’t be credible. How credible is it to think there could be a girls’ football league at the high school level to begin with? I dunno, and I don’t feel like doing the research right now. I did find this old web page containing a timeline of girls playing high school football, but my biggest takeaway was that Suzy Kolber (who Joe Namath infamously wanted to kiss) tried out for and made a boy’s little league team in the Philly suburbs.
But wait! That’s not the biggest shocker in this strip. Turns out Emily “Mimi” Clover wasn’t the coach of that team but one of its players. So Gil Belichick ended up marrying one of his players. What hasn’t been established is how many years ago this girls’ team played, or how many years after it played had passed before Gil married Mimi. No matter; Barajas has now painted Gil as at best a cradle robber and at worst a pedophile. Henry, you got some ‘splainin’ to do.
At least Beth knows why Gil likes ’em young.
October 25, 2025
TRIGGER WARNING: IN AN EFFORT TO AVOID INSERTING PERSONAL BIAS, AND BECAUSE HE IS LAZY AND DIDN’T WANT TO DO THE RESEARCH, TEENCHY HAS GENERATED THE FOLLOWING CONTENT USING AI… AGAIN.
[BEGIN AI GENERATED CONTENT]
No high schools currently offer girls’ tackle football teams, as the sport is typically played by males at that level in the United States. However, girls have the opportunity to try out for and play on the boys’ tackle football teams at their schools. Additionally, some girls’ leagues for tackle football have started to form, such as in Utah and Texas, which has led to a significant increase in the number of girls participating in the sport.
Playing on boys’ teams:Girls can try out for the boys’ tackle football team at their high school, which is protected by Title IX, ensuring they have a fair chance to make the team. There have been instances of girls playing on boys’ teams, such as kickers or other positions.
Some leagues specifically for girls’ tackle football have emerged in states like Utah and Texas, which has increased the number of female participants in the sport.
Several states have recently established high school flag football as a sanctioned varsity sport for girls. This is an alternative to tackle football, which some schools and organizations, such as the Philadelphia Eagles Youth Football program, are promoting.
[END AI GENERATED CONTENT]
On to the “reunion ceremony” at the Milford Bowl, where the end zone has been enclosed to include a massive grandstand. Who knew Milford had the money to do that? Marty, no longer cosplaying as Tom Selleck, informs us that this is the reunion of Milford’s first all-girls’ football team. Still would help us to know how many years ago that happened, if only to slightly polish Gil’s now-tarnished reputation…
… or is it that tarnished? As the Lady Mudlark gridders meet and greet their old teammates, Emily gets called out by Roxy. They immediately lock eyes, and our imaginations run amok. Could it be that Mimi has been playing for the other team all along, even through two pregnancies? Had Gil Belichick been serving as her beard all this time until Ericka the golf pro showed up?
Time for more ‘splainin’. This should be good, even if just for laughs.
Smash cut from the postgame handshake with Jefferson to Dr. Pearl’s office, where the good doctor and Gil fire non sequiturs off at each other. Is Gil implying that Leo’s frybread power will pay for this… reunion? Reunion of… who, exactly? The 2014 State Champion Milford Football Mudlarks?
Dr. Pearl looks wistfully at a team photo of a younger Gil with what appears to be a group of preteen girls, preteen boys with long hair, or a bunch of preteens who were transitioning long before Tabatha Gordon ever thought of doing it. All of them look smaller than Gil, their tiny helmets unable to fit any head larger than a newborn’s. And where, exactly, does Mimi fit into all of this? Since when has Mimi ever had anything to do with Milford football?
Oh, no. Oh, no no no.
I’ve got a sinking feeling Barajas is gonna retcon Milford into having had a girls’ tackle football program. If that’s true (and notTrue Standish), prepare to suspend your disbelief like it’s never been suspended before. Here’s hoping my gut is wrong and we’re just treated to a week of Whatever Happened to True, Jarrod Hale, Austin Shuford, Winn Wiley et al.
Speaking of tiny heads, wonder if Dr. Pearl will invite her cousin Zippy the Pinhead to the reunion?
This Week in Milford 
