By: Annna
[2001-07-11]
The Complete Petey, Part Ten
November 1969 - February 1970
November, 1969 - There were never any other
Petey Puns. Perhaps because he is closed-mouthed in such a close-up, it does not seem like Petey is saying this dialogue. His arm and hand are also troubling.
If this picture has been edited together from others to prove Petey's well-being, perhaps the woman is not his mother or another rabbit-happy townswoman but is a terrorist or kidnapper, overseeing Petey's message to home. She has good reason to be in shadow.
January, 1970 - The return of Punkin, now with hair/head/ears even more stylized. Petey seems bemused and distant as Punkin reaches into his - points again for continuity! - lunchbox, rooting crotch-ward for food.
Above this ad in the
Good Housekeeping is a reminder to use the ZIP code.
February, 1970 - Before now, Petey has been realistic. Other than the rabbit-fixated town (which would make a decent
Twilight Zone episode), everything has been more-or-less plausible and in keeping with the Earth of the late 1960s. The robot, on the other hand, is not.
For an AI able to feel and express horror, it cannot recognize speech well, but the faulty dome on its head may explain that. The artist does not usually draw foreshortened rectangular objects, and this robot is a good example of why.
It is interesting that this malaprop-tron is the closest thing to a living rabbit to show up in
Petey, and it is shocked and frightened. Indeed, it is the only being in the comics that doesn't enjoy rabbit.
The Pel-Freez company, secure in the power of the rabbit meat lobby (and perhaps their fearful robot army), has not put the ZIP code in its address.
this petey thing has got stranger every day and this just tops it off. the artist has brung a new character in as often as possible and the first one that isn't a child isn't even human. i can't wait to see what's still to come.
As for new characters, maybe some capybaras!
I think that what's going on with Petey's arm in the first frame is that he's making a shadow puppet of a capybara!
the leftmost object would seem to be Petey's thumb; his malleable hand is well suited to such a feat of pointing that would require double-jointedness in humans. I think, from the look on his face and the weirdness of the gesture, that he is hexing that poor woman. she is not in shadow, she is shadow. Petey has transmuted her physical form into delicious rabbit meat.
The "adult" figure is in shadow because Petey's spacefaring masters resemble nothing so much as the aliens from Mars Attacks! and that's not a hairdo, but enormous pulsing masses of grey matter (or, perhaps, Grey matter?) Petey's appendage is merely caught in mid-extrusion of it's fleshy pseudopods, which is why it appears as the head of a monsterous conch.
Perhaps realizing the delicate nature of the electronics of the satellite dishes on Punkin's head, with which he must communicate the progress of the ground war and anti-rabbit media blitz, Petey has encased them in a smooth cranio-carapace of titanium or like metal, interrupted only by a retractable strip of forehead, in an attempt to hide the sloping brow beneath. A study of this twisted, stunted golem reveals not only the backward-pointing knees (do those Keds hide cloven hooves?) but also a visage of blank idiocy and groping hunger. Only thru progressive Pavlovian conditioning with spiced morsels of rabbit can Petey keep his diminutive Golem in check.
And, of course, Petey's masters have been at war with the andriod civilization of Antares for millenia. This was an inside joke by Those-Who-Command, upon seeing the use of the human concept of the pun in the earlier strip, discussed last week. Only they laughed.
Sidebar: MMMmmm, Capybara. Hydrochaericious.
Also, note that Petey has no shoulders per se. He can exude his muscular appendges willy-nilly, and off-frame the gesturing limb is rising from the region of his stomach.
I really think Petey is engaged in an act of "rabbit meat" and the hand belongs to a victim trying to push him off.
Patty's absence is starting to worry me. Can we send out search parties?
she's in my next graphical submission (as soon as I can lay hands on a scanner).
that makes it sound like I wish to rid a scanner of foul spirits causing ill health. which I gladly would do, if the situation demanded it, but in fact, I merely need the use of a scanner.
Oh. I thought you wanted someone who can make heads explode.
That reminds me of a joke about a guy who buys a dog from the Oral Roberts Dog Obedience School.
How 'bout, "Attack of the Robot Rabbit Butchers from Rogers, Arkansas?"
I free associated Konig's comment while reading them:Capybara+dog+oral=SPEAK! (Trusty sidekick to that beloved champion of justice, The Tick.)
What's The Tick got that Petey hasn't? I mean, besides competent artists? That's right, he has many a rogue nemesis. Now that Petey has such a wide variety of sidekicks, it's time he acquired at least one enemy. Not everyone loves rabbit meet.
I proffer the Hamburglar.
Little Lotta
Wilford Brimley
The Dancing Baby
Speedy Gonzales
Gloria von Furstenburg
or there's a colorful cast of characters from which to choose...
3-D Comic Collective
http://www.3d-cc.com/DL_pages/DL00.html
I mentioned the fact that I'd ordered a box of rabbit to Downstairs Neighbor Rob's hulking friend Chris, whose eyes lit up. he asked, "Pel-Freez rabbit?" it was eerie.
