So anyway ...

I'm back and, as it happens, moreso than I had reason to expect. I've been sliced and diced and apparently, rather than simply holding back the Beast, they got it completely.

Which puts my expiration date into the vague future and so I should look both ways before crossing the road, because stepping in front of a bus is back ahead of cancer as an existential threat.

We'll get back to existentialism in a minute.

Meanwhile, while everyone else was madly sketching away in Cleveland and Philadelphia, or bar-hopping at ComicCon in San Diego, Dave Coverly was clearly in the gallery at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, watching the 12-hour marathon in which I was merely a prop.

But to start off my triumphant return, some genuine thanks to Brian Fies for taking over here. I've enjoyed his postings and felt he preserved the voice and feel, adding both his own insider cartoonist POV and the factor that he's a lot less of a wiseass than I am.

This gave me plenty to ponder as we move forward, precisely because of the difference between our similar world views.

And what could be more delightful than to have one Friend of the Blog haul in a second Friend of the Blog for his two-part finale? The last two days have been particularly joyful.

I would invite you to search "cul de sac" in the box to the right, and one thing you'll find is that I have had a lot of entries that included "I have to stop using this strip so often."

 

But don't blame me, because Alice has entered the food chain, where she turns up not simply as Alice Otterloop but also as the Alices Liddell and Roosevelt.

If I were in childbearing years, I would think long and hard before naming anyone "Alice."

And the Cul de Sac article of his own that Brian cited is excerpted in the first of those two links, so there ya go.

Here's something else to click on: I think this is the first Cul de Sac strip featured here, or, at least the first that inspired a full rant, and it's a goodie because it also calls in Calvin as part of a discussion of the dreadful crap that makes up most children's picture books.

Too many to cite them all: Go explore, please.

Meanwhile, over on my personal blog, here is something I wrote about Cul de Sac eight years ago, which you may read if you'd like, but the quote worth quoting is this:

Calvin and Hobbes was childhood as we remember it.
Cul de Sac is childhood as we don't remember it,
but as we do as soon as we're reminded.

 

And here is the piece I wrote when Richard retired the strip and I stand behind it all.

Amid the general praise there, I include the fact that we knew each other before Cul de Sac, as well as what I told John Glynn when he asked for some pre-launch feedback on the new strip.

All of which is to say that, much as I admire the strip, I'm staking my claim to admiring the artist personally, and that circles back to how pleased I was that Brian featured him here.

And it features more of his work than just the strip, so go have a look.

And watch this:

 (Update: Richard has passed away. I'm pleased to have known him, proud to have had him as a Friend-of-the-Blog, and glad Brian and I could salute him before it became an obit, which you will find here. After you read that, be sure to hit some of these links and enjoy his wide, wonderful talents. He was a great guy and a terrific artist.)

 

Surgery ain't no drag, unless you conceive it as such:  

Meanwhile, in my own health arena, I was pleased to find that my Stoic philosophy did not desert me when it was my turn to deal with reality, and doubly pleased to have Existential Comics salute that system while I was laid up.

One of the chief benefits of the web is that it has space for a comic based on the difference between Zeno of Citium and Zeno of Elia (see the note below this merry adventure), which might perhaps be a bit too niche for a general audience. Perhaps just a bit.

But so what? It made me laff.

And I say that as someone who, assigned to write a paper on Aristotle's "De Anima," tracked down a classics prof to provide me with the classical Athenian Greek phrase (and letters) for "Aristotle is full of bad waste," which is as close as he could come to the actual phrase I sought.

In the case of Stoicism, I liked the philosophy, but hated the structural analysis.

In this latest case, the philosophy was that the outcome was not within my control and therefore I ought not to fret over it. Which I did not, my pleasure being that it was a hell of a test of that approach.

And I like "Existential Comics," particularly since I came into Stoicism through Epictetus anyway, with some smatterings of Marcus Aurelius, such that when we got away from the Stoic philosophy of day-to-day living and started examining the Stoic view of the nature of reality, I felt a bit like the little girl whose book report read, "This book told me more than I wanted to know about penguins."

And I'll bet that little girl was named "Alice."

 

Now here's your moment of cystometric zen:

 

 

Comments

[Paul Berge]

Welcome back! Good to see you up and at 'em!

[Brian Fies]

At last, our long national nightmare is over.

[Mark Jackson]

Don't know how your Aristotle paper was received, but it was probably better than it would have been at 14th century Oxford, when one of their statutes read "Bachelors and Masters of Arts who do not follow Aristotle's philosophy are subject to a fine of 5 shillings for each point of divergence."

Oh, and welcome back!

[Kathleen Donnelly]

Very glad to know you're back and that you'll be around longer than you expected. And thanks for the penguin book story, one I use often.

[Richard John Marcej]

Great to have you back Mike!

[parnell nelson]

Great to have you back Mike and to know that you are doing well.
And thanks, Brian. You eased the absence of the daily dose of Mike for me and I would like to read your column if I could find it...

[Nickelshrink]

Good news, and glad you're back! Brian's posts were pretty awesome too. Yall make a good team, actually.

And those milk cartons are proof that there is a Satan.

[Dave from Philadelphia]

Thanks to Brian! Welcome back Mike! Hope your journey through this stays positive.

[Tom]

Richard Thompson's blog is reporting that he passed away today from the effects of Parkinson's.

http://richardspooralmanac.blogspot.com/2016/07/cartoonist-richard-thompson-has-passed.html

[Bookworm]

Welcome back! And thanks for the bit on stoicism. It sent me back to my college philosophy book for a needed reading break today.

[Craig L Wittler]

Relieved to see your return (although Brian was the best fill-in guy since Garry Shandling for Johnny Carson). But saddened to hear of Richard Thompson's passing (if you made a bargain with God or the Devil for your own recovery, I HOPE you read ALL the fine print). Anyway, your recovery is a rare bright spot in a year full of sad passings (including Shandling - it was almost sadly cool that watching the DNC we learned Bernie Sanders' brother is named Larry Sanders).

But I digress. Stay stoic. And here's today's PG-13 toon from Leigh Rubin who is almost my neighbor in San Luis Obispo (and gets preferred placement in the local news-dead-tree) http://www.gocomics.com/rubes/2016/07/27

[Abigail]

Glad you are back! Brian did a great job as a sub!

[Austin]

Flip, Richards dead. I often literally dreamed about meaning him when I was starting out as a cartoonist, age 13. He was always really nice in those dreams. And he emailed me once when I sent him some fan art. I was so in awe I tried to be funny and sounded stupid. But he was very gracious. This makes me very sad.

[Richard John Marcej]

Richard Thompson and Jack Davis left us today. Fortunately for us and future generations, we'll always have their work.

[Mary in Ohio]

So glad you are back - and so sad to hear that Richard Thompson has left us !