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[Emergent_C]

The thing people are missing here is Ray's post-fugue comedown. He's standing by the fire, body all in shock, shivering like a weiner doggie balloon-animal that's just come in contact with a cactus.

[evan]

are we going to be greeted tomorrow by nine panels of Ray making Barry Best eat his own intestines?

I hope so!

[Bobby Isosceles]

anybody else get the feeling that he's just wanting to wrap this thing up?

Look this is about as deep as I am going to analyze a piece of art by somebody else, otherwise I will sound pretentious. (deep breath) Here goes:

In order, there are a few major themes in Achewood I've seen, in descending order of importance:

- At the core of Achewood is a lasting and abiding friendship between Ray and Beef. That's something you see in every strip. Never have they come to blows, I don't even think they've come to a shouting match (Volvo of Despair is an exception). Despite their different backgrounds and different outlooks on life, there is a fundamental friendship and charity that we all would do well to show in our lives. You wouldn't expect Fred to clothesline Barney so he can mate with Betty, would you? Try to keep that in mind.

- Major plot developments for Beef tend to happen in, or as a result of, his trips to Heaven. That's where the story for him usually starts.

- Achewood is, in most cases, a comedy. Everyone brings to mind the Ice Cream Shop and Cartilage Head as exceptions, but even those were really big buildups for cheap laughs ("Oh man if Tori Amos was here right now she would need so many hugs from me")

- We still have the Story of Molly Sanders and this is a perfect segue into it.

- Onstad likes to shake things up a little. But just a little. No one is fundamentally and drastically altered. Even Lyle's genteel nature upon scotch deprivation has been a) hinted at in some of his extracurricular activities, and b) humorously and quickly reversed.

So let the fight wrap up quickly and let's see where the real humor is.

[JorgeFabregas]

So at this point is it just assumed that Ray can mop up the dregs or do we have a few more good fights coming up?

He might have to face Nice Pete and his Death Valley Holiday crew.

[disseminary]

and ye verily, on that day did the cowboy sauce run like the rivers

[robot_roll_call]

On one hand, I would have liked to have seen a strip or two of Ray making cowboy sauce all House of Blue Leaves style. On the other hand, we don't need the fight to overstay its welcome. I have a feeling he wants this bitch wrapped up by friday.

[Doc]

how many pictures can you look at of talking cats beating each other up?  Or is that just a girl problem?

It's possible this is just a wombat problem.

Although I can see your point, this strip is relatively weak compared to our current run (though be honest how much love would we be giving to 'cowboy sauce' if it had come during the Chatsack part where we thought this was all going to hell).

Props to trouserbot for his car ralley anouncers voice.

Are we seriously expecting the Molly Sanders story? I figured that was just a once off gag to compliment the daaaaaaang naachooooos.

The withdrawl/shock in the last panel is a good contrast, I'm thinking at that point the rest of his army has been taken out (by others) and he's on his own, note no one sharing the fire.

My only real complaint is that we never found out which one had the limp.

[sensate]

It does feel a bit like this one was mailed in, but I think of it as a reversion to the mean (they can't all be gems), and, as Cort says, proves that the fight so far hasn't been a fluke: Ray is a genuine badass. Also, that it isn't Mr. Hyde-Ray doing the fighting, but R. Quentin Smuckles. We're not going to be wondering, come the finale, which Ray will show up.

Also, I love the first cowboy. With that underbite, I can actually *see* his accent.

[Bobby Isosceles]

Are we seriously expecting the Molly Sanders story? I figured that was just a once off gag to compliment the daaaaaaang naachooooos.

Entirely possible; would you hand-draw and sketch that much for a one-off joke, though?

[Doc]

would you hand-draw and sketch that much for a one-off joke, though?

Can we believe that Onstad wouldn't? After all you just pointed out how he will construct an entire storyline for the purpose of cheap one off gags.

[Bobby Isosceles]

Can we believe that Onstad wouldn't? After all you just pointed out how he will construct an entire storyline for the purpose of cheap one off gags.

Yeah, but it's easier to do that with Adobe Illustrator, where you get to drag and drop; and you can save and reuse a lot of your primitives and basic character poses. Drawing, including that level of hatching and shading, requires actual physical effort.

It's possible, but remember there's a difference between lazy and crazy.

[revdj]

"decimated" means reduced by 10%.

So it is a very bad thing if the field has only been decimated.  It means 90% are still standing.

I am a pedant, yes.

[pez]

He might have to face Nice Pete and his Death Valley Holiday crew.

I have been wondering where NicePete is too (surely he has at least a passing interest in the GOF), but more than that I just can't stop hoping for a Where's Waldo with Beef hiding away amongst the bodies.

[pmcd9]

I can't believe y'all ain't lovin' this strip.  Cowboy Sauce alone makes it hillarious.  Those clowns Ray is straight up pounding on look fuck*ng ridiculous.  Besides I'm getting a vicarious thrill out of watching Ray pound on those assholes because they have it coming.  Also, Bobby, you are a smart guy, but you have it all wrong.  If I were in Vegas I would lay money that we are about to see a showdown between Ray and Beef.  There might be Heaven (or Hell) to follow, but not before these best friends face off.  Here's something to consider, we don't know the rules of GOF, but this has been running around my head for days.  What happens if there is more than one cat standing after the end of three days?

No one said it could be done.

~Paul

[Beatrice]

blah blah blah

i'm totally with you.  i love cowboy sauce, and i love this strip.