I. Love. Every. Hat. In. This. Comic.
And yes, I still hear Scruffy the Janitor’s voice in my head every time I see the mustache bug that’s in the 4th panel.
And I love how expressive the eyes are in this comic. Adam, you’re a genius. However much you’re making, it’s not enough…
I agree that the piano player has an annoying job, but what about the guy who has to scoop the horse poop (and/or dead gunslinger) off the street? Maybe you could bring him some glory in a future strip?
The who has to scoop up the horse poop probably had a more interesting job. He even came up with a game to pass the time, “What’s that smell?” and “Name their dinner.” These were very popular games of the time. In fact, they were so popular that I hear Nintendo is making them into a 3D game. Can’t wait for What’s that smell.
They didn’t clean the streets of small towns back in the west. The towns than inspired the “wild west” mythology were all boom towns with no hard streets. Horse manure was left to be ground in by traffic or eaten by the semi-feral pigs that ran loose almost everywhere.
Bodies were removed by friends and family and the bodies of strangers were taken care of by the nearest minister. Street cleaning and public health officials didn’t show up until the mid 1890s and only then in the big cities.
Of course, the vast majority of towns in the old west were quite, orderly communities were everyone had guns but the murder rate, including fatalities from events like Indian wars, was lower than New York or Paris of the day. People moved west to get away from big city crime. The “Wild Wild West” is just a literary invention.
I think bartender is most annoying cause you gotta keep serving the drunk ones cause they have guns and they’ll shoot up the place if you cut them off.
Don’t forget in “The Long Riders” where the pie-annie player made the James Gang mad playin’ “Battle Cry of Freedom” (I think) and insisted he switch to a tune more appropriate for a rebel audience.
i always feel like the paino player was the guy that wasnt good enough to go out on excavations or find new stuff in the old west so he had to stay in town and craete an atmosphere for the drunkards
I always thought it must have been weird to be a musician back before phonographs. We think of music as a creative endeavor today but back then most musicians, like the saloon piano player, we basically human juke boxes playing the same songs over and over by rote upon request.
Getting interrupted or even shot might have been a relief after a while.
Why don’t you just keep playing in a minor key?
Because the piano player isn’t a minor role.
The pianist also gets randomly shot !!!
I totally got the title reference before I read the note. 😉
Me too! It was the first thing I thought of.
I. Love. Every. Hat. In. This. Comic.
And yes, I still hear Scruffy the Janitor’s voice in my head every time I see the mustache bug that’s in the 4th panel.
And I love how expressive the eyes are in this comic. Adam, you’re a genius. However much you’re making, it’s not enough…
Ditto! I second that, all of it actually. Couldn’t have said it better myself.
I hear Scruffy every time I see that moustache bug since you first mentioned that you hear Scruffy every time you see that moustache bug.
The power of your words, Jeff…
“Jail’s not so bad. You can make sangria in the terlet.”
Is that Sam Elliott in the last panel?
I agree that the piano player has an annoying job, but what about the guy who has to scoop the horse poop (and/or dead gunslinger) off the street? Maybe you could bring him some glory in a future strip?
The who has to scoop up the horse poop probably had a more interesting job. He even came up with a game to pass the time, “What’s that smell?” and “Name their dinner.” These were very popular games of the time. In fact, they were so popular that I hear Nintendo is making them into a 3D game. Can’t wait for What’s that smell.
They didn’t clean the streets of small towns back in the west. The towns than inspired the “wild west” mythology were all boom towns with no hard streets. Horse manure was left to be ground in by traffic or eaten by the semi-feral pigs that ran loose almost everywhere.
Bodies were removed by friends and family and the bodies of strangers were taken care of by the nearest minister. Street cleaning and public health officials didn’t show up until the mid 1890s and only then in the big cities.
Of course, the vast majority of towns in the old west were quite, orderly communities were everyone had guns but the murder rate, including fatalities from events like Indian wars, was lower than New York or Paris of the day. People moved west to get away from big city crime. The “Wild Wild West” is just a literary invention.
I think bartender is most annoying cause you gotta keep serving the drunk ones cause they have guns and they’ll shoot up the place if you cut them off.
I feel like you’ve done this one already…
For anyone curious about the Simpson’s reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rzfVA8cqK0
Thanks!
Don’t forget in “The Long Riders” where the pie-annie player made the James Gang mad playin’ “Battle Cry of Freedom” (I think) and insisted he switch to a tune more appropriate for a rebel audience.
i always feel like the paino player was the guy that wasnt good enough to go out on excavations or find new stuff in the old west so he had to stay in town and craete an atmosphere for the drunkards
Not to mention you almost never get a name and risk dying in any number of those fights.
And I won’t ask about The Simpsons, but is the gunslinger’s name a reference to Quick-Draw, or just a coincidence?
It may be a Simpson reference, but before I read (and found) and link I finagled out the capitals as:
P NO I S PN!
Penis Pain… 🙁
I got worried there for a second.
I always thought it must have been weird to be a musician back before phonographs. We think of music as a creative endeavor today but back then most musicians, like the saloon piano player, we basically human juke boxes playing the same songs over and over by rote upon request.
Getting interrupted or even shot might have been a relief after a while.