04/13/2014
For the unacquainted: The Sinister Monster Doom Legion worked with Scapula as their leader until the disastrous events of the BLESSED BE THE DAMNED storyline. You can find the individual member profiles on the NEW READER? page.
…and if you can recognize where ‘Ghost Walrus’ came from, then congratulations, you are an expert weirdo!
OH MY GOD, THEY GOT CAB CALLOWAY!
I think I can be forgiven if the hook from “Margate Fhtagn” by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing ran trippingly through my head upon seeing the last panel today.
Now it makes me wonder…was Calloway’s spirit a bipedal walrus who lurks in a cave for all eternity scaring Jewish flappers and their talking dogs? Man, that’s got to be a circle of Hell that Dante overlooked.
The one bit that always made me wonder was the fact that there were electric chairs in the cave…… and a prison cell. Try not to think too hard about why you’d need either of those in a random cave.
Somewhere in my lurking childhood brain ‘ghost walrus’ is ringing a bell but I can’t for the life of me figure out why.
So, good to see the SMDL is finding out that a boss with a plan, even a lousy one, can be a pretty good thing. Of course sometimes you just need more firepower….. or Cthulhu. Cthulhu can be good too. Also good to see Seal Sakuro is back menacing people…… this time even someone who can probably understand him!
When it comes to minions, sometimes the tried and true and still alive are a good group, no matter your previous situation. I mean hey, none of them really seemed too angry with him last time out (they did wait for a lake to turf him into). Also good to see some things never change…… Tigadactyl’s flapping around and screeching, Babirus is flailing like a madman, Throgor’s being his usual concerned team mate self, and of course Toxsick is his ever lovely brand of captain callous obvious. Sadly, I can see them actually following a goofball named ‘Ghost Walrus’. They’re not the BRIGHTEST bunch. And hey, Scapula will actually have heists and other stuff for them to do! If he’d had that before, he’d never have lost them.
Wait, I got it! Cab Calloway! Cab Calloway performed a song with his band called ‘Minnie the Moocher’ and it was sung on a Betty Boop episode while said ghost walrus danced with some of Cab’s signature ‘Before dubstep existed dubstep’ moves! It featured the earliest known video footage of Cab Calloway in the intro! Hah, knew that was familiar for some reason! (I am, naturally, something of a Betty Boop mark, I have a big special events collector box set thing that has the episode….. crud that’s from the what, twenties? Thirties? How’d YOU even dig that up?)
The Internet Archive has it: https://archive.org/details/bb_minnie_the_moocher
At least I can claim I knew this one without internet assistence. I first watched that one before I knew what the internet even was. That and my mom was a ridiculous Cab Calloway fan…..
I made the terrible mistake of just watching that video sober, or at all!
There’s a lot of really great stuff in early animation beyond simple nostalgic value, Betty Boop and Popeye really pushed the limits of what animation could do and the results were friggin’ hilarious.
I forget when exactly I first came across Minnie the Moocher, but it did sit in my mind for a while simply because of the “what the hell?” factor. Why is there a singing ghost walrus in a cave? Why does he sing a song about a naive girl who gets corrupted by greed and vice? Was he trying to warn Betty? Why does the demon horde chase Betty away? Why? WHY?!
…well, why the hell not? It’s a cartoon.
Fun facts: Tupac Shakur also did a song called “Minnie The Moocher”.
Ghost Walrus! Ghost Walrus, NOOOOOOO!
Why?! WHY?!
At least Knuckle Sam got a story that lasted long and evolved into a downward spiral that culminated into her still somehow abrupt death, but WHAT ABOUT GHOST WALRUS?!
He was such a loved character! The children loved more than anything! He deserved better! HE DESERVED BETTER!
He’s gone, Zealot…… all we have now are the many beloved memories of him, like that time he got shot while singing and the time Toxsick was holding his bullet riddled corpse. And the time Cthulhu loomed up behind everyone crowded around his bullet riddled corpse, a classic that one!
We’re all gonna miss him.
Dude, if only you knew about the evil deeds committed by Ghost Walrus during his reign of terror. He makes Pol Pot look like Peppermint Patty.
Yes, but dude could dance, and you have to respect a brother for that!
I really enjoy looking at this page! It’s a fun, well drawn scene with some imagery that is just just so ridiculous that you can’t help laugh at it! Seriously, I don’t get the “ghost walrus” reference, but it’s still funny because of how absurd and out-of-nowhere it is! And on top of that, we have a seal-samurai fighting an animatronic tiger-pterodactyl man, and a giant Cthulu illusion (which I believe is Hypnaunsea’s doing) to top it all off.
Overall, a very entertaining page.
Glad you enjoyed! If you don’t know where Ghost Walrus came from, it means you are sane and should just enjoy it. Never mind the loonies in the comment thread posting links to its source (you may just lose a touch of that sanity).
Yeah, that’s for sure! I- HEY!
The patent-pending Dada-grade stealth insult! Available now wherever fine brain bendings are sold (or given away to the unwary)!
Is this R’lyeh happening? Or has the madness affected them all?
Isn’t that the Great Old One question of the hour?
The Elder Gods (if they do exist, at least within the context of the SCAPULA comic) would probably look at this scene and think, “Okay, screw this” and go back to sleep. Can you blame them?
Is ghost walrus performing Minnie the moocher?
I am so glad I’m not the only one that picked up on that. I love this comments section! You guys make me feel so much less screwed up some days.
And I’m loving your picking up guest hosting duties while Aidan is
sleeping it offin deep preparation for the next exciting episode, Lady J!Huh, I guess I did sort of fall into that, didn’t I? I just felt chatty after downing enough caffeine to kill a horse.
Sorry, Aidan! Didn’t mean to pilfer your job off ya.
Oh good, I’m not alone on noticing that. for a second, I thought I was venturing into mostly forgotten territory.
I thought it was “What does the fox say?”
I kinda feel stupid for hearing the whole song….
Great to see Seal Sakuro back :>
…and not getting clobbered in the back of his head!
Ah, good ol’ Toxsic stating things as they are. It’s quite wondrous none of them has travelled in bodybags before now.
They could always hide in garbage bags; if anything, it would make Babirus feel right at home.
OK…I admit I forgot about Ghost Walrus.
Well, you can forget about him now.
I’m surprised that no one said this before, so I’ll do it: The Japanese part in panel four should actually be 死ね, the imperative form.
In our artists’ defense, I think picking up proper Japanese has probably slipped through the cracks of life what with this comic, paying rent, trips to cons, and all the time he must spend breaking back out of mental institutions. And most of us are American, IE as linguistically gifted as termites (as much as our japanophile members would disagree). Though I’m sure he appreciates the pointers!
Good grief, now I’m making excuses for his foreign grammar. I have spent way too long playing secretary and bodyguard. Thank God I don’t live close enough to run him coffee…..
All of the Japanese I know I learned from Godzilla movies, the dialogue of which is usually along the lines of RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
Jenn, I almost thought you typed “theremins” (proving my dyslexia knows no browns). I don’t know if owning one of those would make my job easy, but it would be funny to have.
My son plays one at DJing gigs, and they’re surprisingly awesome! And goofing around on a theremin is fun.
Good to get the real host’s commentary in here. I’m not wearing anything appropriate for playing hostess. I understand you should at least have a shirt for that. (It’s my day off, leave me alone!)
I love that last line….I absolutely love it! “In body-bags…” 🙂
And poor Ghost Walrus. (RIP, Buddy)
Ghost Walrus is better off this way. Now he’s a real ghost!
As for the walrus part, well…that’s not a huge loss.
Not Ghost Walrus… NOT GHOST WALRUS!
C’mon Jerry. He had a good run, time to let less well developed characters have some time. He caught a bullet for the story!
I know it has vaguely something to do with this… but your last comment, Dada, reminds me of the weasels in Roger Rabbit… “yer gonna die laughing!”