Thursday, July 15, 2004

Honeymoon in Athens

So now we are off on an Olympic-themed adventure. Just a short time ago, Alley Oop had finally proposed marriage to his long, long, long, long-time girlfriend Oola. Suddenly Dr. Wonmug pops in uninvited and invites the pair to come back to the future for a “vacation.” Oola is immediatly shipped off on a shopping spree with Ava. Despite the fact that she comes from a prehistoric culture with no money, Oola is surprisingly well versed in our modern day consumer culture. I suppose that Ava is going to spring for all the things that Oola might want to buy.

Meanwhile, Oop’s “vacation” seems to consist of mainly sitting on a couch with a beer and watching sports on TV. One thing this comic strip does well is fortifying sexist stereotypes. But then out of the blue we have Wonmug suggesting that Alley Oop drop everything and start training for the Olympics. This should make most readers suspicious of Wonmug’s intentions in bringing Oop back to the future at this point. Maybe he is planning on making some bets on the side.
Oop, of course, has now forgotten all about asking Oola to marry him and is ready to transport back to the past to meet an ancient Athenian wrestler to help him train for the modern games. He doesn’t even bother to change back into his caveman outfit, which would probably be more appropriate for the time period than the slacks and polo shirt he is now wearing.
In a most remarkable turn of fortune, the first person Oop meets after his transport is Milo, the wrestler he is supposed to train with (Imagine that!). Milo takes no notice of Oop’s strange clothing and all his curiosity as to the identity of this strange person is completely satisfied upon learning his name.

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