#183: A Policy for Frank
Arthur Trope Presents: The Inscrutables No. 183 “A Policy for Frank” # Breaking news: Artie was nominated for a Golden Square Award for ‘Best Single-Panel Black & White’ for #155 (“When I Was Your Age, We Didn’t Have Wheels”). It must be particularly gratifying bc he insisted on the caption change for that one. But not too gratifying bc he’s been nominated 23 times in the past 25 years, going back to his syndicated days, and never won. He can joke about it, but you can tell it bugs him. He used to call himself the Susan Lucci of the comics world, but she won her Emmy so long ago now that’s become a dated reference the kids don’t even get & Artie’s drought’s still going on. So Artie won’t be writing a speech, but it’s probably a good talking point going into his Mumbai meetings. Maybe the bigger news is Inky got his first nom for ‘Best Ink Job in B&W’ for #150 (which was originally “Please Support the Right to Arm Bears”, but the Committee watered down to “Nature, Seen”). He’s over the moon and planning to attend the PanelCon ceremony at the Ramada Inn in Shreveport in June, even though Artie isn’t going and the inking awards are sort of considered secondary & they don’t even show them on the live-stream. But a win would be a win, and would sure be good for morale around here. So anyway, I don’t don’t have the backstory for this one, #183, but it’s another in Artie’s seemingly endless line of healthcare/insurance jokes. The Committee held it up bc Slothrop is talking about introducing a 4th prong to his 3-pronged strategy: Globalization. He says too much of the canon doesn’t play outside the US. The first three prongs aren’t going so well, but I think this one’s going to stick. We rely heavily on the licensing deals in Hong Kong & Mexico and we’ve been getting some passes lately bc the captions are getting lost in translation (see #178, “The Dairy Aisle” for ex). This one isn’t going to help bc for some reason, the rest of the world doesn’t obsess over health insurance like people in the US. But you can expect to see a broader worldview from here on. Maybe. -Ed.
