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Description
Front Cover

Solicitation
  Flunger's got a new job working at " Booger Fling"... but it's not exactly all chocolate shake wishes and cheeseburger dreams for our fuzzy friend. Marcie, too, is employed, as Mel Sajean's cute aide-de-camp... and, while working for the most-in demand actor in the voiceover biz sounds pretty cool, it's not all fun and games. Frankly, on the whole, it stinks. Matter of fact, both their jobs are huge pains in the keister. But, as everyone knows, whatever business you choose to go into, you have to start out at the bottom!

   _________________________________________________

  PREVIEW PIC:

    Hope to god this dubious entree isn't on the dollar menu at "Booger Sling"....

Snopes has debunked it, sure, but I'm still looking very carefully at what comes in my next 8-piece takeout dinner, I tell you what.

_________________________________________________

Episode #: 1603
Issue #: 183
Release Date: Jul 11, 2020

__________________________________________________

Title:  "Vocal Fries"
Story (out of 44 pages): 39 p.
Writers:  Matthew A. Jencks & Jean-Kate Costman
Pencillers:  M.S. "Nat" Cohen & Jan W. Osteen
Letterers:  Shane T. Eaton
Colorists: Newton E. Haas

Summary:

Cold Open--
The Belch Dimension Players perform a shot-for-shot remake of the opening theme to Baby Blues.
Debuting on the now-defunct WB channel, the adult animated series, based on a popular daily newspaper strip of the same name, aired to lukewarm ratings for six weeks in the summer of 2000, before being canceled mid-run. Beginning with " Wanda Proof" (January 20, 2002) the remaining five episodes premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. A second season was apparently completed, but shelved. [ 1] [ 2]
   *  The theme song is It's All Been Done", the 1998 hit by Canuck alternative rock band The Barenaked Ladies.

- Unlike the actual show, which only uses the first verse, this version uses the song in its entirety, the last verse is "played" over several panels of TV program-style outtakes/closing credits.
* Jim Cummings, the actor reference to/parodied in the main story, voiced Daryl's father in two episodes.
page 3.  Three-Gun Weyer and Dr. Ichabod Freely are credited with their full first and middle names respectively. However, it's not certain whether this is proper comic-book canon or just done as a one-off joke.
* The period-style cowboy gear on Freely and Wu come from a model sheet drawn up for an unused story idea. It was to feature a gunslinger ancestor of Jon's facing off against old-timey versions of The Nefarious Four, a quartet of marauding outlaws dubbed "The Nefarious Gang," in the Old West.

- The story's inspiration was drawn from a (non-canon) Darkwing Duck episode, " Darkwing Dubloon".

*  Weyer is, quite appropriately for the genre, named for two of the stars of Bonanza, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon.

       *  Freely's middle initial stands for "Pinkerton", a reference to the federal agents who famously hunted down the outlaw Jesse James and the Younger gang.[ 3]
- It's not certain if these names are actually comic canon or part of a one-off joke.

page 4. The Fat Art Geek briefly breaks the comic's fourth wall to offer complaint. [ 4]

Main Story---
The story opens with Jon's parents doing their taxes, and once again Mr. Sweet is agonizing over the family's expenditures. As Mrs. Sweet tries in vain to quell his anger, Flunger offers to pitch in and help the family out financially. However, despite his otherworldly experiences and considerable skills, all he can land is a job at Burger Sling, as a register-monkey.

Meanwhile, Marcie takes a job as an intern at Grumpy Puppy Studios, which creates a series of successful Internet-distributed animations. A chance encounter with Mel Sajean, the lead voice artist on the latest cartoon, leads to a fast friendship; later, Mel admits to her that he's been getting sudden attack of hiccups lately while in the midst of recording, and if it keeps up he could lose his job. The actor then makes a rather unorthodox suggestion about how she can keep him from constantly ruining takes. Though quite reluctant at first, eventually she agrees.

Flunger does so well at his job he is promoted to the drive-through; however, trouble soon starts when he begins receiving interference on his drive-through headset. Eavesdropping on people's conversations is fun for a while, but our alien friend becomes alarmed when he overhears an exchange between two men who sound as if they're in the midst of a heinous murder plot....

During a recording session, as per their deal, Marcie inserts her finger directly into Mel's rectum, which stifles his hiccups long enough for Mel to flawlessly perform the " Largo al factotum", all in one take. Hiccup-free and grateful, Mel promotes her to his personal assistant. But is this the sort of job Marcie really wants, or is she about to be just another sad story about a young woman getting run through and spit out of the giant meat-grinder that is the animation industry?

Notes:
The title is a double pun, referring to both the condition " vocal fry" and to the 1998 romantic comedy-drama Home Fries, in which Drew Barrymore plays a pregnant, unwed waitress who becomes implicated in a plot against her baby's father (Chris Elis) after she accidentally overhears his murder through her headphones, and soon finds her life put in jeopardy. The story itself, though, has little to do with the plot of the film aside from a main character working at a drive-through window.
* Flunger's subplot marks the second time one of his people has worked in food service (is. 407).
         * This is the third time a character(s) has been employed by a major fast-food chain (is. 407, 712).

- "Burger Sling" was first name-dropped in that story.

       *Burger Sling is seen, in the final panel, to be located directly across the street from the boys' then-employer, MacDougal's.
  - In the real world, a coin-operated laundry currently stands in that locale.
   *According to Jon, the high-school kids have disdainfully dubbed the restaurant "Booger Fling".
    -Despite that, he himself had once suggested the idea of taking jobs there to his friends.
The subject of the family finances was previously addressed in 1306.
         * Some of the Sweet family's bills are callbacks to earlier stories, such as Benjamin's karate class ( 908).
         * The gag where Jon's father confuses one of his jobs for Marcie's (specifically, a perfume counter salesperson ) also gets a callback.

- Later, Dad is certain Jon also worked for Milli Vanilli (is. 2 08), but he insists that's impossible because the group split back in 1991, and he's only sixteen years old.

page 6. Flunger spent forty annua as a Begoony berry silo night watchman until a hefty workman's comp claim allowed him to pay for college. He also cites his time in the Orbit Reserve Guard (is. 811) as job experience.
* Dad reminds Flunger all he did in the Guard was hose bird crap off statues every weekend (is. 811).
  -These panels were excised from the main story for pacing concerns, but turn up as a "post-credits"-style scene at the end, along with a second outtake featuring Benjamin reenacting Bizzy's scene from the opening credits.
page 6.  Marcie's stint as a magician's assistant (is. 6 11)--is mentioned.
* Her being a community college dropout is also noted again (611, 1306 ).

    *  Top-tier colleges on Flunger's homeworld are called "Fusco-League", named after puppeteer and the voice of ALF, Paul Fusco.
-As ediitor Jonathan Sweet describes it, a few lines of dialogue were cut from in is. 1601 that revealed while living in L.A. in the early eighties Flunger made the acquaintance of "this crazy puppeteer--Paul... Something-Or-Other". The two spent time, according to Flunger, at Paul's apartment, where he shared stories --"and copious amounts of strawberry ripple"--about his experiences growing up on a distant planet. After learning much later about a TV sitcom (ALF, which Fusco co-created and wrote) whose plots looked much like his life, the alien, convinced his new friend has stolen his ideas from him, has always been a little bent out of shape about it.

  -Fusco, in-universe, is noted to be the name of a carnivorous species of vine plant native to the planet Flung.

page 14. Grumpy Puppy Studios' original name, "JokeArtTunes.com", is a parody of JoeCartoon.com, in both name and the animation they produce.
* They received a similar shout-out years earlier in The Simpsons' " I Am Furious (Yellow)" episode.

* It's revealed the company was re-branded in honor of its mascot and flagship character, Grumpy Puppy, after being bought out by a larger firm.

       - This reflects the real-word acquisition of JoeCartoon.com, first becoming part of AtomFilms, then in 2006 a return to being an independent domain, then being bought by Endemol in 2007.
       -The site closed down, seemingly for good, in 2010, and all its shorts moved to the burgeoning YouTube. It was relaunched just two years later.

  * Grumpy Puppy has appeared in many JokeArtTunes, despite often dying gruesomely at the end of them. Jon's favorites are "Grumpy Puppy In A Fry Cooker" and "Grumpy Puppy On A Trampoline", but he feels "The Devil vs. Grumpy Puppy" was "derivative" and "phoned in" (page 10).

    -"Fry Cooker" is a reference to " Gerbil In A Microwave" (1999), JoeCartoon's debut short.
- Like Gerbil, Grumpy Puppy speaks in a vaguely Southern accent.
  *Mom admits she can't tell if his voice is supposed to be Matthew McConaughey or "the little guy from ' Joe Dirt'" (page 11).

               - The star of Joe Dirt and former Saturday Night Live player David Spade actually discussed McConaughey on his late-night talk show Lights Out With David Spade on Comedy Central.

    -  Grumpy Puppy also bears a slight resemblance to another popular JoeCartoon character, " Lump The No-Legged Dog".

*The name may also be a nod to the Internet sensation "Grumpy Cat" [ 5].
  *Besides Grumpy Puppy, the studio has created dozens of other shorts and serials: D-Listers In A Juicer, 'Squiter on Yer Peter (a parody of "Supafly "), Uncle Hymie Doszapatos , Deeply Embarrassin' Harrison , Da' Plantation Slavings , Dook of Earl , The 4 Forwards , High Diver's City , Sue Selman, Lady Jet Ace; Pope-Eye the Clergy Man , Hot Kids , C.C.U.P.D.; and their biggest hit to date, Bomtempo & Moloch.

page 11.  Marcie's hairstyle is likened to that of Ed Grimley, a rather odd character noted for wearing his bangs in a stiff, greasy upswoop, played by actor/comedian Martin Short.
               * Thus is followed a scene later by a sponsor's ad by the makers of his signature styling mousse, presumably the key to maintaining this hairdo.
               * The (fictitious) product was apparently marketed in 1988, the same year as the Ed Grimley animated series.

page 15.  Mel Sajean is a caricature of prolific voice actor Jim Cummings.
* Sajean's first name is likely also a nod to fellow actor Mel Blanc.

          * The voices of the characters Sajean performs on Bomtempo & Moloch are nods to Cummings' many roles over three decades.

  - The series stars a fussy, self-aggrandizing basset hound and a slobbish, devil-may-care bull terrier (who sounds exactly like Mooch The Pit Bull ). This reflects the original concept for the characters before Bear was added, making it a trio.
* Like Beethoven, Bomtempo is named for a Romantic composer.  [ 6]

  * Moloch's design strongly resembles the "Rude Dog" ad mascot.
- In the tie-in animated series, Cummings voiced one of R.D.'s crew, the Dweebs.

- Coincidentally, in a different show, Cummings also voiced a character named "(Mr.) Moloch".
* It's revealed to pay Sajean's salary, the studio cheaply outsources Bomtempo & Moloch's animation to a small Eastern bloc nation (page 33).

-Gene Deitch Associates, Inc. had relocated from New York City to Prague, Czechoslovakia, after being promised funding for one of his pet projects, in 1959; he remained there producing cartoons for over 15 years. [ 8] [ 9]  His benefactor, Rembrandt Studios, is still in business today.

-The Simpsons parodied Deitch's Iron-Curtain era cartoons as well with "The Worker and Parasite Show" (" Krusty Gets Kancelled").

    -  Rembrandt Studios were also the ones behind a number of the aforementioned cheaply-produced Popeye cartoons back in the sixties.
- The nation which produces B & M suddenly ceases to exist midway through the cartoon's production.

     *A similar gag appeared in " Mr. and Mrs. Sweet" for the company behind Marcie's boyfriend's beloved Yakaha motorcycle.
   *Czechoslovakia actually was formally dissolved in January 1993. [ 10]

          * Sajean's "real-world" counterpart (in the comic's credits) is named after Lorenzo Music, the voice of " Carlton, Your Doorman", The Real Ghostbusters' Peter Venkman, and perhaps his best-known role, Garfield.
- "Clement Music" also receives a credit as the voice of the director , "Jig Sum".
-  Another credit appears for a "Joseph Beattie ( no relation)".
          * Other elements of the story are inspired by the real-life allegations of domestic abuse Cummings's wife filed against him in 2018. [ 7]

"Putting on Arias", the cartoon Marcie assists in the recording of, strongly resembles animator Gene Deitch's Tom & Jerry shorts in the mid-sixties--in particular, Carmen Get It!, the last T&J episode his company produced.
         * It's also reminiscent of the recording session scene from Mrs. Doubtfire, even down to the same music used to score the scene.
page 17.  Third appearance of The Karl Childers Functionary ( 701, 1008).
  * It's also the third appearance of The Coprophiliac ( 805, 1202) (page 22).
    - The coffee mug he carries says "The Three-Timers Club", a callback to the story of the same name .

    - The Coprophiliac confesses his favorite thing to do is hang around local restaurants, waiting for someone to liken their food to poop. He then says he's on his way over to a " Barby's" in Brentwood.
*  It's unclear to which Brentwood he is referring to; the ones closest to Sweet's hometown would be either in Tennessee or Missouri, both located over 200 miles away, and each boating an Arby's. [ 11] [ 12]

Vigorous anal massage has indeed been shown to be an effective treatment against the hiccups. [ 13] [ 14] [ 15] [ 16]
The original script included several planned but unused scenes, including:
         * Flunger talks about an episode of a TV show he saw in which Popeye's nephews are interviewed .
         * A cutaway gag about Jon recalling the time he was at an outdoor street cafe in Paris, talking with controversial blogger Julian Assange, and excused himself from the table saying he had to take a " wicked leak".

         * Mel Sajean takes Marcie to a karaoke bar on their "friend-date" after work. He eventually talks her into going up on the stage to do a number, and becomes absolutely enthralled by her performance.

         * Several more deleted scenes in the "outtake reel" at the end, including a hilarious "blooper" from the opening credits, some extended dialogue from Mr. Sweet and Flunger's scene, and a mid-credits gag of Jig X. Sum (the director of Bontempo & Moloch, presumably laid off by the studio) now working the Burger Sling drive-through.

    - CARL CHILDERS FUNCTIONARY:   "What'd you kill Grumpy Puppy 'fer? What'd you kill Grumpy Puppy 'fer? You shouldn't ought'er done 'at... He's just a boy... MMM-mmmmm... Just a boy."


___________________________________________________

Title:  "In A Stew"
Story (out of 44 pages): 5 p.
Writer:  Jahnesta T. Owen
Penciller: M.S. "Nat" Cohen
Letterer:  J. Antwon Shea
Colorist: Newton E. Haas

Summary:
The Trio of Trouble is assigned to help out in the Carbuncle High School cafeteria, and it's not long before these kooks spoil the broth....

Notes
The plot is a remake of the 1960 comic-book story "Mess ", starring Sad Sack.
The CHS cafeteria lunch-lady's name and physical appearance are a reference to the Adam Sandler novelty song " Lunch-Lady Land". In addition, another lunch-lady, who bears a striking resemblance to Sandler in drag, can be seen in a couple of panels on pages 4, and again on page 5.
  *  Although not mentioned in dialogue, the script gives Mrs. Land's first name as " Dinah".

________________________________________________

Look inside!    Click on the link to see full-size image.

01 02    03

Description
Front Cover

Solicitation
  Flunger's got a new job working at " Booger Fling"... but it's not exactly all chocolate shake wishes and cheeseburger dreams for our fuzzy friend. Marcie, too, is employed, as Mel Sajean's cute aide-de-camp... and, while working for the most-in demand actor in the voiceover biz sounds pretty cool, it's not all fun and games. Frankly, on the whole, it stinks. Matter of fact, both their jobs are huge pains in the keister. But, as everyone knows, whatever business you choose to go into, you have to start out at the bottom!

   _________________________________________________

  PREVIEW PIC:

    Hope to god this dubious entree isn't on the dollar menu at "Booger Sling"....

Snopes has debunked it, sure, but I'm still looking very carefully at what comes in my next 8-piece takeout dinner, I tell you what.

_________________________________________________

Episode #: 1603
Issue #: 183
Release Date: Jul 11, 2020

__________________________________________________

Title:  "Vocal Fries"
Story (out of 44 pages): 39 p.
Writers:  Matthew A. Jencks & Jean-Kate Costman
Pencillers:  M.S. "Nat" Cohen & Jan W. Osteen
Letterers:  Shane T. Eaton
Colorists: Newton E. Haas

Summary:

Cold Open--
The Belch Dimension Players perform a shot-for-shot remake of the opening theme to Baby Blues.
Debuting on the now-defunct WB channel, the adult animated series, based on a popular daily newspaper strip of the same name, aired to lukewarm ratings for six weeks in the summer of 2000, before being canceled mid-run. Beginning with " Wanda Proof" (January 20, 2002) the remaining five episodes premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. A second season was apparently completed, but shelved. [ 1] [ 2]
   *  The theme song is It's All Been Done", the 1998 hit by Canuck alternative rock band The Barenaked Ladies.

- Unlike the actual show, which only uses the first verse, this version uses the song in its entirety, the last verse is "played" over several panels of TV program-style outtakes/closing credits.
* Jim Cummings, the actor reference to/parodied in the main story, voiced Daryl's father in two episodes.
page 3.  Three-Gun Weyer and Dr. Ichabod Freely are credited with their full first and middle names respectively. However, it's not certain whether this is proper comic-book canon or just done as a one-off joke.
* The period-style cowboy gear on Freely and Wu come from a model sheet drawn up for an unused story idea. It was to feature a gunslinger ancestor of Jon's facing off against old-timey versions of The Nefarious Four, a quartet of marauding outlaws dubbed "The Nefarious Gang," in the Old West.

- The story's inspiration was drawn from a (non-canon) Darkwing Duck episode, " Darkwing Dubloon".

*  Weyer is, quite appropriately for the genre, named for two of the stars of Bonanza, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon.

       *  Freely's middle initial stands for "Pinkerton", a reference to the federal agents who famously hunted down the outlaw Jesse James and the Younger gang.[ 3]
- It's not certain if these names are actually comic canon or part of a one-off joke.

page 4. The Fat Art Geek briefly breaks the comic's fourth wall to offer complaint. [ 4]

Main Story---
The story opens with Jon's parents doing their taxes, and once again Mr. Sweet is agonizing over the family's expenditures. As Mrs. Sweet tries in vain to quell his anger, Flunger offers to pitch in and help the family out financially. However, despite his otherworldly experiences and considerable skills, all he can land is a job at Burger Sling, as a register-monkey.

Meanwhile, Marcie takes a job as an intern at Grumpy Puppy Studios, which creates a series of successful Internet-distributed animations. A chance encounter with Mel Sajean, the lead voice artist on the latest cartoon, leads to a fast friendship; later, Mel admits to her that he's been getting sudden attack of hiccups lately while in the midst of recording, and if it keeps up he could lose his job. The actor then makes a rather unorthodox suggestion about how she can keep him from constantly ruining takes. Though quite reluctant at first, eventually she agrees.

Flunger does so well at his job he is promoted to the drive-through; however, trouble soon starts when he begins receiving interference on his drive-through headset. Eavesdropping on people's conversations is fun for a while, but our alien friend becomes alarmed when he overhears an exchange between two men who sound as if they're in the midst of a heinous murder plot....

During a recording session, as per their deal, Marcie inserts her finger directly into Mel's rectum, which stifles his hiccups long enough for Mel to flawlessly perform the " Largo al factotum", all in one take. Hiccup-free and grateful, Mel promotes her to his personal assistant. But is this the sort of job Marcie really wants, or is she about to be just another sad story about a young woman getting run through and spit out of the giant meat-grinder that is the animation industry?

Notes:
The title is a double pun, referring to both the condition " vocal fry" and to the 1998 romantic comedy-drama Home Fries, in which Drew Barrymore plays a pregnant, unwed waitress who becomes implicated in a plot against her baby's father (Chris Elis) after she accidentally overhears his murder through her headphones, and soon finds her life put in jeopardy. The story itself, though, has little to do with the plot of the film aside from a main character working at a drive-through window.
* Flunger's subplot marks the second time one of his people has worked in food service (is. 407).
         * This is the third time a character(s) has been employed by a major fast-food chain (is. 407, 712).

- "Burger Sling" was first name-dropped in that story.

       *Burger Sling is seen, in the final panel, to be located directly across the street from the boys' then-employer, MacDougal's.
  - In the real world, a coin-operated laundry currently stands in that locale.
   *According to Jon, the high-school kids have disdainfully dubbed the restaurant "Booger Fling".
    -Despite that, he himself had once suggested the idea of taking jobs there to his friends.
The subject of the family finances was previously addressed in 1306.
         * Some of the Sweet family's bills are callbacks to earlier stories, such as Benjamin's karate class ( 908).
         * The gag where Jon's father confuses one of his jobs for Marcie's (specifically, a perfume counter salesperson ) also gets a callback.

- Later, Dad is certain Jon also worked for Milli Vanilli (is. 2 08), but he insists that's impossible because the group split back in 1991, and he's only sixteen years old.

page 6. Flunger spent forty annua as a Begoony berry silo night watchman until a hefty workman's comp claim allowed him to pay for college. He also cites his time in the Orbit Reserve Guard (is. 811) as job experience.
* Dad reminds Flunger all he did in the Guard was hose bird crap off statues every weekend (is. 811).
  -These panels were excised from the main story for pacing concerns, but turn up as a "post-credits"-style scene at the end, along with a second outtake featuring Benjamin reenacting Bizzy's scene from the opening credits.
page 6.  Marcie's stint as a magician's assistant (is. 6 11)--is mentioned.
* Her being a community college dropout is also noted again (611, 1306 ).

    *  Top-tier colleges on Flunger's homeworld are called "Fusco-League", named after puppeteer and the voice of ALF, Paul Fusco.
-As ediitor Jonathan Sweet describes it, a few lines of dialogue were cut from in is. 1601 that revealed while living in L.A. in the early eighties Flunger made the acquaintance of "this crazy puppeteer--Paul... Something-Or-Other". The two spent time, according to Flunger, at Paul's apartment, where he shared stories --"and copious amounts of strawberry ripple"--about his experiences growing up on a distant planet. After learning much later about a TV sitcom (ALF, which Fusco co-created and wrote) whose plots looked much like his life, the alien, convinced his new friend has stolen his ideas from him, has always been a little bent out of shape about it.

  -Fusco, in-universe, is noted to be the name of a carnivorous species of vine plant native to the planet Flung.

page 14. Grumpy Puppy Studios' original name, "JokeArtTunes.com", is a parody of JoeCartoon.com, in both name and the animation they produce.
* They received a similar shout-out years earlier in The Simpsons' " I Am Furious (Yellow)" episode.

* It's revealed the company was re-branded in honor of its mascot and flagship character, Grumpy Puppy, after being bought out by a larger firm.

       - This reflects the real-word acquisition of JoeCartoon.com, first becoming part of AtomFilms, then in 2006 a return to being an independent domain, then being bought by Endemol in 2007.
       -The site closed down, seemingly for good, in 2010, and all its shorts moved to the burgeoning YouTube. It was relaunched just two years later.

  * Grumpy Puppy has appeared in many JokeArtTunes, despite often dying gruesomely at the end of them. Jon's favorites are "Grumpy Puppy In A Fry Cooker" and "Grumpy Puppy On A Trampoline", but he feels "The Devil vs. Grumpy Puppy" was "derivative" and "phoned in" (page 10).

    -"Fry Cooker" is a reference to " Gerbil In A Microwave" (1999), JoeCartoon's debut short.
- Like Gerbil, Grumpy Puppy speaks in a vaguely Southern accent.
  *Mom admits she can't tell if his voice is supposed to be Matthew McConaughey or "the little guy from ' Joe Dirt'" (page 11).

               - The star of Joe Dirt and former Saturday Night Live player David Spade actually discussed McConaughey on his late-night talk show Lights Out With David Spade on Comedy Central.

    -  Grumpy Puppy also bears a slight resemblance to another popular JoeCartoon character, " Lump The No-Legged Dog".

*The name may also be a nod to the Internet sensation "Grumpy Cat" [ 5].
  *Besides Grumpy Puppy, the studio has created dozens of other shorts and serials: D-Listers In A Juicer, 'Squiter on Yer Peter (a parody of "Supafly "), Uncle Hymie Doszapatos , Deeply Embarrassin' Harrison , Da' Plantation Slavings , Dook of Earl , The 4 Forwards , High Diver's City , Sue Selman, Lady Jet Ace; Pope-Eye the Clergy Man , Hot Kids , C.C.U.P.D.; and their biggest hit to date, Bomtempo & Moloch.

page 11.  Marcie's hairstyle is likened to that of Ed Grimley, a rather odd character noted for wearing his bangs in a stiff, greasy upswoop, played by actor/comedian Martin Short.
               * Thus is followed a scene later by a sponsor's ad by the makers of his signature styling mousse, presumably the key to maintaining this hairdo.
               * The (fictitious) product was apparently marketed in 1988, the same year as the Ed Grimley animated series.

page 15.  Mel Sajean is a caricature of prolific voice actor Jim Cummings.
* Sajean's first name is likely also a nod to fellow actor Mel Blanc.

          * The voices of the characters Sajean performs on Bomtempo & Moloch are nods to Cummings' many roles over three decades.

  - The series stars a fussy, self-aggrandizing basset hound and a slobbish, devil-may-care bull terrier (who sounds exactly like Mooch The Pit Bull ). This reflects the original concept for the characters before Bear was added, making it a trio.
* Like Beethoven, Bomtempo is named for a Romantic composer.  [ 6]

  * Moloch's design strongly resembles the "Rude Dog" ad mascot.
- In the tie-in animated series, Cummings voiced one of R.D.'s crew, the Dweebs.

- Coincidentally, in a different show, Cummings also voiced a character named "(Mr.) Moloch".
* It's revealed to pay Sajean's salary, the studio cheaply outsources Bomtempo & Moloch's animation to a small Eastern bloc nation (page 33).

-Gene Deitch Associates, Inc. had relocated from New York City to Prague, Czechoslovakia, after being promised funding for one of his pet projects, in 1959; he remained there producing cartoons for over 15 years. [ 8] [ 9]  His benefactor, Rembrandt Studios, is still in business today.

-The Simpsons parodied Deitch's Iron-Curtain era cartoons as well with "The Worker and Parasite Show" (" Krusty Gets Kancelled").

    -  Rembrandt Studios were also the ones behind a number of the aforementioned cheaply-produced Popeye cartoons back in the sixties.
- The nation which produces B & M suddenly ceases to exist midway through the cartoon's production.

     *A similar gag appeared in " Mr. and Mrs. Sweet" for the company behind Marcie's boyfriend's beloved Yakaha motorcycle.
   *Czechoslovakia actually was formally dissolved in January 1993. [ 10]

          * Sajean's "real-world" counterpart (in the comic's credits) is named after Lorenzo Music, the voice of " Carlton, Your Doorman", The Real Ghostbusters' Peter Venkman, and perhaps his best-known role, Garfield.
- "Clement Music" also receives a credit as the voice of the director , "Jig Sum".
-  Another credit appears for a "Joseph Beattie ( no relation)".
          * Other elements of the story are inspired by the real-life allegations of domestic abuse Cummings's wife filed against him in 2018. [ 7]

"Putting on Arias", the cartoon Marcie assists in the recording of, strongly resembles animator Gene Deitch's Tom & Jerry shorts in the mid-sixties--in particular, Carmen Get It!, the last T&J episode his company produced.
         * It's also reminiscent of the recording session scene from Mrs. Doubtfire, even down to the same music used to score the scene.
page 17.  Third appearance of The Karl Childers Functionary ( 701, 1008).
  * It's also the third appearance of The Coprophiliac ( 805, 1202) (page 22).
    - The coffee mug he carries says "The Three-Timers Club", a callback to the story of the same name .

    - The Coprophiliac confesses his favorite thing to do is hang around local restaurants, waiting for someone to liken their food to poop. He then says he's on his way over to a " Barby's" in Brentwood.
*  It's unclear to which Brentwood he is referring to; the ones closest to Sweet's hometown would be either in Tennessee or Missouri, both located over 200 miles away, and each boating an Arby's. [ 11] [ 12]

Vigorous anal massage has indeed been shown to be an effective treatment against the hiccups. [ 13] [ 14] [ 15] [ 16]
The original script included several planned but unused scenes, including:
         * Flunger talks about an episode of a TV show he saw in which Popeye's nephews are interviewed .
         * A cutaway gag about Jon recalling the time he was at an outdoor street cafe in Paris, talking with controversial blogger Julian Assange, and excused himself from the table saying he had to take a " wicked leak".

         * Mel Sajean takes Marcie to a karaoke bar on their "friend-date" after work. He eventually talks her into going up on the stage to do a number, and becomes absolutely enthralled by her performance.

         * Several more deleted scenes in the "outtake reel" at the end, including a hilarious "blooper" from the opening credits, some extended dialogue from Mr. Sweet and Flunger's scene, and a mid-credits gag of Jig X. Sum (the director of Bontempo & Moloch, presumably laid off by the studio) now working the Burger Sling drive-through.

    - CARL CHILDERS FUNCTIONARY:   "What'd you kill Grumpy Puppy 'fer? What'd you kill Grumpy Puppy 'fer? You shouldn't ought'er done 'at... He's just a boy... MMM-mmmmm... Just a boy."


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Title:  "In A Stew"
Story (out of 44 pages): 5 p.
Writer:  Jahnesta T. Owen
Penciller: M.S. "Nat" Cohen
Letterer:  J. Antwon Shea
Colorist: Newton E. Haas

Summary:
The Trio of Trouble is assigned to help out in the Carbuncle High School cafeteria, and it's not long before these kooks spoil the broth....

Notes
The plot is a remake of the 1960 comic-book story "Mess ", starring Sad Sack.
The CHS cafeteria lunch-lady's name and physical appearance are a reference to the Adam Sandler novelty song " Lunch-Lady Land". In addition, another lunch-lady, who bears a striking resemblance to Sandler in drag, can be seen in a couple of panels on pages 4, and again on page 5.
  *  Although not mentioned in dialogue, the script gives Mrs. Land's first name as " Dinah".

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