DANGER CAY: Chapter 82: Secrets of Danger Cay
“Flashback Dance Party!” my wife said looking over my shoulder as I was coloring this page. And yes she’s right: it’s another flashback scene.
The two rubes mentioned are Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy,, from the comic strip Thimble Theater, and the “magic chicken” is Bernice the Whiffle Hen, a magical bird who comes from Africa who can travel through the Fourth Dimension and can grant luck to anyone who rubs the feathers on her head. Â Castor was the original star of Thimble Theatre, but he quickly became overshadowed when his sister, Olive, met this squint-eyed runt of a sailor who first appeared in the “Dice Island” adventure.
Toot toot!
The name of the island, “Danger Cay,” was inspired by the title of one of the Doc Savage novels: “Fear Cay”. The word “cay” comes from the Spanish and means a small, low island, like the Florida Keys. In my head, I had always pronounced “cay” the way it was spelled; but part-way through the story I discovered that it’s really pronounced “kee”; and that “cay” and “key” are really the same word, but spelled differently.
I wanted to do a strip where Ginger and someone else have an Abbott & Costello-ish misunderstanding about “Cay” and “Key” and “Qué?” except I couldn’t figure out a good way to represent the joke in print and have it make any kind of sense, so I just dropped the idea. Pronounce it how you like; it’s fine with me.
This is a wonderful thing but I don’t know what the hell’s going on but I want to. Thanks!
I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I’m sorry for not responding sooner; I don’t update my comic nearly as often as I should. I have an index page for the comic listing the main storylines so far and the main cast of Hannibal’s team. You can find the start of the current story, “Danger Cay”, here.
Wow! This has been great all along, but I HAD to comment after a) you snuck in the Pogo song byte, and B) Using Mutt and Jeff, in this one! Wowsers!
A late reply to your comment. I’m terribly negligent in maintenance around here. I’m glad you’re enjoying the comic and delighted that you’ve caught some of the in-jokes I’ve slipped in. I can’t take credit for Mutt and Jeff, tho’. The two gentlemen in question are meant to be Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy from the comic strip “Thimble Theater” by Bud Segar. Castor was the brother of Olive Oyl, and Ham was her boyfriend until she dumped him for a certain squint-eyed sailor. The “Dice Island” story arc was where that sailor first appeared. And yes, that story included a Magic Chicken, or to be more specific, a Fourth-Dimensional Whiffle Hen named Bernice.
I hope you continue to enjoy Ginger’s adventures and will try to update more regularly so that you can.