This week's panel somehow cobbled together by:

• Jen
• Patric Lewandowski
• Travis W. Howard
• The Mystic Mongoose
• Ian Etra
• Ross Horowitz

(Bad week to be green!)

Attacked by a rabid chipmunk!!

I just took another look at that panel I drew. Gotta work on those vampire teeth...

As always, suggestions are listed in the order they were received. Thanks for playing and please join us again next Sunday!

--Scott
Sunday 09/12/1999

Well, if this isn't a set up, I don't know what is.

• It looks to me like this panel is going to be Carl repelling the vampire dad with an ambiguous object, either positioned out of frame or otherwise unseen. Carl: Take that! Dad: Aargh!
• Actually, I guess it could also potentially be a panel featuring a close up on Carl's face in which he merely realizes the Vampire fighting potential of the items in question.
• Or perhaps a panel with Carl in the bar, standing there with the Cross and the Holy water and the angel dissapearing into the upper left corner saying something about using them to combat evil. The vampire Dad looms menacingly in the background. This could be interpreted either as space Carl having been returned to Earth, or as bar Carl having just been visited by the Angel.

  Then again, I'm sure someone can come up with a fitting panel that's totally different...

Greg Lam

Wow, a toughie. Mine's a little off the wall, but here goes...

• Carl, clutching Holy Water in one hand, a cross in the other. His father cowers in pain. A title in a familiar font over him reads: "Carl, the Vampire Slayer"

  It's my birthday tomorrow, so you'd better pick me.

Jen

Hmmm.. my computer went a little wonky, hope you don't get my silly suggestion twice!

• Carl shown with cross in one hand and bottle of holy water in the other. Thinks: "What an odd bottle opener... better ask dad to help."

  Love the site, thanks for helping to brighten up our days! :-)

Patric Lewandowski

Alright... I think I can handle this week better. If not, well, I'm a doofus. ,

• Carl, back on earth... Dad is lunging at him, fangs and all. Carl (holding holy water and crucifix): "Dad??"
• Dad grabs carl's right hand, the crucifix is in the left, the holy water drops... Dad: "Mind if I chew your ear?" Carl: "What the???"

  me tired.. maybe I can think of some better ones later....

Michael Patrick

• Carl twists the top off of the cross Carl: Hey! This is a drinking flask too!

Nat Gertler

• Carl is standing with a glowing object in his hand (the glow concealing the nature fo the object) as many people in the liquor store coil back hissing in horror. Thot: "Oh no! EVERYONE'S vampires!"
• Monty Hall shows up and asks Carl if he'd like to trade what he has for what's behind door #3.
• Carl tosses object over his shoulder. "Boy, would they laugh if I should up at the synagogue with that!"

Michael Avolio

Man, another tough week. I can't back down like I did last time, though, so here goes...

• Close-up on Carl. CARL: (CHUCKLES) Hey, I could scare off some vampires with this!
• Carl screams, clutching his head. CARL: GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!
• SOMEONE OFF-PANEL: Carl? Is that you?
• CAPTION: Later... Carl lies unconscious on the ground.
• What he's holding (a bottle or a crucifix) morphs into a snake or something like that. (Or maybe it turns to sand and slips through his fingers?)
• CARL: But... what exactly IS it?

  That's all I got this time around. Looking forward to your further works.

Souther Salazar

• Closeup of Carl, his eyes gazing upward, "Father--What have I done to deserve this?"

souther

• carl, cross in hand extended out towards us (and his vampire dad, and the angel) in exaggerated perspective: "can I trade THIS for some holy water?"

Travis W. Howard

After hearing Michael Avolio's speech, I feel like doing a Roberto Beigni-Walk-On-The-Seats-At-The-Oscars thing.. Btw, Travis Pelkie, you're Carl B to my Carl A.. Umm, so there.. :)

• Panel depicting Carl using the cross as a bottle opener..
• Enter Carl-A(with cross) and says "Watch out Carl!!" clearly noting Vampire Dad behind Carl-B(with Holy Water)
• Carl with upturned, empty Holy Water bottle (obvious that he drank it) *hic* Hey!! This isn't a worm! (noting the cross he found in the bottle)
• Carl doing a double take at the objects in his hands (bottle and cross) and then reverts to character and drinks the water.
• Carl, with a shocked look on his face, almost of betrayal.. "D..D-ad??"
• Carl, Dad, and Angel standing together for a picture with a caption "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Sept. 1999, Liquor Store"
• Carl and Dad smiling for the camera, holding the bottle between them with a caption "The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit (italicize Spirit), Sept. 1999, Liquor Store"
• Enter: Brian Boitano. Carl thinking "WWBBD" (ala WWJD)
• Carl (clueless) wielding the cross like a sword, and the bottle like a club "I've got your Buffy RIGHT here Pops!"
• No pictures here, just words: "Will Carl survive? Tune in next week.. same bat-time, same webpage.."

  WHEW! Tough week. A thought occured to me last week, between DC's Hypertime and Kevin Bacon's Six Degrees, we have Stephen Hawking's Unified Theory of Everything... Anyone wanna start on the Perpetual Motion Machine now? :)

R David Francis

I suspect this week will be one of those "everybody wins!" weeks....

• A figure which can no longer be clearly seen (so it can be Carl's dad from above, and a generic vampire, evil fiend, or atheist :-) from the left) shouts, "No! Not that!" while melting into a puddle of goo. Carl may be looking on, but we cannot see what's in his hand (a bottle or a crucifix).

  Like I said; can't think of too many ways to resolve these two plotlines. Now, the panel *below* last week's; *that* one should be interesting. The Second Coming of Carl....

The Mystic Mongoose

• Carl says "This'll do for a bottle opener." as he pops off the top of the Absolut Holy Water with the cross.

Patric Lewandowski

here I go again....

• Carl appears back on earth, with his vampire dad lunging at him, the crucifix poised for action.. Carl: "What's going on?"
• As Carl materializes back with Dad, the crucifix is in his hand. His father lunges at him, making contact with the cross, burning. Dad: Screams Carl: "What's going on?"
• dad impaled on crucifix, holy water spilling and burning him. carl is just confused.
• "Meanwhile...." Dad is biting Daisy, making her a vampire.

  okay, these are a little better...

Markus Gerwinski

• We see Carl in the same pose as on the panel above, in his hand no more a bottle, but the cross from the panel to the left. Carl: "Uh... What shall I do with *this*?"
• Textbox: "Some years later..." We see Carl in his new role as van Helsing, e.g. in a vampire-type castle, with cross, holy water, wooden stake etc.
• Carl, drinking holy water, surrounded by the clouds of heaven. (Optionally: In the background the pink elephant flies by.)
• Carl in the foreground (we only see his face, not his hands). In the background, Dad shouts: "Don't take it, Carl!"
• Dad bursts into flames. (Hey, this is, what a good vampire does when confronted with a cross or holy water!;-)

  Hi Scott! What I meant with my question about 5-Card-Carl was: Are you interested in the rules extensions we invented for the combination?

[Sure, let's hear them. (Bonus points if I don't have to do any more work). --Scott]

Ian Etra

• Carl: (prying open holy water with crucifix) "Hey, this bottle opener works great!" Meanwhile, Vampire Dad, screaming "Noooo!" from the double threat, is sprayed with water escaping from the bottle, and is horribly maimed/killed. Carl probably remains oblivious.

  Of course, this can lead smoothly back into the whole drinking theme that we know and love so dearly.

Travis Pelkie

• Carl comes to his senses (sure) and finds himself with the cross and the holy water, sez "doesn't this stuff kill the undead?" This'll lead to a multi panel extravaganza where Carl battles his father, called (of course) "Sins of the Father"
• Maybe not. Carl, with cross and holy water, thinking "hey, aren't I a relapsed Catholic?"
• or else he sez "communion is getting stranger and stranger"
• or he sez, "hey, these must be symbols of that higher power they mentioned in AA"
• or carl appears with a different religious symbol (perhaps he's Jewish, a Star of David) and thinks "wow, this is worse than pre-Crisis continuity (or post-Crisis, for that matter)

  Hey, I heard some stuff about early comics in the last week. In one class, we mentioned Trajan's column, and the prof mentioned that there were two temple-towers on either side, allowing people to go up and look out at the design. She also said that some scholar has suggested that there was a separate narrative going up either side. The additive and subtractive nature of comics, 1800 years ago. And further back, even, as I found a (possible)reference to the 4 horse head painting you mentioned in section3 suggestions. In the textbook ART HISTORY by Marilyn Stokstad, the intro features a picture of a cave painting much like what you described, from Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardeche gorge, France c. 28,000 BC. The intro also referenced a NY times article from Jan. 24, 1995, page C10. Hopefully, that was what you had seen, Scott. BTW, which issue of the Village Voice had that spiegelman article? And did anyone catch my "clever" Zappa ref. in last week's suggestions?

[Thanks for the info, Travis. If I ever get the time, I'd love to start an early comics chronology site. As for the VV article, you can find it still at http://www.villagevoice.com/features/9930/rall.shtml Then read the responses from people who, like me, think Rall's attack on Spiegelman was petty and ignorant.--Scott]

Morgan Doninger

A tip of the hat to Mr. Waldron! I would have never in a month of Sundays got these two plotlines together.

• The cross has the holy water in it's base. CARL: "Whadya think Dad?"

  Very tired. Must sleep.

Ross Horowitz

Variations on a theme

• Carl looks at cross and says: "That's the weirdest bottle opener I've ever seen!"
• Same as above but you can see store and hole in roof and rubble. (Maybe Carl fell through the hole, maybe Dad escaped through hole.)
• Same as above with angel slapping forehead in frustration.
• Same as second one with Dad fleeing through door.
• And... Enter: Hercules.

Jimmy

Color in Carl?! Carl in Color?! Nowhere to really go from here except...

• TV style title screen: Carl Vampire Hunter (in stereo where available)
• Carl surrounded by Vampires. Carl: Vampires?!
• Carl: Wow! with this cross and holy water I can finally join the order like I've always wanted to. or: I can finally open my own church.
• Now, I'll go to the supermarket and buy some garlic and some steaks ( like that in the next panel, Carl can atack vampires with steaks instead of stakes. Come on, it's funny.[rimshot])
• Pointing cross and Holy water towards Dad: Vade retro Satanas!

jeffjohns

Boy, a guy goes on vacation for one week, and has chance for a threepeat brutally ripped away from him by this "Doug Waldron" character. Oh well, it's probably for the best--Most people don't realize that Pat Riley has actually copyrighted the phrase "threepeat", and therefore all the subsequent proceeds from t-shirts and mugs that would have undoubtedly sprung up for sale on this website would have only lined the pockets of Riles the Dictator. Much like John Lennon, I offer my art free to the world. (Although, I guess Abbey Road is usually around 14.95)

• Carl looking out at the camera... Holding a beer. "Hey, can I take this, too?"
• Caption: Meanwhile... we see a family of three exiting "The Mask of Zorro"

Bill Schlimme

• Carl: "Dad? Where did you come from? Am I dead after all? And why are you hissing?"
• Carl: "Dad, you'll never believe what just happened!" Holds up cross; Dad hisses.
• Carl, pensively: "I suppose now I may have to revise that whole atheism thing..." Dad: "Aw, don't bother..."

  Geez, could you have made this junction any more difficult to negotiate? I find myself at a complete loss...

Douglass Barre (Age 29)

Brain... fried... 3-Day novel last weekend... pain... creativity... sapped...

• CARL, standing over a pile of dust, holy water and crucifix in hand, looks around confused. CARL: "I could have sworn someone just said something... Oh, well."

  Hey, I actually have a decent idea for the post-Daisy one. I promise to be more interesting after we get out of this whole death/rebirth/vampire sequence. Vampires tend to suck the creativity out of me, no pun intended.