A polite invitation deserves a polite answer

These two panels from last year's Free Comic Book Day edition of Pippi Longstockings made me giggle.  In fact, they make me giggle every time I've read them.  I know.  I know.  I have a low threshold for humor and am easily amused.  You're talking to the guy who just has to tell his math class the Little Mermaid joke* as soon as they get to a certain topic.

Indeed.

Waitaminute!  What's that about a Pippi Longstocking comic book? Does such a thing really exist?  Why, yes.  Yes, it does.

Probably a lot of folks my generation (and maybe those just a tad older) mostly know Pippi from the dubbed movies that made their way to this country.  When I was a kid, the TV station that is now the local Fox affiliate was just an independent station that showed syndicated shows and reruns of older TV shows, many in black and white.  This was in the days before dozens of cable networks did the same thing, so it felt like a change from what the network affiliates were doing. 

It was on this station that I watched Gilligan's Island every day, years after it went off the air.  I Love Lucy, The Addams Family, The Munsters, I watched them all, as if they were being aired for the first time.  I thought it was awesome.  They showed classic, uncensored, Warner Brothers cartoons in the afternoons.  Those early versions of Bugs, Daffy, etc were a raucous bunch!  I guess I was a little bit into vintage and retro stuff, even then.

On weekends, they used to do what they called "Movies Four."  They'd show old movies all day, each with a different theme.  They'd use the same themes for weeks, and when they'd shown all the movies for that theme, they'd change to a different one.  One of those themes was "Pippi Longstocking Theater."  I wasn't that wild about the Pippi movies, even as a kid the dubbing bothered me.  I was usually waiting through for the "Godzilla Theater" to come on, where the dubbing didn't bother me.  I've never been very consistent.

This is actually the second time in the last few weeks I've been pondering the whole Movies Four experience.  One of the other themes they used was "Shirley Temple Theater."  News of her passing the other day brought it all to mind, then I found this panel, while catching up on some comics.  Twice in a few weeks means I need to blog about it.

It is kind of sad that I'm just now getting around to reading last years FCBD books.  Free Comic Book Day 2014 is just around the corner!

*What did the Little Mermaid wear to her math class?  She wore her Algae-Bra!**

**Don't hurt yourself laughing.***

***I'll be here all week.  Don't forget to tip your waitress.