Punny comic strip names

Cafe Society
41

Ruben Bolling has been doing the political comic Tom the Dancing Bug for a long time, and one of the recurring “features” is “Lucky Duck”, a piece who style and artwork is clearly inspired by the comics Carl Barks did for Dell comics in the 1940s-1970s, especially his Scrooge McDuck comics. These works focus on economic inequities.

Today’s strip (April 23 2021) is a sorta meta-pun:

The author of the "Lucky Duck’ comic is revealed to be Karl Barx, with a Karl Marxian beard. it’s appropriate, because he’s doing a strip based on economic struggle. “Karl Barx” = “Karl Marx” with a dog-related pun, as are other names in the strip (“Warren Basset” for Warren Buffet, etc.) But it’s especially relevant because “Karl Barx” sounds exactly the same as “Carl Barks”, the cartoonist that inspired the feature.

Gotta admit, I never noticed the similarity between “Karl Marx” and “Carl Barks” before. And Barks looked nothing like Marx.

42

“Ola”, oo la la. The author said “Alley Oop” was a sound French gymnasts made, but the only thing I can find is “Allez France”.

43

Note that “Karl Barx” has a Carl Barks-esque white mustache (in lieu of a Karl Marx-esque dark mustache) to go with his Karl Marx-esque white mane.

Another clever touch: the last panel is clearly modeled after the end of the Chuck Jones cartoon “Duck Amuck” (“Ain’t I a stinker?”) - so it’s referencing a Disney artist by way of Warner Brothers.

44

Actually, it’s “Ooola”. Moo has its own way of spelling.

45

Thanks. She carried a .45 in her time travels in the good old days. She had already captured the Evil Black Knight when Alley went back to rescue her.

46

A slight refinement: “Goes Kaboom.”

47

Not a comic strip but the 1990s cartoon show “Freakazoid” had a bad guy named Arms Akimbo .