I can’t seem to make a good link to it. It won’t show up for me at the website, which is www.rubescartoons.com
But today’s cartoon is going to go over REALLY big here in Topeka, Kansas! Leigh Rubin, the artist, was here in Topeka last year and that’s when he may have picked up the idea.
To describe it, there’s a man standing in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter is holding a big bag that says MarshmallowsJumbo Pack. He’s looking through his book as he tells the man who’s just arrived: “Since your name doesn’t appear to be on the guest list, Mr. Phelps, we hope you’ll enjoy this destination-appropriate consolation prize.”
If I can’t collect extra copies of this from other folks who take the Topeka paper, I’m going to go down to their office and buy some more, just for that one cartoon.
Interesting… The strip would be funny even without that particular name. I wonder if the reference to the real person was intentional, or if it was just a randomly-picked name.
I don’t think it’s anything more than a coincidence. Phelps is a fairly common surname in the United States and the figure depicted does not have any distinguishing characteristics (such as a white cowboy hat) that would help identify it as a particular Mr. Phelps.
“Rubes” is generally characterized by gentle absurdity, not scathing commentary. “The damned will be able to roast marshmallows” is much more in line with the tone of the comic than “Fred Phelps is going to hell.”
As the OP I agree that Phelps is a very common surname. But I don’t think the name is just happenstance, because, as I did say in the OP, the artist/caroonist, Leigh Rubin, was in Topeka, Kansas last year, home of Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. He did a presentation about his work to a very appreciative audience at the public library. This show had been advertised for several weeks in advance. I saw the posters in the library rotunda, and was sorry I couldn’t go, but my mother was able to attend.
