From the archives. June 26th, 2011. (and a conspiracy theory?)
It's 2011, and Peter Gallagher is still signing the Sunday strips with his uncle's name 13yrs after taking over. Kind of impressive! Anyway, I liked these energetic, playful strips, and the ending genuinely made me chuckle. On a side note, I find Orangecat's 'Jimmy Carter' smile a bit unnerving. Or maybe just "nightmarish." :S
Btw, "G" can be such a slackhead penciller that I feel like I'm always finding something odd in his modern comics art. For example, Grandpa's arm & hand turning in to sort of an ice-scraper / broad crow-bar in the last action panel. It's almost like an illusionist / magicician principle, in which the performer makes sure to focus the audience's attention somewhere else, and then does something tricky (or wonky) where they're not looking. Maybe that's even something he deliberately does for the fun of it..?
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CommentsHeathcliff without Heathcliff 6/19/2026
I hate when there are this many straight lines required in an edit.
Grandma lays down the law. [Apr 30th, 2007] (notes in post)
Does that show up large-enough via both app and web-browsing mode? I recall pulling that directly from GoComics or whatnot, so that's the original size. I could always upscale if necessary.
Anyway, I have a pretty big Orangecat digital strip collection, maybe a couple hundred or so that I've saved across the years, just that they're scattered across too many folders and whatnot. I'm slowly trying to organise them, and instead of trying to build and share collections as I'd previously thought to do, maybe I'll just post them as singles, when the mood hits.
Peter Gallagher took over Heathcliff in 1998, and for some years afterwards, seemingly did his best to emulate his uncle George Gately's style of humor and artistry. Almost ten years in, and it looks like he was still in that mode(!) And more than just being in autopilot mode, he was coming up with genuinely funny material in the classic sense, IMO.
The story of how Gallagher wrestled the strip away from tradition and took it in weird and wonderful new directions has been recounted here, there, and at places like SolRad. In fact, that article's an excellent place to start if you're like many, wondering what the hell's going on with the modern Heathcliff comic.