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Crankshaft (Comic Strip)

 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
type
TVTItem
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
label
Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
page
Crankshaft
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
comment
Crankshaft, a Newspaper Comic strip launched in 1987, is a Spin-Off of Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean that focuses on the day-to-day life of its title character, curmurdgeonly eighty-five-year-old bus driver Ed Crankshaft.Much like its parent, the strip combines character-based humor (radically different from its parent comic, although this was made at the time before the stories became more dramatic) with story lines about issues that affect average Americans.It should also be noted that, since the title character and many others are over eighty years of age, much use is made of the same flashback device the parent strip does.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
fetched
2023-09-21T17:51:37Z
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
parsed
2023-09-21T17:51:37Z
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_1989b0c
type
Comic-Book Time
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_1989b0c
comment
Comic-Book Time: Apparently set in the present day, but none of the characters have aged appreciably since the strip's debut in 1987. Crankshaft's service in World War II becomes more implausible every year. Since the parent strip had a Time Skip in 2008, characters who appear in both strips are a good decade younger in this strip... and yet, both strips seem to take place in the present day. Huh. In the 2021-10-17 strip, Crankshaft discussed a childhood memory of Rocky Colavito and Vic Power playing for the Cleveland Indians, which means he was a kid in the late 1950s. If this is a deliberate Retcon (not necessarily a given, due to Batiuk's increasingly faulty memory in later years of the strip) that would mean he is no longer a WWII veteran.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_1989b0c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_1989b0c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_1989b0c
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_21af4dc3
type
Heroic Dog
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_21af4dc3
comment
Heroic Dog: A 2009 strip has Rose's dog, Tinkerbelle, jumping in front of a rattlesnake that was planning to strike at Crankshaft and getting bit herself.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_21af4dc3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_21af4dc3
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_21af4dc3
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_2b5ea43c
type
Bland-Name Product
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_2b5ea43c
comment
Bland-Name Product: Crankshaft had a collection of old Bean's End mail order catalogs, until he sold them off. Beans's End is a combination of the Real Life L.L. Bean and Land's End catalogs.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_2b5ea43c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_2b5ea43c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_2b5ea43c
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_3e5f74c
type
Take That, Critics!
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_3e5f74c
comment
Take That, Critics!: Batiuk once used a Sunday strip as a means to answer critics who objected to the storyline in Funky Winkerbean that revolved around Lisa's slow, agonizing death from cancer.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_3e5f74c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_3e5f74c
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_3e5f74c
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4192763e
type
Malaproper
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4192763e
comment
Malaproper: Most of the punchlines are based on Crankshaft's mangling of proverbs and commonplace sayings. An entire week of Crankshaft in the hospital was even devoted to his daughter and her husband mocking his habit.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4192763e
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4192763e
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4192763e
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4548bae
type
Teen Pregnancy
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4548bae
comment
Teen Pregnancy: One storyline involved a student that rides on Crankshaft's bus going through one, she ends up having the baby on the bus after it became stuck in snow. She names the baby boy Ed after Crankshaft and in a flash forward is visiting the man's grave together.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4548bae
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4548bae
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_4548bae
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_48d6d0
type
Grilling Pyrotechnics
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_48d6d0
comment
Grilling Pyrotechnics: A Running Gag.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_48d6d0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_48d6d0
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_48d6d0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_537b29d1
type
Acquainted with Emergency Services
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_537b29d1
comment
Acquainted with Emergency Services: Crankshaft tends to go haywire with accelerant during barbecue season. As a result, the town's fire department has learned to check on him as soon as the spring weather turns nice.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_537b29d1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_537b29d1
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_537b29d1
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_64972c10
type
Flashback Effects
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_64972c10
comment
Flashback Effects: the same shading effects as used in Funky Winkerbean.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_64972c10
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_64972c10
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_64972c10
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_6f33059b
type
Iconic Outfit
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_6f33059b
comment
Iconic Outfit: Crankshaft's usual ensemble of white shirt, black pants, white socks, black shoes, and matching red jacket and baseball cap.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_6f33059b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_6f33059b
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_6f33059b
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7142b38a
type
The Grim Reaper
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7142b38a
comment
The Grim Reaper: Shows up to collect one of the characters. When Crankshaft tells him that he scared him half to death, the personification of death merely states that he gets that a lot.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7142b38a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7142b38a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7142b38a
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7f0f19e5
type
I Coulda Been a Contender!
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7f0f19e5
comment
I Coulda Been a Contender!: Crankshaft was an aspiring baseball player who played for the Toledo Mud Hens and was about to be called up to the Detroit Tigers when he was drafted during World War II.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7f0f19e5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7f0f19e5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_7f0f19e5
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_99010fab
type
Maternity Crisis
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_99010fab
comment
Maternity Crisis: Ed has had to on at least two occasions deliver babies in snowstorms (once on his bus, and once in a movie theatre).
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_99010fab
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_99010fab
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_99010fab
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_9d12bbc1
type
Foreshadowing
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: Some strips have had Crankshaft's malapropisms creep into normal speech ("dimensions" instead of "size", "gas store" instead of "gas station"). In real life, this word-salad is a sign of mental illness like dementia or Alzheimer's.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_9d12bbc1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_9d12bbc1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_9d12bbc1
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a1154544
type
Grumpy Old Man
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a1154544
comment
Grumpy Old Man: Most of the characters spend most of their time dealing with his sour outlook on life.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a1154544
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a1154544
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a1154544
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a70223
type
Karma Houdini
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a70223
comment
Karma Houdini: No matter how late Crankshaft is in delivering his charges to school, how many things he destroys because he's too stubborn and stupid to pay attention to what he's doing and how many people he offends, he's never had to endure any punishment more severe than being frowned at. And of course, in Batiuk's twisted world, the one man who actually deserves cancer will never get it.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a70223
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a70223
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a70223
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a90fff3
type
Based on a True Story
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a90fff3
comment
Based on a True Story: A story arc that ran in 2000 commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the Kent State shootings. In the arc, Pam visits the Kent State campus in the present day, which leads to a series of flashbacks as she remembers being a Kent State student in 1970 and the events leading up to the shooting. The arc draws heavily from artist Chuck Ayers' personal experience; like Pam, Ayers was taking photographs of the rally for the school paper, and went inside just before the shooting started.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a90fff3
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a90fff3
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_a90fff3
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_b11ac9f5
type
Abusive Parents
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_b11ac9f5
comment
Abusive Parents: Later strips have revealed that Jeff's mother, Rose, would hit him and destroy his possessions when he was younger. Luckily the strip also averts There Are No Therapists.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_b11ac9f5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_b11ac9f5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_b11ac9f5
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ca855eaf
type
Love Letter Lunacy
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ca855eaf
comment
Love Letter Lunacy: For many years, Crankshaft had two elderly neighbors, Lillian and Lucy, sisters that through the course of their life had never married. Just before Lucy passed away, Lillian revealed to a comatose Lucy that she had stolen a letter from her beloved Eugene when he was deployed overseas, in which he mentioned that if Lucy never replied, he would never communicate with her again.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ca855eaf
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1.0
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ca855eaf
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ce27dc3f
type
Protagonist Title
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ce27dc3f
comment
Protagonist Title
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ce27dc3f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ce27dc3f
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ce27dc3f
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_d140cb45
type
Wring Every Last Drop out of Him
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_d140cb45
comment
Wring Every Last Drop out of Him: The slow, agonizing death of Crankshaft's former neighbor from complications of Alzheimer's.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_d140cb45
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_d140cb45
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_d140cb45
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_deb39de3
type
Bad Future
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_deb39de3
comment
Bad Future: One story arc has Crankshaft delivering poinsettias to a nursing home on Christmas, he enters one room and sees his older self all alone on the holidays, wheelchair bound, and practically a vegetable. He goes to the main office and questions about it only to find out the room was unoccupied all along. When raving at the front desk that he saw someone, a background character states "Maybe Ed just saw the Christmas spirit" which seems to be Batiuk hinting that some sort of "Ghost of Christmas Future" was involved.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_deb39de3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_deb39de3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_deb39de3
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e3b0cd87
type
Morality Pet
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e3b0cd87
comment
Morality Pet: The plotines with Jefferson Jacks seem to exist almost entirely to show that Crankshaft has a soul - or at least had one in his minor league days.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e3b0cd87
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e3b0cd87
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 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e3b0cd87
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e83f211c
type
O.O.C. Is Serious Business
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e83f211c
comment
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Crankshaft famously won't wait for kids who are late getting on his bus. The one time he makes an exception is when one of his students is standing on the street corner trying to decide between getting on the bus and walking away with a gang member who's trying to recruit him. It works.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e83f211c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e83f211c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e83f211c
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e9a3a1ed
type
Never Learned to Read
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e9a3a1ed
comment
Never Learned to Read: One of the first issues-based story lines was the revelation that the title character was illiterate; this led to an examination of literacy classes for the elderly as well as a flashback that depicted the grandfather of Funky Winkerbean's Bull Bushka destroying Ed's dream of playing in the Majors by switching out the line-up card (which Crankshaft had someone else read for him) just long enough to trick Crankshaft into missing a scheduled start with big league scouts in attendance.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e9a3a1ed
featureApplicability
1.0
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1.0
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_e9a3a1ed
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_eb7c34cf
type
Crossover
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_eb7c34cf
comment
Crossover: With its parent comic on occasion, sometime with the characters passing each other unknowingly. During one of said Funky crossovers in 2021, wherein Cindy Summers and her lover Mason Jarr decide to purchase Centerville's Valentine theater, the relator who sells the theater is none other than Lois Flagston of Hi and Lois, tying the Funkyverse into the non-aging timelines of it and its own parent strip Beetle Bailey.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_eb7c34cf
featureApplicability
1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_eb7c34cf
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 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_eb7c34cf
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ed07a226
type
No More for Me
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ed07a226
comment
No More for Me: The strip for September 2nd, 2014 has the Running Gag of Crankshaft lighting his barbecue and the resultant explosion because he used too much lighter fluid. One of Crankshaft's neighbors is drinking a can of beer, sees the flaming barbecue flying through the air and says, "That's it! I'm swearing off the sauce for good!"
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ed07a226
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 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ed07a226
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_ed07a226
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f951f89b
type
Bad to the Last Drop
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f951f89b
comment
Bad to the Last Drop: Lena's noxious coffee- which is still better than her unspeakable brownies.
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f951f89b
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1.0
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f951f89b
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f951f89b
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f9f2c33
type
Running Gag
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f9f2c33
comment
Running Gag: Several, the two most prominent being Ed's penchant for running over mailboxes with his bus and his famed barbecue explosions (one was even sent into space).
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip) / int_f9f2c33
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Crankshaft (Comic Strip)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Crankshaft
sameAs
Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Acquainted with Emergency Services / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Bad to the Last Drop / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Cruel Twist Ending / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Decided by One Vote / int_8e9d42cc
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Drives Like Crazy / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Extremely Overdue Library Book / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Flashback Within a Flashback / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Grilling Pyrotechnics / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Grumpy Old Man / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
I Coulda Been a Contender! / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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I Never Got Any Letters / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Lemonade Stand Plot / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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Malaproper / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Missed the Bus / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Moral Event Horizon / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Never Learned to Read / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
No More for Me / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Paying in Coins / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Protagonist Title / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Right on Queue / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Rogue Juror / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Scary Stinging Swarm / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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So Bleak, It's Boring / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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The '80s / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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The '80s / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
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The Swear Jar / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Unintentionally Unsympathetic / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Vitriolic Best Buds / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
What Are Records? / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Wring Every Last Drop out of Him / int_5c6186ec
 Crankshaft (Comic Strip)
hasFeature
Everyone Hates Fruit Cakes / int_5c6186ec