Motley's Crew
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| Motley's Crew | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Ben Templeton and Tom Forman |
| Current status | Defunct |
| Syndicate(s) | Tribune Media Services |
| Launch date | 1976 |
| End Date | 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Humor, Marriage, Family, Career, Suburban Life |
Motley's Crew was a comic strip by Ben Templeton and Tom Forman about a middle aged blue-collar factory worker named Mike Motley, his wife Mabel Motley, their son Truman, their daughter-in-law Tacoma, their lovely grandchildren, and his brother- and sister-in-law Abel and Buffy (who happened to be Mabel's siblings).
Templeton and Forman created the comic in 1976; it was first syndicated by what is known today as Tribune Media Services on September 6 of that year, working together on it until Forman's death in 1996, after which Templeton continued alone. It continued until January 1, 2000. The final week's strips dealt with the cast dealing with the Y2K bug; the final strip on January 1 with a sign with the words "This space for rent."
Contents |
[edit] Mabel Motley
In the comic strip Motley's Crew, Mabel Motley is a middle aged housewife who cooks and cleans when her husband is off to work being the breadwinner of the family. While she is a homemaker (a job traditionally associated with passive and submissive wives), she reveals her assertive female personality when she frequently complains about her husband spending his weekends doing nothing but watching sports on the television.
She is the element that balances all of the masculinity of the comic strip by providing a feminine angle to attract a female audience as well as a male audience. She is considered to be more of a June Cleaver rather than a Marge Simpson or a Peggy Hill from King of the Hill.
Mabel often has to set her husband straight. After a wedding, she chided Mike for not wearing a necktie to a wedding service. Another time, she had to make her husband put on a "used" three piece tuxedo to look "presentable" in front of her siblings (the story development of the comic strip throughout its years of production suggests that Mike wore boxer shorts while lounging around the house, but wore briefs underneath his pants when he was outside the home). This was not meant to be a consistency error as some men prefer the support that briefs provide when away from home and the more relaxed fit of boxers as outer clothing when relaxing at home.
While her husband's hair is brown and balding, Mabel's hair is blond, which is a media stereotype of women who are either dumb and/or housewives. Mabel likes to wear her hair in "traditional feminine" hairstyle, like a typical housewife.
[edit] Mike Motley
In the comic strip Motley's Crew, Mike Motley is a middle aged unskilled factory worker who works for his employer Mister Drudge and lives with his equally middle aged wife Mabel. When not working, he spends his time watching football on TV.
The occasional moments that he spends outside his factory workplace and his home is spent on doling out masculine humor to the readers of his comic strip. During his working days, he often wears a hard hat (because of the danger factor of his occupation). During the earlier years of the comic strip, he and his wife took care of Truman, but unlike their contemporaries, The Simpsons, the son grew up and got married.
And unlike Homer Simpson, his baldness is caused by age, not his workplace. However, if Mike would have maintained all of his hair, his hairstyle would have closely followed that of a crew cut, a typical hairstyle used by young middle class men starting in the 1950s.
[edit] Tacoma Motley
Tacoma Motley is Mike and Mabel Motley's daughter-in-law, who married the Motley's son Truman. She is a vegan who also is an environmentalist, a new age guru, as well as a wanna-be psychic. When she is not exploring her spirituality, she works as a bean counter in the big city. Her lifestyle is considered that to be bohemian chic and career-oriented, the polar opposite of that of her mother-in-law.
Tacoma first met Truman Motley while at a school of higher learning. Their wedding was integrated into the comic strip series. Eventually, she became a mother as grandchildren were introduced to Mabel and Mike Motley much later in the series. Her name could be taken after the city of Tacoma, Washington, which is a liberal community near the western coast of the United States of America. Her willingness to have a career and to be a mother at the same time illustrate the modernity of the Truman Motley family over the old fashioned values of the Mike Motley family.
[edit] Visit From The In-laws
Because the Motleys' were an "old married couple", there were times where Mabel had to "shape up" her husband before the in-laws entered the house. The most humorous of these scenarios occurred in late July of 1997. Mike Motley was watching TV with an unshaven face, and wearing a T-shirt with boxer shorts. His wife said to him "What on earth are you doing? Abel and Buffy will be here any moment now." and Mike replied "This is as dressed up as I'm getting."
Then Mabel gave him two black eyes, took him upstairs, made him shave his face, put on a three piece tuxedo with tails and his white briefs sticking out because the arrival of the in-laws didn't allow Mabel the time to dress her husband thoroughly.
Feeling the soreness of his two black eyes and his shaving cuts (even though they were adequately bandaged considering the time restriction to the arrival of Mabel's brother and sister), Mike Motley was forced to struggle his way to the door to say "Hi ya" to Abel and Buffy (even though he dreaded them so much) and shook the hand of his brother-in-law Abel.
The wise observant should have noticed that Mike's vest, dress shirt and bow tie were white and his jacket, and dress pants were black. It is assumed from his manner of dress that he was wearing dark-colored dress socks and black dress shoes. The wise observant should have also noticed that his wife Mabel was wearing a long flowered dress, similar to the kind worn by June Cleaver.
Continuity from that comic strip lasted only until the comic strip created for the next day, where Mike Motley is in his normal clothes and he is complaining to his wife about his brother-in-law Abel toying around with his car. After that, the humor of the in-laws visit was forgotten.
[edit] Abel and Buffy
Although they didn't appear often in the comic strip, Abel and Buffy provided comic relief when Mabel coerced her husband into embarrassing situations. This effect is especially seen in a late July 1997 comic strip where Abel is seen in a normal business suit while Buffy is wearing a casual summer dress and they enter the Motleys' house to see their embarrassed brother-in-law Mike Motley in a worn-out used tuxedo looking overdressed for the occasion, confused, and with more of his bald spot showing (because Mabel didn't know how to properly comb a balding head).
[edit] Mike Motley's Workplace
Mike Motley was employed in the construction industry and was employed under the manager of Drudge Industries, Inc., Mister Drudge himself. Due to the fact that he was an unskilled laborer, he and his wife lived a menial lower middle class existence. Because Motley's Crew was intended to be a humorous comic strip on everyday life, certain strips would show Mike Motley wearing his underwear outside of his pants.
Unfortunately, due to the cancellation of the comic strip, Mike Motley never got to retire from his workplace. Had the comic strip had lasted longer, Mike Motley would have retired around the late 2000s. The retirement party would have featured the entire cast (including irregular characters like Abel and Buffy, Tacoma and Truman Motley, and Mike's grandchildren) and would have featured underwear worn in an unorthodox manner (either outside of his clothes, on top of his head, or sticking out from his pants - as this type of humor became more acceptable in the late 1990s and 2000s).
[edit] Mister Drudge
Mister Drudge is an autocratic factory manager who runs the fictional corporation Drudge Industries, Inc. which is a construction company in the comic Motley's Crew. He is the businessman who personally signs the paycheck of Mike Motley and his other subordinates. His coarse and totalitarian nature is what keeps his construction firm in "tip-top shape." Traditional gender roles reign supreme in his factory and he has an obedient female secretary always ready to take orders from him. Mister Drudge's last name comes from a word that means "labor" or "work." Very rarely did anyone receive a pay raise or a promotion in Drudge's construction company. Mister Drudge is also elderly, with white hair, and appears content in his successful life.
[edit] The Motleys' Neighborhood
Even though the Motleys' were a one-income household, they were homeowners and they lived in the suburbs of an industrial city somewhere in the United States of America. While Mabel did the housework (cooking, cleaning, washing dishes), Mike did all the yard work (raking leaves, cutting the grass, etc.) Like most media publications, Motley's Crew accentuated traditional gender roles to attract an older audience. Like other suburbanites, Mike owned a car in which he used to travel to work and play. In addition to factories, houses, and office buildings, the neighborhood also had a bar, a health clinic, a church, a beach, and other fine places where Mike, his friends and family all worked and played at.
