Molinelli went to Rome his junior year, but Molarity had to continue.
181. This starts my junior year of cartoons when I was in Rome with the School of Architecture. I could not manage the strip as closely and did cartoons in advance and sent many others from Rome via mail. (It was only snail mail and few organizations had fax machines.) The Observer gave me a “check-set” of papers but even that was incomplete, so the next 115 cartoons are my best re-creation of Molarity in 1979-80. Some are presented in an order that makes more sense than they did the first time. Some of these cartoons may never have run.
182. A running gag which no one got was that no matter what Jim’s plans were for the year, Chuck’s yearly first appearance would be to insert himself into Jim’s life.
183. With Jim and Chuck in Europe, Mitch and Dion had to keep the comedy going in South Bend. This would be hard as we got occasional Observer copies weeks after they were published. Somehow the cartoons would have to be relevant even if they were not topical.
184. When I drew cartoons in Rome it could still take weeks for my cartoons to get back to the United States. I would walk over to use the trustworthy Vatican mail as regular Italian mail was nothing to write home about… so to speak.
185. One way to remain topical would be to turn to more national news. The Susan B. Anthony Silver dollar was to be a pivotal point in US currency. It now remains a footnote. What does this have to do with Notre Dame? Nothing.
See the first five classic strips. Check back monthly for more classic Molarity strips. Molarity Redux, the updated, continuing adventures of Jim Mole and friends, also is posted monthly. For those new strips, check out the cartoon archives.