Will Elder Weekends: Is this the end of Starchie? (Yes, as a matter of fact, it is!)

After weeks (and weeks and weeks) of looking back at Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder's "Starchie!," which I'd argue -- in all seriousness -- is one of the genuine high points in the history of satire, we've finally reached the end. And that end arrives on a surprisingly subdued note...


See, typical teenager Starchie is in prison, having been double-crossed decades ago by his typical teen-aged pal Bottleneck, Turns out ol' Bottleneck was actually Edward G. Robinson in disguise, and he muscled poor Starch out of his typical teen-aged rackets while simultaneously turning him over to the police (in the form of  -- who else? -- Dick Tracy). So, in the story's final panels, Starchie sits in his cell, looking back at his life -- at old friends, good times and missed opportunities...


Not much else to say, except I love how Elder included the very realistic looking crater in the cell wall to show that poor Starchie must spend most of his waking hours staring at that photo of Biddy and thinking  of what he could have had, all those years ago. What better way to end a story about high school?