The first time I was sent today’s Monty, I decided I’d ask for feedback on whether to count it toward the DeathMatch tally.
After the fourth time, I figured I already had my consensus.
So it’s Death 15, #TeamPinocchio 5.
The Bizarro, sent to me by Nicholas, is ineligible because it’s almost two years old but, as he points out, it hasn’t been here before.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Scarlett Johansson? Shouldn’t that be Ellen Muth?
Is Monty still in print? I hadn’t seen the strip in years.
@ Grawlix – This strip says “©2020”, and it’s in the GoComics menu. Of course, that’s not conclusive proof that Monty still appears in newsprint, but Meddick must be earning something for his work, or he would have quit drawing.
Google tells me that Ellen Muth is an actress on a Showtime program. Why should this be her?
Ed, she played a woman who, after being killed in a freak toilet seat accident, returns to Earth as a reaper of souls.
Because she plays a reaper on that series.
Why wouldn’t this count as a Death strip?
@ woozy – I think the initial doubt was because it was not actually “Death” under the robe. One could argue whether (for instance) a Halloween strip in which one kid is wearing black and carrying a scythe should count toward Death’s score (I would say “no”), but in this case Monty is having a nightmare about meeting Death, so I would agree that this one qualifies.
P.S. The previous day’s strip (linked to in my first comment) mentions the “Book of Death” (which wouldn’t qualify on it’s own, I think), but it does raise the spectre of a potential story arc in which Death appears every day for a week. Would that count for seven points, or just one?
P.P.S. Misplacing a stray apostrophe (in “it’s”) is an acceptable reason for having to endure a moderated comment.
@ woozy – it doesn’t count as it is from 2018, not a freshly-minted item. (I am the Nicholas who referred it, btw. I used my Nick name in my email and forgot to sign it with my nickname. Ho ho.)
@ narmitaj – At first I thought the same as you (I even wrote a sentence and a half about it), but upon reflection I decided that woozy was responding to Bill’s first paragraph, rather than his last (at the top of the post, between the comics).
A few weeks ago I submitted a strip where Lio dresses up as Death. I asked whether it counted. Bill said not. Probably correct. This one shouldn’t count by the same reason.
@Boise Ed – Someone beat me to answering your question. But I was referencing https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348913/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 . Fun show.
But this isn’t Scarlett Johansson dressed as Death either. It’s Monty having a dream in which the specter of Death appears who morphs into Scarlett Johannson.
@Kilby (pps) – It is?
“After being hit on the head by a toilet seat, a young temp clerk becomes a grim reaper in death.” Really? I mean, someone pitched that as a show concept and some executive bought it? Then again, I suppose I’d feel the same about an equivalent précis of The Good Place, which we watched all the way through.
Ed, a big part of the show involved people dying in incredibly weird ways. Think “If Rube Goldberg had been a serial killer…”
A much more common movie concept is that someone dies and is then sent back to Earth to solve crimes or general problems. That was the premise of The Smothers Brothers Show, not the one-hour variety show but the half-hour comedy-drama. Also maybe Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Heaven Can Wait although I never saw either of them. I saw an old 1950’s B movie where a man was murdered and then his dog died, and then in that cloudy place where animals go after they die and God is a lion (not Aslan, that’s something else entirely) the dog was teamed up with a horse and both were sent back as humans to solve the crime.
“someone pitched that as a show concept and some executive bought it?”
Check Youtube for “Pitch Meeting” by “screen rant”. My favorites are the original Dumbo and Bohemian Rhapsody.
Here Comes Mr. Jordan and Heaven Can Wait
In those (at least as I understand for the first) the “reaper” jumped the gun. The soul was sent into a temporary body, but not to accomplish anything.
With Scarlett Johansson, death would be sweet (like maple syrup).
I am amused by the Bizarro – did you notice that the kids have “safety” blades on their scythes, with blunt tips?