The health inspector did not. While the big drama point of the last couple months of Jim Scancarelli’s Gasoline Alley was the health inspector finding a lot of problems with Corky’s Diner, they all got washed away. Everything’s fine, now. I’ll explain why, with an essay here that hopefully will catch you up to mid-November 2025 in the comic strip. If you’re reading this after about February 2026, I should have a more up-to-date plot recap here, and any news I get about the comic should run there too.

Gasoline Alley.

18 August – 8 November 2025.

So, I was wrong. When Corky was interviewing for temporary staff, my last plot recap, I thought they’d encountered a guy just quirky enough to make it. Nope; he was a week of jokes about how he keeps setting the kitchens on fire. But the next guy to walk in, Howie Doone, is a solid choice and that gives regular server and cook Baleen and T-Bone time for their honeymoon.

The basic dynamic of guest server Toodle and guest cook Howie is that Toodle is way more into diner lingo than Howie is, so she’s constantly calling out, like, “Colonel Mustard in the dooryard with the spicy monkey fruit” and having to follow up with how that somehow means baked oatmeal with sliced banana but takes longer to say. That’s all amiable enough stuff and Slim Wallet gets to liking them, what with how they manage to make the “Drippy Gooey” — a double burger with cheese and some gooey sauce that gets the proper name “Corky’s Bodacious Big, Barnbuster Burger” — even more of a State Fair Heart Attack snack.

But that merriness comes to an end when the city health inspector pops in. And he spots a lot of problems, starting with Toodle and Howie not wearing hair protection. Slim’s hat is good enough head covering for the moment. But he also spots chipped concrete and correctly calls out as bribery Howie’s offer of a free meal to hold the inspection until after the lunch rush. Really apart from ten points off for Toodle and Howie’s public display of affection in the kitchen it all seems fairly reasonable and things look dire for the diner.

So that’s cue for the rescue squad to come in, wearing hospital coats and carrying butterfly nets (implied). The “city health inspector” is actually an escaped patient from the mental hospital and in his cornball comedy insanity he’s shut down three restaurants already. So everything’s happy, just in time for the actual health inspector, Frank Nelson, to show up.

The actual inspection apparently goes better. Corky hires on Toodle and Howie as a second shift. And Baleen and T-Bone come back after a happy honeymoon where it never stopped raining. Plus, Toodle and Howie are already to get married themselves, the experience of two weeks character-time of Gasoline Alley shenanigans proving to be long enough for them to pair bond, increasing Gasoline Alley‘s lead over Mary Worth for weddings.

Next Week!

What if we went hunting feral hogs with a would-be-disgraced-were-she-capable-of-shame tiger cult leader? Or if that’s not your speed, how about upcycling some sweatshirts? Jules Rivera’s Mark Trail offers all this and more, next week in this slot.