This is one of the rarer standalone strips. The majority were one of the most crazy continuing storylines ever, partially summed up on the Wikipedia page for the strip collection:

Odd Bodkins was highly philosophical in tone, and the book contains the strip’s most idiosyncratic storylines. As an example of Odd Bodkins’ content, a large part of the collection is an extended sequence in which the protagonists Fred and Hugh discover that the world is being terraformed by the brass horseman General Injuns in preparation for a Martian invasion. After revealing their knowledge, they are pursued by the General and various other characters symbolizing The Establishment, fleeing on Hugh’s intelligent Norton motorcycle. They then encounter the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, referred to in the strip as Five Dollar Bill O’Brady, who reveals that Martians orchestrated his assassination.

The group gives Norton the motorcycle a ‘magic cookie’ (an occasional plot device in the strip, probably symbolizing LSD) which allows the vehicle to leave Earth’s orbit. After crash-landing on Mars, Fred, Hugh and Bill are hypnotized and lectured on political theory by the Martians, which Fred eventually rejects. They are then placed in a giant hourglass and die, landing in Hell, which is controlled by a caricature of Mickey Mouse named Virgo the Rat. They eventually escape after suffering such torments as eating tapioca for 10,000 years and being tormented by giant floating cat’s heads.

That’s actually only part of the storyline. The middle, in fact. There’s a lot more before and after it. Like Bill turning into a living penny.

Also, I’m not sure why they left out the fact that Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, is featured and it’s Pluto the Dog from Disney.

    • Flying SquidOP
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      310 months ago

      The collection is hard to find, but I highly recommend it if you do. I read it so often when I was younger that the cover is coming off.

  • Flying SquidOP
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    10 months ago

    Here is an abbreviated sequence from the main storyline, before the Wikipedia summary.