1 Monty: Why are you a Nazi, Erwin? Can't you see they're plotting to take over the world?
1 [sound]: Punch! {Monty punches Erwin}
2 Erwin: My mother always said I should have ambition. I want to be a great leader one day.
2 [sound]: Smakk! {Erwin elbows Monty}
3 Monty: Like der Führer?
3 Erwin: Ja. Only not so much with die grumpiness.
3 [sound]: Jab! {Erwin jabs Monty}
3 [sound]: Fall! {Monty falls off the roof of the truck, bounces off the front, and dangles precariously off the radiator grille}
4 Erwin: Or die disembodied brain.

I had a real problem writing this strip. I wrote Monty's first line, and then I had to stop and think.

Why is Erwin a Nazi? As several people have pointed out in the past, he's actually a pretty nice guy... except that he's a Nazi.

But I guess if you're a young man in Germany in the 1930s and you want to better yourself, you don't actually have a lot of choice.

Hey, if it works for the Pope, it can work for Erwin.

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2019-07-21 Rerun commentary: I don't like to bend the tails on the speech balloons if I can avoid it. But sometimes the text layout means it's the best viable approach.

The background photo here is still Piazza Navona, with some motion blur to give the impression that the truck is speeding along. I suppose now that I've visited Paris myself I shall have to send the Joneses back to Paris at some point to make use of my photos as scenery.