August 8, 2011 strip
"…derailed by some other projects"? You mean you didn't see her Dinkle doc, "Harry Dinkle: A Life…and Deaf"? Or her film about service dogs, "Some Buddy to Watch Over Me"? The only documentary "project" we've seen Jessica working on was videotaping Les and Cayla's wedding (and she fucked that up). In any case, you'd think that telling the story of the late father, whose name she invokes at every opportunity, would take precedence over other "projects".
Filed under Ann Fairgood, Darin, Jessica, John Darling
Funky Winkerbean is a reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues affecting young adults…
Unfortunately, the young adults in this case are Darin and Jessica Darling Fairgood. Their "reality" involves starting a family while he's an MBA assistant-managing a pizza parlor, and she's a documentarianne whose project about her father has been stalled for two years. Speaking of stalling, today's strip does nothing to move this story along.
Filed under Ann Fairgood, Darin, Jessica, John Darling, silhouette, smirk, squiggly lines
Epicus Doomus
April 25, 2013 at 10:53 pm
[N]ote how once again the premise ("Jessica is pregnant") IS the entire "story", not merely a launching point for something more…
And the "story" enters its second week. "So are you two planning to look for a house? Or do you intend to live in a succession of seedy apartments in run-down neighborhoods, like Fred and I did?" Such trivial matters will have to wait: Jessica's decided, now that she's pregnant with her first child, it's the perfect time to get started on that John Darling documentary, one of the things that brought her and Darin back to Westview two years ago.
Filed under Ann Fairgood, Darin, Jessica, John Darling, unnatural hand gestures
Tom Batiuk doesn't care about stroke victims. The discussion of Fred's day-to-day existence is relegated to the Sunday "throwaway" panels up top (which don't appear in all newspapers). The former Westview principal exists these days merely to generate cheap pathos or cheaper marble-mouthed speech gags. TB is much more concerned with his special "Coda to Lisa's Story".
"I'll be happy if we can just be half the parents you and Dad were." Way to set the bar, Darin. Never mind that Fred wasn't even half a parent to Kerry, the daughter he wasn't even allowed to see, and the older half-sister that you (and we) only recently learned about.
Back at the motel, the world's nosiest desk clerk continues feeding straight lines to the mystery man, who is revealed to be none other than Frankie, clean-shaven and slavishly copied from the model sheet.
Filed under Ann Fairgood, Batiukmobile®, Darin, Frankie, Jessica, unnatural hand gestures
Unless "just being Nordic" is a Midwestern idiom that's too obscure to be found on Google, I'll assume that Jessica is saying that Darin's "just being neurotic." Though if that is the case, I'm less sure whether Blondie's joking or if she actually thinks "Nordic" is the correct term.
Whatever suspense Batiuk is trying to build here is undermined by a couple of things: mainly that he mentioned in an interview last month that Frankie would be returning. On the other hand, casual readers (as opposed to us beady-eyed nitpickers) may be hard pressed to connect the black-and-white-haired man we saw last week clutching a Beer in his huge hand with the black-and-blue-haired guy with the dainty hand, who's just checked in for an extended stay at the Stveiw Motel.
Filed under Ann Fairgood, Darin, Frankie, Jessica, tiny hands
Let's go break the news to poor old Fred, the invalid who has conveniently (for everyone but him) been given a room upstairs, where he passes the hours watching the world below go by without him. Naturally, Grampa-to-be's reaction to this ostensibly "good" news is an expression of personal regret at never having had "the talk" with his son.
Thanks to the colorist making Jess' shirt the same color as the yellow background, her demure pose in panel 2 makes her appear to be convulsing.
Filed under Ann Fairgood, coloring gaffes, Darin, Fred Fairgood, Jessica
Forget Batiuk's Quarter Inch, we are in Bizarro World. Jess and Darin, who clearly don't have a pot to piss in, are actually apologetic to Ann for their having conceived a child. "Eight Track", meanwhile, is not merely pleased: she's insane with glee at the prospect, declaring herself "totally ready" to help care for an infant…though you'd think she'd have her hands full, having already appointed herself as Fred's speech therapist.
Filed under Ann Fairgood, Darin, Jessica, smirk, squiggly lines
Coulda stopped at two panels today, TB; really, the turkey joke holds up just fine without Darin adding his two cents. Unless, who knows, maybe Darren's seemingly casual remark is just some grim foreshadowing.
Filed under Ann Fairgood, Darin, holidays, Jessica
