Les' hilarious struggles against writer's block continue! If his self talk in panel 2 sounds a little odd, it's because he's merely repeating what he misheard as encouragement from Cayla.
Category Archives: pizza
Les Waddles Off
Filed under Les, Lisa's Story, pizza, writer's block, writing
Frankie, My Beer, I Don't Give a Can
From the FW Blog, Nov. 6, 2012:
At the moment, I’m hard at work on what is turning out to be a bit of a coda to Lisa’s Story. Events in the present will spark a sort of flashback/prequel which will crossover into real life with a visit to my old apartment in Elyria…as well as a crossover with Crankshaft thrown in for good measure. Oh, and lest I forget, a long lost character as well…Stay tuned.
Clearly Les does not share Cayla's excitement over his basic-cable movie getting a free plug on a basic-cable news network. Meanwhile, somewhere in Elyria, Ohio, "a long lost character" with Paulie Walnuts hair and wearing a wifebeater clutches a can of beer and talks to his TV. It can be none other than the despicable Frankie, Darin's biological father and St. Lisa's…ex-boyfriend? Date-rapist?
Tom Batiuk Talks 'Funky Winkerbean', comicbookresources.com, March 19, 2013:
I ended up writing a story where Frankie — he's been mentioned a couple times and has actually appeared in the strip very briefly, the guy who got Lisa pregnant — returns. In the return of that story we deepen the teen pregnancy story and say that it was a little more than just youthful indiscretion on Lisa's part. There was some coercion involved and it's like a coda to "Lisa's Story."
Guess we'll have to wait for TB to "roll out" the story to see how he retcons this.
I wasn't able to dig up a whole lot on the web about Frankie (he's not even mentioned on the Unofficial FW Fan Page, though Lisa's teen pregnancy is). I found the above strip from Act II, but can't provide any context on what their relationship was by the time she was pregnant with Summer.
Les' Story
I don't know how Hollywood works, nor do I pretend to know. Some of you readers, though, seem to have some insight into the movie-making process, and it's fun to compare and contrast that with Les' Hollywood "experience". I know even less about the network news business, so I'll just share my musings about today's strip.
For starters, how long has Cindy, I mean, Cynthia Summers been an anchorperson? Guess she's no longer "embedded". And is it just a little premature to be reporting this "news from Hollywood," considering that not even one page of the screenplay has been written? Do plans to make a made-for-cable-TV movie even qualify as "news from Hollywood"? And are news anchors allowed to report hometown gossip as "news"?
Filed under Cindy, Funky, Hollywood, Les, Lisa's Story, media, Montoni's, pizza, writer's block
Hacking Away
Please join me in sending thoughts and prayers to those affected by the horrific and senseless terror bombings in Boston.
—TFHackett
Louder
April 13, 2013 at 11:44 am
Really, studios have a whole host of writers to "help" idiots like Less pull their heads our of their asses.
…and it's certain that Les could use some help, though he won't find any at Montoni's. Please tell me that Mister Stuck-Up-a-Rope-in-Gym-Class
isn't weakly employing a sports metaphor, two sports metaphors in fact. "Seeing the stitches on the fast ball"? Well, for starters, "fast ball" in a baseball context is usually one word…and the last fastball that Les saw almost left him with stitches.
Supreme Indifference
Questions continue to come in about the comic book covers that I use from time to time in the Funky Sunday strips. It seems that there are a lot of folks in Funkydom who enjoy seeing the comics of their youth and the artists who created them paid homage in this way…
TB's blog, Jan. 31, 2013
Batiuk actually takes a great deal of pride in his "Comic Book Sunday" tributes, but we folks here in SonofStuckFunkydom just see them as lazy, facile filler. Today's "homage" to Justice League of America Vol. 1, No. 5 is particularly galling. This time Batiuk has not even gone to the trouble of trying to relate the comic book cover to any of the strip's current plotlines.
Typically he finds a cover he likes and comes up with some contrived way of shoehorning it into the current plot. He's reversed the process today, whipping up a weak standalone gag for the inset panel that relates only tangentially with the comic cover. Batiuk can't even be bothered to Photoshop one of his character's heads onto a superhero body. The "gag" consists of Crazy Harry (he's a Tea Partier, you know!), kvetching to Les about that goddam out-of-control Supreme Court. I'm not even going to Google the news from a year ago to find out what the Court was up to at the time TB came up with this gem. Clearly he figured that, no matter what was happening in the news, the "folks in Funkydom" would all nod in amused agreement at Crazy's rant.
Filed under Comic Book tribute, Crazy Harry, Les, Montoni's, pizza
Chamber Made
"Chamber of Commerle?" Oh, Chamber of Commerce! Well, Funky is the president of the local chamber, so it makes sense that he would try and solicit John as a member. Just think of the networking opportunities with the many other businesses in town: Jitters Coffee Shop, Citizen Khan's Deli, the Village Booksmith…oh wait, they're closed.
Epicus Doomus
March 7, 2013 at 12:26 am
…in addition to being the slovenly middle-aged owner of a dingy little comic book shop, John is also an undisciplined, scheming, disrespectful lying little shit as well.
Undisciplined for sure, and you can add "clueless business owner" to that description. Business at the Komix Korner may have seen a slight bump with the addition of a comic book sommelier to the staff, but John clearly operates the place as a clubhouse for his teenage boy buddies, and thinks himself daring for refusing to interact with fellow business owners.
Filed under Dead Skunk Head, Funky, green pitcher, John, Komix Korner, Montoni's, pizza
The Sub-conscience Mind
Spode
March 6, 2013 at 6:58 pm
The thing I hate most about strips involving DSH John and Funky:
DSH (the most repulsive character in all of comic strips – I can almost smell him) is raising Wally Jr, who is the son of Wally, Funky's nephew. Does TB even think about the inter-relationships among the characters in this claustrophobically incestuous little world he has created?
Why are these two shown talking about anything and everything except their most obvious, normal, natural human connection? Wally Jr: DSH's adopted son and Funky's great-nephew, who grew up in the same town Funky has lived all his life.
Spot on, Spode. John explains to Funky that he intends to circumvent his wife's efforts "to get us to eat a little lighter." "Us"? Becky, with her huge head and scrawny frame looks like a walking lollipop, Rana is a svelte cheerleader, and Wally Jr., well, maybe he's a little husky, but he's only, what, 8? 12? 16? Surely Becky just wants to keep her second husband from turning into an even fatter fat slob.
John's creepy countenance in panel 3 makes me wonder what the other occasions are when he chooses to ignore his conscience…
Filed under Dead Skunk Head, Funky, John, Montoni's, pizza
Call Any Vegetable
BeckoningChasm
March 4, 2013 at 7:17 pm
You know, I have a sort of bored fascination wondering how Tom Batiuk is going to stretch today's situation–two morons wasting the time of a third–into a three week arc…
Maybe you'd like to see two different morons wasting our time? Having Crazy Harry to mind the store means that Dead Skunk Head John is free to occupy Harry's old spot at Montoni's counter and gorge himself on The Perfect Food.
Filed under Dead Skunk Head, Funky, Montoni's, pizza, unnatural hand gestures
