Helskor
February 20, 2012 at 10:31 am
Beginning writers are told to show and not tell, but if Batiuk wants to tell us that Westview won the conference instead of showing them win via another week of excruciatingly boring basketball strips, he can go right ahead.
Well, today’s strip nearly accomplishes that. Three panels, three opponents, three wins, including payback to those nasty Blue Valley girls. TB achieves not only economy of storytelling, but also of color and detail. While the action poses are painstakingly traced “inked over”, the backgrounds, color palette and “supporting cast” are positively minimalist. The Annie-Goats (love that nickname!) unis have lost their red accent and are now just black and white; and every player not named Summer or Keisha is a generic blue-ponytailed girl.
Two “tournaments” games decided by 3 points total… And they wind up in a montage? Even Gil Thorp tries to make close victories interesting.
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Just a heads up that the link to the comic is missing the month and it doesn’t go to the comic.
Thanks! It’s fixed now. —TFH
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This girls’ basketball conference sure has some boring uniforms. My favorite part of this strip is the one-legged girl in panel three who’s just standing there doing nothing while Summer is throwing around those pointy little Moore elbows of hers.
So funny how it took weeks to (re) introduce the assistant coach but one day to plow through the tournaments. Not that I’m complaining, though: I fully expected this arc to take months to finish. I’m definitely disappointed in how Batom glossed over the big revenge game vs. Blue Valley, as I’m sure we all were. BTW, isn’t it weird how Blue Valley doesn’t even have blue unis?
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1) Ponytail Peggy: “So, why -are- you wearing a grocery store produce rubber band on your head?”
Keisha: “Never mind that! Look, I can levitate this basketball with my new telekinetic powers!”
2) Ponytail Peggy: “Telekinetic powers? HA! o/` Here am I, DEFYING GRAVITY! Kiss me GOODBYE, I’m DEFYING GRAVITY!”
Referee: “I loved that show.”
3) Ponytail Peggy: “Wait, what exactly am I -doing- in this panel?”
Summer: “Losing.”
Ponytail Peggy: “I KNEW THAT!”
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THIS is the payoff after months of lead-up from the FishstickGoats riches-to-rags-to-riches story? Three black-and-white panels? What the hell is the hurry here? It’s not even March yet!
Then again, the sooner we get this crap over with, the sooner we can move on to…other crap.
TomBat: Look to Gil Thorp. There are ways to make a non-story drag on for months beyond its due date. Try including players addicted to tattoos. Just as an example.
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Re: the bad link to today’s comic — You need to change the URL to:
http://content.comicskingdom.net/Funky_Winkerbean/Funky_Winkerbean.20120223.gif
Speaking of tracing over, notice how much Saint Summer looks like NBA great Jerry West in the third panel??
I guess the Granny-Goats are still running the weave-screen and the dipsy-doodle. Other teams are STILL not coaching for it! Hoo haa!
Still not buying the inept and dysfunctional pre-Annie team turning into such a well oiled machine immediately following the coaching change. Contrived much, Tommeh?
If BatSchmuck has Hair One on his backside, he’d have Summer blow out the ACL on her other knee this time so Wankerville High can repeat that laughably ridiculous episode where the team walked off the court, but was allowed to return another day. That was so ass-brained, I really think BatDick should encore it. Just sayin’.
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Are we supposed to have the song from the Karate Kid montage in our heads while reading this?
I can see where this is going, and I’m not so sure I want to stick around for Saturday and/or Sunday. Wasn’t the humor that the Scapegoats were perennial losers?
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When did Tha K-Bomb start playing for Centerville?
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Centerville? Middletown? What’s next Centroidburg? Smack Dab?Dullsville, that’s what’s next.
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Sarge, stop asking BatBoy to show any imagination. Hasn’t had any in decades.
If you all recall, I went on a rant when Blue Middle Valley peppered the postgame handshakes with “loser, crybaby.” I said there needed to be fallout from that EPIC display of poor sportsmanship. When it didn’t happen at the time of the incident, I was pretty sure it would surface on their next meeting. We never saw it. WTF, Bat Hack? Please don’t hand me “they are above that.” That kind of taunt doesn’t go “undealt with” in the real sports world on ANY level. Again, TomButt either has zero understanding of athletes or simply forgets what he has previously drawn or written. And we’ve seen examples that support both of those possibilities.
Another thought – Considering that this crap might be written a year ago – Could be that there was originally a painful amount of basketball action portrayed, but after having his portrayal of basketball detail ripped to shreds, maybe he scrapped a couple weeks worth of it and tossed in that three panel montage. Either way, way to bail out, Tommeh.
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At least we haven’t been treated to seeing a two handed set shot win the game.
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Professor: there’s still one game left to go…
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“TomButt either has zero understanding of athletes …”
I think he hates athletes – at least male athletes – and the reason he’s done this female athlete thing is to grind male athletes into dirt. Look at the main example of a male athlete in Westview – Bull Bushka. He’s no Kaz, I’m tellin’ ya. The other examples are the hapless football team that is forever shoved around by the band, of all people, and their One-Way Hitchiker director. Further, there might as well be no boys basketball team. I agree that TomBall doesn’t understand athletes, it just goes farther than that, I say, to abject hatred.
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If the Annie-goats are just barely winning by the skin of their teeth each time, they’re probably not playing very well on the whole.
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Are the Annie-Goats winning these matches only because the opposition spotted them 10 pity points at the beginning of each game? These scores read more like hollow victories than examples of super-stardom athleticism at the hands of the one and only Summer Moore.
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“One-Way Hitchiker director”
I vote this the comment of the day.
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Middletown!? Seriously? I’m from Middletown Ohio…
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davidorth: Oh yeah? Well, your hometown girls’ basketball team sucks! Just kidding. No doubt the Middies got a big kick out of being represented in the funnies today. Don’t know if Batiuk researched the place names (turns out Centerville is a Real Place in Ohio too), or if he just pulled “Middletown” out of his Pulitzer-nominated wazoo. It does have a generic, one-in-every-state feel to it, like “Springfield”.
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Ah yes, it’s subtle… I almost didn’t catch it. When Keisha has the ball, the Goats only win by a point or two. But when Summer has the ball, watch out! — 8-point victory! Eh, you know what? It still seems hollow to me. That’s not enough of a lead to be worth dragging a poor old lady who’s not quite sure how old she is out of her house and into the big scary world with only Bull for a chaperone.
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But when Summer has the ball, watch out! — 8-point victory!
Of course, what did you expect? That was vs. Middletown! (heheh, sorry davidorth, couldn’t resist)
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Well I knew BatDork knew nothing about athletes way back when the team walked off the court when Some Moore crapped up her knee. THERE IS NO TEAM IN ANY SPORT ON THIS OR ANY OTHER PLANET THAT WOULD DO THAT! Here on Earth, every athletic competitor knows that someone can get hurt at any time. Could be themselves, could be a teammate. If you lose a teammate, you play on! Maybe you even play harder. Win one for the Gipper, right? NOBODY packs it in and says we won’t play without that player, particularly of it’s not a life threatening injury. Nobody!
Ever since then, I’ve regarded BatBoy’s sports portrayals as pure bullcrap.
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