Step right up and be clobbered by the Wall of Text that is today's strip. Owen listens in rapt attention as John preaches from the Gospel of St. Wigransky.
Owen: "He was pretty sharp for a fourteen-year-old."
John: "Yeah, just the age I like 'em… I mean, yeah, and he read comic books! Hey, speaking of comic books, I keep some, uh, special ones in the back. Wanna see?"
What grumpy old Doc Wertham couldn't have predicted was the flagrant abuse of enlarged word balloons by pedantic comic book geeks with their own daily strip. The ironic thing is that this strip would have made just as much sense and been just a funny if it had been a wordless one instead. I'm not sure whether I should be impressed or frightened that John has that quote committed to memory. I do know that the more we learn about these peripheral characters, the creepier they get. John talks about this Wigransky guy like he was Lisa or something.
Owen needs to ditch that idiotic hat, he looks like a Dr. Seuss character in that thing. And the way John wraps up this nonsense with a wry, self-depreciating “punch line” fills me with the urge to punch him in the face. “Yeah, and he read comic books”…no shit, asshole, thanks for reminding us.
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Wow, what an incredibly educational group of panels! I feel like I really learned something today: namely, that John is an incredible dweeb. I didn't say I learned something new.
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You know, up until this week if you had asked me if comic books were a bad influence on kids I would have said no–in fact, I would have promoted age-appropriate graphic literature as a means of encouraging an otherwise reluctant reader. Now I know that I was wrong. Overexposure to comics will cause a child to grow up into a pompous, sermonizing bore with an unfounded persecution complex. So thanks for setting me straight on that!
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Is this fucking lecture over yet?
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On the bright side: 1) We didn't see Les this week 2) Buddy made it through another week.
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Somewhere, in a much more logical alternate universe, Tom Batiuk writes (interminable) editorials rather than going through the pretense of drawing a comic strip.
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Young douche: He was pretty sharp for a fourteen-year-old.
Old asswipe: Yeah…and he read comic books.
Ah, yes…but did he have a genuine dead skunk 'do…?
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Well, it's the end of the week, and the end of a minor character story arc. You know what that means? It's time to learn the week's lesson! And to find out what it is, we we turn to the Tom Batiuk Wheel of Morality! Wheel of Morality, turn, turn turn. Tell us the lesson Batiuk wants us to learn.
And the moral is: Middle class kids who play video games are as persecuted as women who were burned at the stake in the late 1600s.
Hmmm…there seems to be something wrong with the Wheel of Morality, because that lesson doesn't make any sense.
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Is all this supposed to be factual? Hell fire, panel 2 makes no sense whatsoever. If a kid looks at crime and violence as a fun adventure, then it seems likely they'll act out the fun adventure. the second statement does not flow form the first. And what is this total hokum about a "generation brought up on comic books". Ha! I scoff at thee, O Dead Skunk Mahfuggy. Look, pal, instead of gazing at comic books, you could actually read Steinbeck, Hemmingway, Kerouac – real Honest-To-Lisa literature. So, skunk head man, get t'ell outta here.
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What would Dr. Wertham snark about FW?
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…..with the observed level of Westview education (especially the English dept..where one is wacko and the other is mostly on a book tour)….I'm surprised the kids can even read at the comic book level.
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So John's first smile all week is prompted by Owen saying "Fourteen year old." Just saying.
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John: "Yeah, comics were full of fun stuff back then. Like, there was this one crime comic where the crooks tied men up to their car, then used the pavement to 'erase' their faces! HAW! Blood and gore everywhere!"
Owen: "…whoa. That sounds kind of…intense. Maybe the censors went too far, but it sounds like parents were right to be a bit concerned. I mean, kids aren't ready for some sorts of content at that age."
John: "Sissy."
Owen: "What?!?"
John: "Leave my shop. I'm gonna read the new issue of "Red Lanterns". Disemberment on every other page AND you can totally see the alien chick's butt. It's hot. You know, for MATURE readers, like me. Not namby pampy WIMPS like you."
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Geez, why have any artwork at all in panel 2. This strip stretches line from comic strip to editorial piece.
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