The Winkerbean men sure are tight with a buck! A couple Sundays ago we witnessed Funky treating the missus to an anniversary “celebration”… at the pizzeria he owns. Today, his cousin/nephew Sgt. Sunkencheeks’ idea of a birthday surprise for his girlfriend is inviting her to see him perform in a free band concert.
Month: July 2011
Papa Harry
“I thought you were going to dress as John Phillips from ‘The Mamas and the Papas’.”
“No, Harriet: it wasn’t easy, but I came up with something even more embarrassing.”
Harry’s a lucky man: he’s married to the only person in Westview (besides Wally Junior) who appears to be getting younger instead of growing old at an accelerated pace. Harriet’s orangely-blonde ‘do at least makes her look much younger than she did only a few years ago, and she’s shed a little of that Mama Cass girth.
Sousa-phony
I have no idea where one would order a John Philip Sousa uniform. Looks good on you, though, Harry, almost as good as that yellow shirt you must’ve borrowed from Les.
Have a safe and happy Fourth of July, everybody!
Playin', Playin' in the Band
Usually the music notes in the air of the Band Room are drawn all distorted and jagged, to suggest bad music being played. But the well-formed notes we see today come from the smooth sounds of Westview’s Community Band, conducted not by a frazzled, angry Becky, but by a relaxed and genial Harry K. Dinkle. Harry likes conducting the adults so much better than working with those goddam kids. He even allows that this ensemble sounds “pretty good”, high praise from Der Dinkle. He rewards the band with one of his “classic lines“, punctuating it with a thrust of his stubbly chin and a face-splitting, closed-eye satisfied smirk. Buddy the dog responds with an agonized howl.
Anyway, nice to see that Wally is finally putting that trombone to good use.
Hall-ucinations
Tell me what I’m missing here…
As she takes her final walk through the halls of Westview High, Susan spies a student at a locker. But wait, aren’t all the students gone for the summer? There’s something familiar about that girl, though… Whoa! That geeky girl in the bobbysox is Susan’s teenage self!
A little further along, Susan encounters another female, who, judging from her trajectory, has emerged from a solid wall to cross Susan’s path. Can anybody reading this (Mr. Batiuk?) tell me who the hell this woman is? She’s wearing an ID badge, so she must be a teacher…but surely we’ve met all 5 or 6 members of Westview’s teaching staff. Before she was forced to turn it in, Susan was never pictured without her ID badge…so is this the ghost of the future that Susan would have had? The hair’s a different color, but we’ve seen Susan as a blonde.
There’s no ambiguity in the last panel, that’s for sure. A mop, two brooms, and a garbage can bear witness to the final disposal of Susan Smith Westbrook.
Don’t miss this month’s excellent installment of FunkyWatch: June’s 12 Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ (and Crankshaft) Strips over at Comics Alliance!
Son of Stuck Funky 
