This is one of those times that TB offers up what’s meant to be wacky hijinks, while we hidebound literalists go right to the darker, imagined subtext. Ergo, a lighthearted, post-Thanksgiving on the storied front lawn of the Taj Moore Hell turns violent as Cayla (weirdly looking in panel 1 like Black Linda; talk about darker subtexts) forcefully tackles Les in what’s supposed to be a game of touch, before walking away sneering. This is the second strip in less than a week that ends with Les stunned and in pain at the hands of his new bride.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Let’s see… Batuik has now insulted 4 sensitive topics for me: cancer, the military, gay teens, and spousal abuse.
But she’s smirking, so that makes it funny!
who’s the bitch in this relationship?
Clue….it isn’t Cayla.
Meanwhile Kiesha enjoyed Thanksgiving with her Father.
Good choice.
I think Summer underthrew the ball on purpose, setting her dad up to get crushed by Cayla.
Either a) Cayla is a bully or b) she is no longer capable of repressing her rage, which is understandable. Either way it isn’t really funny, but I do enjoy seeing Les in pain, so there’s that.
It sure looks like Cayla hates Les. (Stand in line, Cayla. Stand in line.) Maybe because their wedding cost less than an average 5-year-old’s birthday party and they didn’t even have a honeymoon.
Considering that Cayla’s violence against Les started after their marriage leads to one question, does Les call Lisa’s name EVERY time they make love?
First of all, pass interference. She didn’t turn to play for the ball, and the ball was still in the air. Good. Just needed to get that out of my system.
Crayola physically dominating Goatee Boy is officially a recurring theme at this point. We already know she’s a better athlete. We saw this last year when Dickface hilariously fouled a ball off his own face. Loved that. Have to wonder why Crayola would make a dirty and illegal play on her husband in a friendly backyard game. It’s very clear Tommybutt wants to show her taking out her frustrations with Goatee Boy through physical punishment. And even though she IS stronger and more athletic than he is, could you imagine the reaction if the roles were reversed? Oy.
Forget about trying to explain any of this to Tom Tonedeaf, the guy who doesn’t realize Comic Book John is creepy and this Crayola on Les asswhuppin’ is disturbing.
By the way, they should just ban all forms of football in Ahia, based on the play of the Browns and Bungles alone.
I can’t decide if Batom Inc. is truly unaware that he’s depicting a unhealthy / abusive relationship here, or if he genuinely think this sort of thing is lighthearted.
Batiuk is just letting his inner NFL fan come out. What DB would not hit the receiver for all he/she was worth? Agree that Cayla may have heard Lisa’s name one too many times. Les probably doesn’t get the hint, like most husbands.
Well, it’s not lighthearted hijinks, but it’s Les getting physically battered. What have we to complain about?
Don’t you see? It’s funny when a woman beats up on a man, because women are naturally weak and submissive and it’s absurd to think one of them would get physically agressive with her male betters!
(That said, if anybody deserves to have his ass handed to him on a regular basis it’s Les.)
Cayla’s angry look in p2 is disturbing, to put it mildly. Issues, TB’s got ’em.
I think it’s as simple as Batiuk’s worldview: there are 2 types of people, jocks and nerds. Jocks never pass up an opportunity to shame a nerd. My assumption is that he has been on the wrong side of many of these exchanges.
I’m setting aside all serious thought of spousal abuse and bullying to revel in the glory that is Les getting hit twice in one week. Can a full-on face punch be far off? Oh, please please …
“But Lisa would at least let me catch the ball before delivering a bone crushing hit.”
“I SAID I ain’t Lisa, muthafucka.”
There are people here worried that this will turn into a spousal abuse story? Who cares? The main thing is that one of the most hated characters of all time is finally, FINALLY getting the shit kicked out of him. I say pour it on – he deserves it. Just go back and read the last decades worth of stories, and you will be hoping Cayla puts poison in his coffee.
I feel sorta the same way and sorta not, Rembrandt. I think I’d love to see Les repeatedly abused by anything other than his spouse, because spousal abuse is a painful and icky concept. I guess it’s a double standard: I’d worship anyone who beat on Les, unless they were a domestic abuser.
I don’t think this week’s comic, on its own, counts as intentional abuse; Cayla’s just used to playing rough, right? But with Sunday’s bandagepalooza, it’s creepy.
Even the non-ironic readers (found at DailyInk) are expressing concern for what the escalating violence portends for this marriage.
Well, let’s just go into After-School Special mode then. Schadenfreude is the only kind of joy we get from Funky, now.
INKWELL: Well I for one am not about spousal abuse of course, but as to bandagepalooza – please bear in mind that Cayla has had to put up with a few years of Les’ awful puns and smugness. He is always bitching and moaning. So he is sitting there with his usual smug punning, self absorbed dickishness. She pulled a Popeye on him and said “I can’t stands no more of this!” It’s a comic strip that features a very loathesome character. While not politically correct, I have no problem seeing Les get the shit kicked out of him. As a reader we have all had to put up with his LISALISALISACANCERCANCER crap for years. Cayla can drop him from a 10 story building for all I care.
I recall when some folks were getting all up in a wad over snarking on professional POW Wally and I, as well as others of whom I dare not speak on their behalf, treated it as snarking on FW and TB and the cartoon characters that inhabit the Funkyverse and not as belittling the issue of PTSD itself. I would urge Inkwell to remember that it’s cartoon Les we are hating on and TB, who may put it in the context of spousal abuse to try to draw more pity to poor suffering Delicate Genius, his avatar (when it’s not Dead Skunk Head). I abhor domestic violence in any form, lived through it as a kid, and in no way do I associate Les getting the ever-lovin’ shit kicked out of him with actual domestic violence. I do hope the connotations derived from TB’s blatherings don’t cause anyone any grief or pain, but, please, everyone keep it in perspective – it’s a cartoon – “sequential art” – so maybe John and Les can get into it next? Dammit, I want Les punched out.
I must have missed the part where she says, “Sorry, honey,” and helps him up. Does Clueless Tommeh know Thing One about normal, healthy relationships? And why is he subjecting his own Avatar to this kind of humiliating physical abuse? There’s nothing “playful” about this.
Wonder if Bat Hole is reacting to our referring to Crayola as “doormat,” and has gone off to the other extreme? If so, too bad he couldn’t figure out where the Happy Middle was. Oh, yes — He reads us here. And he does respond. And I STILL believe there was a Lisa visitation around the time of the wedding that was cut and replaced with filler — He just didn’t want us to have the satisfaction of correctly predicting a sappy, maudlin Lisa appearance. Betcha.
Maybe I’m unusual, but I look at this and get the impression that TB thinks that Cayla’s Take-No-Prisoners style of game-playing is really kind of cool. Here’s a woman who doesn’t meekly sit back and let the men do their own thing. She gets down and dirty with them. Let’s just ignore that playing sports is the only time Cayla actually gets like this, and that she’s meek and supplicating in every other circumstance.
There is, after all, a lot of humor that comes from defying expectations.
As an aside, I think it’s interesting to look at how this strip has evolved once Batiuk had his new “heroes” fill his athletic roles, which is a major reversal from Act I. I think it offers a peek at his dark, dank psyche.
Back in Act II, TB spent several years bringing our attention to breast cancer, a rare and little-known illness the reading public needed to be made aware of.
But seriously, if he’s now going to do a storyline about spousal abuse of husbands, which actually IS a little-known syndrome, I would at last give him credit for having a pair of balls.
Hit ‘im again, hit ‘im again! Harder! HARDER! (never really cared for sports before now)
In panel two, Cayla has the expression of the typical Funky Winkerbean reader when encountering Les. Good detail work by Tom Batiuk here. Les’ expression is also good, showcasing the douchebag who finds out that–shockingly–he is not universally beloved and admired.
Also, what is that supposed to be on Les’ shirt? The sun from the “Teletubbies” show?
Just dream Batdick, dream.
You and you pitiful collection of depressives will never reach this level of adoration..
Posted at 06:30 PM ET, 11/19/2012
‘CALVIN AND HOBBES’ ART FETCHES RECORD $203K: Cartoonist-seller Brian Basset ‘blown away’ by jaw-dropping price for Bill Watterson original at auction [UPDATED]
This is payback for yesterday, when Les (who had assured Cayla that he was an enlightened guy and wouldn’t expect her to do all of the cooking, he could handle the main course and sides!) surprised her with a Double Dough Montoni’s special with extra grease and a side of pepperoni sticks!
Microwave-warmed, so the crust was rubbery and weird.
There Cayla stood, stony silent, the pecan pie she’d made with care and love in her hands. Les took one look and scowled.
“Pecan?!? Lisa knew I liked APPLE. Hmmph! I guess some children WERE left behind!”
Things deteriorated from there.
I suspect abuse is just too much of a sensitive topic for me. What disturbs me isn’t really Les’s treatment– he deserves every cracked rib he gets– what disturbs me is that Batuik thinks it’s fun and games with a cute couple.
But I’d probably better get off the issue, because this comic is causing unjustified amounts of anger from me. So instead I’ll just say that I like the muscle-flexing black boy in panel one. I hope Batuik uses him more.
The amazing undercurrent in all of these posts is how universally HATED Les is; he is the most hated character in all of “comics.” An elbow to Les’s ribs or a hard tackle on that smug douchebag spreads joy throughout the Funkyverse.
I really can’t see this becoming a statement on spousal abuse – not with Les as the victim. Also making Cayla the heavy seems out of place too. I could see it of Funky were smacking Holly around, but this is too “light-hearted” to be a “very special” FW. No, I think this is just TB trying to be humorous at Les’ expense, nothing more.
You know, it’s almost as if Les knows absolutely nothing about Cayla…
I imagine Tom Batiuk must be very, very frustrated right now. “Okay, so they hate Les and want to see him injured…I gave them weeks and weeks without Les, and they complained! Now I’m letting Les get beat up, and they’re complaining about that! What the Hell do these people want?!“
Panel 2, in isolation, is nice. If you know nothing about the characters, all you see is an action panel vaguely reminiscent of Hergé’s style.
Of course, if you do know the characters, you have to wonder why Cayla is represented as a teenage boy. And cheer the extensive bruising that Les is undergoing.
Perhaps Batomic knows how much we hate Les, and is trying an abuse story line to get sympathy for goatee boy. Nah, he’s not capable of putting that much thought into developing a story line.
Duane: NO amount of pandering will EVER elicit ANY sympathy for Les…not in a thousand lifetimes. He’s more despised than a hundred Summer’s and two dozen Cory’s. He’s the Secretariat of loathsome comic strip characters, lapping the field with ease. There are no words and not enough bandwidth to properly describe the intense hatred and disgust I feel towards that bearded fictional character. And, if anything, some folks here hate him MORE than I do. Cayla could scald him with boiling water and whomp him upside the head with a prybar and I’d STILL crave more. Hopefully that will be Saturday’s strip.
Epicus, tell us how you really feel 🙂 I agree, Tom can’t make me feel any sympathy or empathy for Les. If I needed any reminder of how much I hate Les, last Sunday’s pun-fest was a technicolor, 1080p HD reminder of why so many of us root for Cayla to go all “Misery” on him.
It’s not a spousal abuse storyline. If it were, it would start on a Monday, and Batiuk would strutting his “serious” storyline like a peacock months beforehand.
It’s a good action panel in the second panel—Withering is right if you’ve ever read “Tintin”—and again, it’s Les getting his ass handed to him. What have we to complain about?
As for why Cayla married Les, it’s a rather elaborate plot—if she didn’t marry Les, she would not indulge in that insurance/will money when Les has an unfortunate accident involving a length of garden hose, a dead squirrel, a light bulb, duct tape, and a bunch of under-ripe kumquats.
Even though the repeated Les ass whuppings at the hands of his wife are disturbing, I’ve been waiting for this day since Les condescendingly told Station Wagon Susan “Hell of a kiss” after said kiss got her ass fired from the school. For me, far and away the most dickish Les moment ever.
I never said I thought this WAS a spousal abuse storyline: in fact, since it might actually have been interesting, I was always 100% certain it wasn’t.
No, this is just another of TB’s mean-spirited attempts at humor.
Please, please, please, sir? Can I write the book about Les Moore’s murder? I willingly waive any and all movie rights.