Really, Darin, where are your manners? He leaves their visitor cooling her heels on the doorstep until he can make sure it’s OK with Mom to let this stranger in. The delay gives Kerry time to change from the black jacket she was wearing when she rang the doorbell into a gray jacket.
36 thoughts on “Extended Family”
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Son of Stuck Funky 
Don’t worry, Darin, you aren’t missing much.
Darin does not yet appreciate how lucky he is
Kerry may be lost, she is hasn’t had a strip to hang out in since Alison Bechdel took a hiatus. (I’m a fan).
Ya see…….nothing but a red herring
I can’t work up any snark. This is actually disturbingly close to home right now.
I do like that Ann doesn’t respect Darin enough to tell him about these things. Because who does?
“Oh, hi, husband’s long-estranged daughter Kerry, thanks for dropping by just in time for Fred’s crippling illness. He’s in the other room so he won’t hear us denigrating him. We’re running low on speech impediment jokes…got any?”
Color me Boy Lisa because I likewise have no f*cking idea what’s going on here, where it’s going or why I should care. Enduring four weeks of poorly-developed fringe characters like the Fairgoods is a lot to ask out of the “readership” (lol) but I really think it’ll be worth it when we finally get the big, stupid, anti-climactic reveal on this Kerry person and SoSF blows up with unbridled snark and rage. My main man BatView isn’t going to disappoint us here, methinks. I’m expecting epic idiocy on a grand scale.
Ann may have supplanted Les as the biggest a-hole in this strip.
Nice handshake, girls! Is she the long lost daughter of your dying husband, or an insurance salesman? What the hell kinda greeting is that, considering the circumstances? Tombat, do you interact with any human life forms at all??
And yes, it’s VERY weird that Annie McFishstick would know who this girl is, but she was never discussed in the 30-some years Drano had been in the Fairgood family. Actually, I’d find it more credible that Annie wouldn’t know her either. Then she’d have an excuse for never having mentioned this to her adopted son, the bastard child of Saint Lisa, who died of cancer after a medical mixup.
“I wish we could have met again under better circumstances, but… well, this is Funky Winkerbean, after all.”
Off topic – HOW ABOUT THOSE RAVENS!! WOOOOOO!!!!
Time to Grimley-up the place.
Yeah, I know it’s not very good, but a) I’m tired, and b) it’s Funky Winkerbean. How good could it get?
Beanie–especially after that “trip to our old apartments” thing of a couple of months back. “Hey, let’s drive by our old places while we reminisce, because that’s all we have to talk about with you, son. There’s nothing else you could possibly learn about us except the bad neighborhoods we used to live in. Nope, nothing at all.”
No Derwood you’re not the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on. The audience doesn’t and the author sure as hell doesn’t.
I still say she’s not really his daughter: she just feels like Fred’s been like a father to her.
And TB will pat himself on the back for this sly bit of misdirection.
So 33 year-old Darin had a half sister (not biological, I know, but that doesn’t really matter) of some indeterminate age and no one ever thought to inform him of this? Fishstick is casually greeting her as if her coming by is the most mundane thing in the world, and yet we’re to believe that at no point in Darin’s life did this woman come by or even merit a mention from his parents?
[Removing censor now]
WHAT THE LIVING FUCK IS WRONG WITH TOM BATIUK?
She’s Anne’s daughter, not Fred’s- look how quickly she aged between Saturday and today.
Meanwhile over at Comics Kingdom,
Tom Batiukthe fan base has been extra angry at critics. Especially ironic considering how the strip has been really, REALLY smelling up the place. If these aren’t TB’s sock-puppet accounts then Dear Author must have send out a mass email to all five loyal fans asking for backup.“Darin, despite our sham marriage, this is our real daughter we had together. Get out of my house, you smirking bastard.”
SP Charles – I had the same thought. Fred isn’t her biological father, but when she was a poor orphan he sponsored her through Head Start, or United Way or something, and kept encouraging her so that she regards him as her real father. Blahblahblah.
She worked hard and became successful at blahblahblah. But because this is Funky Winkerbean, she lost it all because of blahblahblah.
Blahblahblah.
I know TB’s a big John Sebastian fan, but this cameo seems forced.
Ann: “So, Kerry, how are Wooter and Slice?”
Kerry: “Oh, growing like weeds, Ann. By the way, sorry about what happened to my father, Fred.”
Darin: “…uh…could…”
Ann: “Pshaw! I knew it was coming all my life! Still, it was sort of a nasty surprise! By the way, I’m Fred’s speech therapist now? Isn’t it WILD?”
Kerry: “Oh, Ann, you’re the absolute MOST. By the way, Guil, Phil, and Lil all send their love!”
Ann: ‘Those scamps! And I bet Betty, Fatso, and Mister Pickleini are all still doing well?”
Kerry: “Right as rain, dear Ann, wife of Fred, my father!”
Darin: “What…who…I…”
Ann: “Speaking of rain, it’s snowed non-stop here since January. Bizarre, eh? Shouldn’t the entire town be buried?!?”
Kerry: “Speaking of ‘bury’, Barrie and Marny also send their love.”
Ann: “Hoody hoo! Sounds like the entire gang is doing swell! Well, except for Fred, my husband, your father, who I’m now giving speech therapy!”
Kerry: “Mmm, yes. Heard about it. Telepathically! Thought I’d buzz by. Just like that Rachel! She’s such a busy bee!”
Ann: ‘That sca-”
Darin: “AAAAAAAAARRRRGGH!”
[img]http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lcciysus2I1qzv306.gif[/img]
My reaction to this day’s strip.
would anyone be shocked if tomorrow’s strip has Darin answering the door again and standing there are a circus clown in full makeup and a dominatrix. Anne bursts in to give the hearty handshake greeting and proclaims to Durwood “this is your Aunt Betsy and Uncle Wilbur.”
Would make about as much sense as today’s strip.
By the way, this is what REALLY caused the power outage at the Superdome last night.
[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KsREVnvFFV8/T998EdT8M0I/AAAAAAAABKE/F3uXV0wdRrw/s1600/Airplane+Jonny+Plug.JPG[/img]
In today’s strip, the part of Kerry will be played by Honey from Doonesbury. Because, you know, Batominc and Trudeau are like this. They’re brothers in arts; they hang out like totes all the time.
Oh good Lawd…anybody wanna see an ass-ton of strips from 2003? Found a link online to John Byrne’s website. He’s the comic-book artiste who stepped in to draw FW while Batiuk was recuperating from foot surgery (Batiuk draws with his feet? Explains a lot!)
The archived strips begin in March of 2003:
…and if you edit the URL, incrementing that number by 1, you will be treated to the courtship of Becky and John.I couldn’t help myself! You can see ’em all here:https://sonofstuckfunky.com/other-crap/2003-john-byrne-steps-in-for-batiuk
THRILL to their online anonymous hookup! CHEER as Becky defends John to her Montoni’s co-workers! See John trade in his ponytail for his current pineapple ‘do! RECOIL at panel after panel of hatchet faces!
MEET John’s controlling, alcoholic mother!
I thought about collecting the strips and presenting them on one page, but there are 2-plus months of strips and I don’t have the time right now, but it was too good not to immediately share.Finally, Fishsticks has someone she can confide in about how having an adopted son trapped her into this maternal life, forced her to give up her dreams and blah blah blah…
I’ve figured out the Fred&Bull flashback from yesterday. Kerry is really Bull’s daughter. Bull got some girl pregnant and wanted to drop out of school, but Fred wanted to keep his star player on the team. So Fred adopts Bull’s baby daughter, getting Bull off the hook. Then Fred, dealing with his divorce, gets Bull’s daughter adopted into another family. This makes Bull a deadbeat teen dad just like his teammate who date raped Lisa and fathered Darrin.
Awesome, thanks for sharing! That is when it was a much, much better strip.
@T.F. Hackett:
Whoaa! It looks like some sort of cheap graphic novel.
Wait, but wasn’t Becky married to Wally just prior to that? What the hell is she doing with El Creepo (and what’s up with the Picasso-like arrangement of his face third panel?)
Definitely need to read that later.
Cheesy as the plot of the Byrne -illustrated strips are, crazy as the characterization is, they definitely crackle with an excitement and energy….you get the feeling Tom really LOVED writing this soapy, overblown strip. And for all his well-deserved reputation for weirdness, Byrne is far, far better at pacing and draftsmanship than Tom could ever be.
If you’re on the Twitter, check out @JohnByrneSays, who is not John Byrne, but whose tweets led me to those 2003 FW strips as well as this one from 2007:
^ I thought Pete was Summer with an exceptionally bad ‘do at first. Makes me wonder if there’s something Lisa never told us.
Duane – I also pictured “Johnny” from Airplane pulling the plug at the StupidDome. Haw!
While this Byrne guy is the better artist IMO, he really has a knack of making the standard FW smirk look almost satanic, doesn’t he? Much more malice than BatDraw’s heavily-sedated style where everyone just smirks like they’re on an opium bender.
Act II was the most sickening, malicious, rage-inducing thing ever unleashed upon the comic-reading public, but I gotta admit: at least things actually happened back then. I mean this current arc is three weeks and one day old already and we’re JUST NOW getting to the (apparent) point…I think. And it’s not like there’s all this nuance he’s trying to capture: the background is usually just squiggles or bricks. BatNod needs to ditch the decaf and maybe consider working on these stories BEFORE he has his glass of warm milk before bed.
Let’s cut to the chase – long lost and forgotten daughter Kerry is here to make her peace with Daddy Dearest and say goodbye, whether she knows it or not.
“Bye bye, Fred,” said Les, as he moved into his new office and new priority.