Duane
February 16, 2013 at 3:30 pmThis whole week’s story should have just been done in ONE Sunday comic, not wasting a whole week.
Indubitably! In fact, today’s strip packs about as much entertainment as did the six strips that preceded it, which is to say, none.
You would suppose that the two people who accompanied Harry to this convention might already be seated in the front row. Instead, Harriet and Becky arrive “just in time” for Harry’s session.
Son of Stuck Funky 
It’s been so long, I just don’t know . . . is this one of those jokes I’ve heard so much about?
It’s almost as if BatHack thinks that by showing Dinkle cracking himself up, it’ll somehow convince the reader that maybe there’s something funny about these awful band jokes. If that’s the case, try again, Pulitzer (nominee) Boy: you can have Dinkle moronically cackling all you like but it won’t do anything to make those pitiful, lazy jokes any funnier. What a sorry display, you’d think band jokes would be a rich source of material for FW but this week sure shoots that little theory all to shit.
Seriously, what could Becky and Harriet possibly have been doing prior to Dinkle’s embarrassing little lecture? Buying nonsensical gag band gifts? Browsing through worthless band director biographies? Or maybe they had trouble pinning up Becky’s sleeve, as it does look a little more flappy than usual today. My guess, though, is that they simply wanted to avoid as much of Dinkle’s babbling as they could and really, who could blame them?
Psst, Harry, the petrified band candy was from last week…
Even more interesting, is that the same archaeologists also found a series of primitive writings directly underneath the painting criticizing it for its depressing content, inconsistent artwork and lack of continuity.
Summer/Becky/Pete is just in time?? He/she has been joined at the groin with him since they walked into the building. Huh? Continuity much, Batso? So Dinkle is a famous author AND a standup comic? I thought he was a tedious old retconned bore.*smirk*
is this one of those jokes I’ve heard so much about?
It’s more of a joke loaf.
I’ve got to wonder. How on earth could the paintings from the Chauvet Cave possibly be relevant to Dinkle’s lecture? Yes, I know it lets him tell a joke, but I can’t help but think that the moment that slide came up, everyone in the audience thought he’d gone senile with such a random topic. Soon, he’ll be talking about the Loch Ness Monster, Voltaire and Two Broke Girls.
…And the room goes silent. Ah, I see the problem: Somebody switched the APPLAUSE sign in the second-to-last panel with one that reads EXIT, and everyone appears to have taken the bait.
And what’s Becky dangling in her good hand — her soiled diaphragm? No wonder these two biddies are running late for Harry’s session — theirs ran long.
I’ll bet it rained in the goddam cave too, didn’t it, Dinkle? There was also a mummified Band Turkey in there as well, right, Dink? Don’t forget the cave painting of a one-armed humanoid with a conductor’s baton, ya’ brigand. Yer a stitch, you know that? Of course you do, I can tell by the smirk.
Two Sundays in a row where we end an arch with an Old Man shown that he’s is nothing more then a speck of the world existence. Perfect Reminder of that part of Deteriorata:
“You are a Fluke (Flute) of the Universe.
You have no right to be here.
And whether you can hear it or not,
The Universe is laughing behind your back”
Read it and weep Batyuck.
I love how BatHack has drawn Harriette to look exactly like Harry with fly away hair. Uh Tom, they’re husband and wife, not brother and sister. Seriously, does she look anything like she did in Tuesday’s strip? Man, he is awful at his job.
Much like Batiuk, I’ve got nothing. What percentage of the population is more likely to identify with FW, comic store geeks or high school band directors?
Call me a Beady Eyed Nitpicker, but from what I know about these conventions, a room will have a sign with the name of the speaker, and more importantly, the TOPIC of the session. Oh, wait — This is Harry Dinkle. Yes, THE Harry Dinkle. (See also “THE Les Moore.”) Enter and be in his presence. Form one line. No shoving! Topic? Schmopic! He does his routine. Wear your rubber pants, folks! Book signing at 4:00. One to a customer! NO EXCEPTIONS!
WTF? Really? A band director from a third rate town in a fifth rate state? From a school that appears to have about 20 kids? Sure, why not. Who from Wankerview ISN’T famous at this point?
On the other hand, we don’t see the bottom of the sign. Maybe it says, “How to have yourself retconned from a comical, bizarre, possibly insane pseudo-military dictator figure to a kindly, smirking, punning, lovable grampa in only two Time Jumps.”
The smirks are growing asymmetrical again, so it must have been a temporary lapse when he drew them happy for a couple of days. Or a stroke. But mad props for giving Lewis Black’s mouth to Harriet in panel 2. That guy is really funny!
I mean Lewis Black, of course.
As Jeffcoat Wayne pointed out, in the next to last panel, it does look like everyone has stood up and is filing out toward the door maked “exit.” BatSuck in only funny when he doesn’t intend to be. Hilarious!!
Becky: “I think we’re just in time to catch Harry’s session! And if I keep swinging my blazer so awkwardly as I walk, I can make sure that no matter what angle someone sees me, my pinned up sleeve is the focal point of my entire body!”
Harriet: *munch-munch-chomp-chomp-munch* “Mmmph. Sure you don’t want any of this Fiddle-Faddle(tm)?”
Becky: “I’m sure Harry will be giving us quite enough during his presentation.”
***************************
Harry: “Some of you may wonder why in the world I’m giving a presentation, given that since retirement I’ve done nothing but hang around music educators rather than actually make any contributions. Some of you might even remember my Tragic Hearing Loss, which seems to no longer exist. Well, the answer is this: Comic Con! See, the Dark Lord of Medina couldn’t attend Comic Con and was too bitter to actually go through with a planned arc of strips about it, so at the last moment I was crammed into this cockamamie non-story along with some “jokes” that are actually just more thinly disguised bitterness. See, Tom’s desperate to convince himself that he really didn’t miss anything by skipping one of the world’s hottest entertainment multi-media events, so he’s depicting it as being this: Just a rambling geezer, wasting your time with slides. Write what you know, I guess!”
I hate Harry. I hate him on a visceral level. Sure, he’s a pompous, dreary windbag who has never once been funny, but, for me, there’s more to it than that. I look at that picture of him in the SOSF banner, grin-smirking at his own splendor, and I want to destroy the entire universe, or all universes if you’re into the multiverse thing.
But he’s still infinitely more likable than Les.
Looking forward to a whole week of this dreck – Stale band humor, Dinkle doing his standup for a room full of chirping crickets, Summer/Pete/Becky’s stupid pinned up sleeve. On the last day of the week, Becky is up in arm when she returns home to find Skunky “batching it” with Odie and Codie.
Kent State Golden Flashes
Kent St. Golden Flashes
3-21 (1-10), 5th Mid-American – East
OK Harry retired cause he’s deaf, right–but all we’ve seen him do is the same stuff he did before he retired–except no he wears glasses and no hearing aid. Or maybe he did wear glasses before but you couldn’t see them under the brim of his band director’s hat.