Discuss: “Sousa marches sound best when they’re surrounded by a town square.” Well, for starters, it seems rather like the town square is surrounded by the music: it waves through the air like one of those advertising banners that gets towed by a small plane. And I’d wager that Sousa marches sound best when they’re played by, say, the United States Marine Band. When played by an ensemble small enough to fit in a gazebo that’s about the size of my bathroom, they sound, well, okay.
So in his retirement, “Harry seems to be working harder than ever”? Really? Harder then he did when he used to force his students to march in torrential rains? Harder than when he used to personally deliver band turkeys? Since he hung up his band director hat, all we’ve seen Harry doing is lurking around the high school and occasionally schmoozing with his fellow music educators.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Didn’t Harry wear a full-on John Philip Souza band costume last time we saw him perform a Fourth of July concert? Why did he decide to switch to a shirt and tie this year? That’s totally out of his character.
Amazing restraint on Batiuk’s part: I can’t see Becky’s pinned-up sleeve. It’s like Calvin without Hobbes.
Welcome back TFH! Hope everyone enjoyed my posts as much as I enjoyed posting them! Finest group of FW snarkers on the internet IMO, just a better class of people than those savages over on the CK site, f*cking animals. At least we maintain certain standards here, you know?
I’ve never had much use for Act III New Old Dinkle or his constantly smirking wife. Old Dinkle’s megalomaniacal tyrant schtick wasn’t particularly amusing or anything, but at least he was consistently played for laughs. New Old Dinkle, however, is just another old boring dick, endlessly re-hashing ancient FW gags but doing it completely out of the context that once defined the character. He’s not amusing to anyone but TheAuthor now, except for maybe the few dozen retired band directors who still regularly read FW, that is.
A Dinkle arc is a sure sign that BatNoid is in total cruise control mode now. That Frankie mega-arc must have really worn him out. Time for the FW dog days of summer….
I can’t figure out how Batyuck can claim this strip depicts contemporary issues affecting young adults in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.
The average age of the characters appearing in last week’s strips was 55.
Also, that pic in the masthead = NIGHTMARE FUEL.
Usually, “Old __never__, they just__” quips are clever, but- oh, never mind, why did I even start?
Re. Clark, anyone know what the actual ages for ANY of the important (as in they say something at least once every three months) characters are?
I mean, I thought the old guy with blisters was supposed to be about the same age as Les but he looks nearly as old as my grandfather (who died in his eighties).
Anyway, Batiuk it’s called SHOW, don’t TELL. You should have shown us Harry getting up before 5 in the morning to go get things ready for this band.
If Les and Co. are in their 50s (And that’s debatable, as Funky looks early 60s to most casual observers) then Dinkle would *have* to be pushing well into his 80s, unless he didn’t time jump with the rest of them, which I guess makes as much sense as anything else in this strip.
If he can’t stay away from the school or band then why in the hell did he retire?
In P5, Dinkle looks downright Canadian, at least by South Park standards.
In Westview, old anythings never die. They just suffer endlessly in debilitating pain after something horrible inevitably happens to them, leaving them a shell of their former self.
Wonder what ever happened to the children in Westview?
These 2 have Rana & Wally jr…..Crazy Harry has like 3 at home, Cory’s in the army now….Jinx? Kiesha?
I think the last time jump put Funky, Les and their contemporaries at 46, and have been adding years since then. I recall this because I was 46 then, and didn’t feel or look like a resident of Bedside Manor. Anyway, only Les gets to escape the great aging process. Batiuk said somewhere he wanted to bring the characters up to an age where they were going through the stuff he personally was going through, like aging parents and health problem and all the other pleasures the strip brings its audience every day. Except Batiuk is a good decade or more older than the characters as depicted now, so I think he unconsciously ages them to fit he and his own friends profiles. That’s about all the unsnarky analysis I have.
46, 47 whatever. Then 4 basketball seasons of Summer and a year sitting on the bench at KSU…Okay mid-fifties with contemporary issues addressed in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.
Wally jr was born when Daddy started his stint as a ten year POW…. so he should be 16+
Pizza Toni & Harry Dingleberry well into their 80’s
Typically, the “old x don’t die, they just y” style of joke involves some sort of pun or wordplay (ie. “Old gamblers don’t die, they just cash in their chips.”). Clearly even this basic level of humor is too much to expect from this strip.
@merrypookster, The answer is simple, this strip has devolved into a narcissistic tribute to TB (hereafter referred to as Les). All other characters are just there to serve this purpose. This is the core of why this strip has become inconsistent and dare I say it … crappy. Time to have Les remarry? Bring in the most unrealistic love triangle ever, then eject the
loserwinner with a ham fisted plot device. And now that we have a new wife for Les so don’t bother to draw her consistently or show that she and Les care for each because after all she’s just a prop. The most carefully drawn thing in this strip after Les are the brick walls and they also are the most likable characters.Sorry short answer to your question, we don’t see the children in the strip because they aren’t Les and unless needed they aren’t important (well they aren’t really important even then, just useful).
John: “Honey, can we leave now? I have to go get tickets to see “The Wolverine” in a few weeks! I have to go NOW or all the prime seats will be sold out!”
Becky: “Hush. We’re doing band stuff today. It’s the Fourth of July, after all!”
John: “…it’s the seventh! We’re only having this stupid concert TODAY because Dinkle is senile! Besides, it’s 98 degrees out! Aren’t you dying? I’m drowning in my own sweat!”
Becky: “I said HUSH. Besides, I promised the kids they could see this. You don’t want to disappoint our children, do you?”
John: “Children?!? I haven’t seen those brats in three years! Where are they, anyway?”
Becky: “Oh, I’m sure they’re around here…um….somewhere…*…”
Harriet: “Last I heard, they all went to live with Roberta.”
Becky: “My EVIL MOTHER?!? But my evil mother is EVIL and stuff!!!”
Harriet: “She’s also always around when they need her, buys them treats, and taught them how to play Crazy Eights.”
Becky: “B-but…she’s 100% evil! When you’re evil, you’re nothing BUT evil, with no other attributes at all!”
Harriet: “Oh, get a grip on yourself, Becky! ….oh….sorry.”
Becky: *fumes*
John: *whimpers* “Wolveriiiiiiiiiiine!”
Becky: “SHUT UP!”
Re. MerryPookster. Keisha only exists to be in a scene with Summer. Seriously, she’s been out of the strip so much recently that the only reason I remember her name is because it actually seems normal to me next to Funky, Harry Dinkle and the like.
Anyway, now that I think about it the loose (and extremely generous) base of the cast’s age is something like this.
Les/Bull/Cayla/Funky (despite appearances)/Cindy: About 50
Harry: Probably 80 (Tony hasn’t appeared in forever so I’m assuming he died offscreen)
Wally: 40?
Jessica/Darin: No freaking idea. 30?
Summer/Keisha: About 19
Cory: About 19-20 (since he was able to enlist and it’s been a while since then)
Whoever-the-hell-those-high-schoolers-were: Maybe 17 since comic book time appears to be full swing on the rare occasions those three actually appear?
So the mean (add all the numbers together and then divide by number of times those numbers appear) of the ages should be about 33 or so. That’s well above the age of a teenager (obviously). If you’re far more accurate about their actual relevance in the comic and less unnecessarily generous as I am then cut out the teens, Corey, Bull, Cindy, Keisha and Harry. That gives you a mean of about 38.
In other words, being nice to Batiuk makes this comic beyond the age of the people it allegedly looks at and not being nice has a mean age of over twice as old as a teenager.
The non-smiling cap wearing dude in the title panel intrigues me.
My first thought is that he seams to be the only rational person in Westview since he realizes what total crap he is listening to. But I guess, when you’ve snagged the only attractive blonde in Westview…you have to succumb to social pressures.
My second thought is that he’s a demolitions expert hired by Frankie to blow everyone to Kingdom Come.