TFH of course solved the great “Jim Mystery” of last week, but here at least is proof that Tom Batiuk hasn’t forgotten how to draw Jim Kablichnik. He, er, hasn’t drawn him very well–in panel two, it looks like he’s about to vomit up his mashed potatoes (which is I suppose a natural reaction when meeting Les), but he’s nonetheless recognizable as the ol’ chair-stealer we’ve come to know and, uh, recognize.
I guess the rhetorical question Jim refers to is not the one he himself posed, but the implication from Les that everyone believes Les to be an amazing incompetent who cannot master any skills beyond usually putting his pants on with the top at the correct end. For the record, I’d hardly call that a rhetorical question, more like a casual observation, but it does allow Les to raise his ire. So, job well done, Jim. You can leave now. I hear they’re hiring at Sprawl-Mart.
Son of Stuck Funky 
And there he is, WHS’ resident dick with ears himself, flaunting his expensive new toy in front of his miserable and beleaguered coworkers in that violently irritating little yellow-shirted pose of his. Just as I assumed he would. Everything he does just makes me want to punch him repeatedly and unless something awful is going to happen to him and soon, I cannot wait until he disappears again. Any Les is always way too much.
Look at him, getting all worked up and pissy when Klabichnik breaks his balls a little. Maybe he’ll take his toy and run home to his porch swing until Klabichnik comes over to apologize. Just yesterday Les himself admitted to not knowing how to use the thing, so his obnoxious dialog and snotty attitude doesn’t even make sense. I guess the point is that Les is a dick, as if that really needed to be re-established.
Yeah, come on you guys!!…When Cayla gossips to your wives that “Les doesn’t know how to use it”….it’s not the Smart-Pad she’s talking about.!!!
Honestly, you two!! Grow up!!
“Les, weren’t you the one who sulked for two years straight when the school got a DVD player, and who just last week called the Internet ‘a passing fad’…?”
“You’re just jealous of me and my new evil technology!”
Great… now he can continue working on his screen-play while at school.
Double dipping leech.
“We’ve secretly replaced Les’ ‘Smart-Pad’ with a broken Etch-A-Sketch – let’s see if he notices.” … … “Nope.”
Woo hoo!! A whole week of “old people don’t understand this new technology” jokes!! Thanks for breaking new ground, TB. Tomorrow Les attempts to program his VCR.
—Great… now he can continue working on his screen-play—
Yeah. whatever happened to that plot point? Who wants to lay odds that Batiuk completely forgot about it and never returns to it?
– How does TB manage to screw up one of the most obvious punch lines in the English language?
– Is that a rhetorical question?
Amazing how many problems with today’s joke are solved if Kablichnik’s final line is written as the second question above. It removes any ambiguity from the line and the use of a rhetorical question to ask if the previous question was rhetorical is at least a decent burn, if not a fairly funny one.
“How does TB manage to screw up one of the most obvious punch lines in the English language?”
Maybe because he’s so much like Hemingway, who wasn’t any good at humor either?