Half a Hug

“I’m so happy for you! I wish I could hug you with both arms, but as you know I lost my left one as a result of getting in a car with your good-for-nothing drunk ass!” I was puzzled by John’s startled expression in panel 1 until I realized he’s having an unpleasant flashback to his own near-proposal to Becky, which was derailed at the last second when MIA Wally turned up alive (the first time).

12 thoughts on “Half a Hug”

  1. Blech, just nauseating. What the hell does Wally care about what Becky thinks anymore? I know I don’t and I’m betting that none of you do either. I would imagine that the more “casual” FW readers are baffled by this, unless they have an encyclopedic knowledge of the history between these two, but seriously, that’s fairly unlikely IMO.

    And what a history it is, eh? Severed limbs, ruined romances, shattered hearts, broken spirits and, saddest of all, a woman marrying a complete tool who runs a failing comic book shop. The horror, the horror. And speaking of horror, check out panel two, where it looks like Summer dressed up as Becky for Halloween.

  2. “…on that left hand, on that left arm which I don’t have. Congratulations to the four of you, I mean two of each of you two apiece, dammit.” Rache looks at the empty spot with thoughts of great melancholy. “Alas, she doth exude such bountiful happiness from this, such a shell of a body herewith.” (Barftacular)

  5. The shamelessness of the padding in today’s FW would cause the creators of Dragonball Z and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire to cringe in hysterical embarrassment.

    Seriously, this is a new low for the comic.

  6. I still don’t understand why he keeps his hair like that. Is it a toupee? Is it naturally gray just on the lower half? What is it supposed to be? What is the artist going for? And can he be that ignorant that he wears the same tshirt very day?

    This character is what I hate the most about FW. I’m grateful he only appears occasionally.

  7. “Uh, Wally, is that a geuine StarBuck Jones action figure in your pocket or are you excited to see me?”

  8. DSH John is worried that now Becky has seen what a real diamond looks like, he may have to swap out Becky’s cubic zirconium wedding ring faster than he anticipated! I wonder how much a 24 carat ring is worth in bronze age Aquaman comics?

  9. Thanks TFH for the 2003 flashback. I’d forgotten so many things that were in those strips meaning my long term memory is as short as TB’s. I thought the chew toy was Lisa, but maybe it’s actually Wally which doesn’t bode well for Rachel’s long term happiness and that of her forgotten off-spring.

  10. Regarding the flashback – It’s interesting that Les and Funky have been running together regularly since they were in their 20’s, but somehow Funky has developed into a tub of lard who can’t even finish a 5K without passing out.

  11. Becky’s so proud of Wally because, of course, she’s been so supportive of him since his return, such a big part of his life, so amiable and considerate.

    She definitely -wasn’t- someone who gave him the cold shoulder, left him to his own devices, warned others away from him, and only occasionally admitted the existence of him. Nope, not at ALL.

    …..

    Seriously, other than loaning her reverse-aging kid out to Wally’s dubious care once or twice, has she done ANYTHING at all to explain her feeling “proud”?

    Anything? 😦

  12. when MIA Wally turned up alive (the first time).

    I was curious and looked this up. From what I found, Wally would be not only the only American in history to be a POW in two wars, he would have been the American POW with the longest period of captivity by a wide margin. Rather amusing too that in both wars he was captured by rogue enemies who didn’t generally hold POWs for any length of time. Just more of Batiuk’s famous research.

    Gross John’s just unhappy because he realizes that this vicarious thrill has made Becky more joyful than he’s ever seen her. She gets exposed to much more of this and she might think she deserves more than him and his mopey, passive-aggressive wet-blanket ways.

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