Tuesday’s strip continues with the worst pickup artist. It also drops the actual name of an actual television network. Can the cease-and-desist letter addressed to Medina, OH be far behind?
Today’s affront to continuity supersedes yesterday’s affront to proportion, as the glassware inexplicably changes to a normal size. Either that, or the 60-minute interval of miniaturization effect has expired.
As Cindy’s comma eyes glance sidelong at “Gazing Galileo”—a phrase I’ve never before encountered in any context—I’m grateful that, for a change, Batominc didn’t misspell the name of a historical Italian.
You know what bartenders love? When you wave a payment method at them. In a dead-quiet bar. Maybe next time Cindy should wave a fan of crumpled singles and yell: “Yo! Barkeep!” Because that’s how “savvy dames” behave. Although maybe Batominc categorizes Cindy as hardbitten rather than savvy. It’s not easy for me to crawl into his weird conception of women.
On the plus side, this week’s action has been taking place in a bar. I like bars and what bars are selling.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Bars and alcohol: always an omen of bad things to come in the Funkyverse. Poor Cindy, she escaped Westview via her comma-eyed good looks and her knack for TV news journalism or something and rose to the top. But now that she’s there, it’s nothing more than a ponderous slog full of misery, woe and cheesy pick-up lines in hotel bars. Like all Westviewians, she secretly yearns for a simple life with her own kind, like running a Silver Age comic book-themed pizzeria, or maybe a pizza-themed comic book shop or even some sort of combination of the two. And if all else fails she could easily score a job at WHS running the AV club or something totally plausible like that. The wry banter outside Montoni’s, the baleful wisecracks at the town gazebo, the self-depreciation, the doubt, the anxiety, that darned universe always looking to settle the score…it’s what makes Westview special. Until she returns home and hooks up with some stupid old high school pal, she’ll never be truly whole. Come home, Cindy and run out the clock with your own kind, you can never have enough regrets, you know?
I’m sure there’s a very good reason that we’re watching a character Batiuk has barely thought about in years making weak comebacks to the even weaker pickup lines of a character we’ve never seen before, and that we’ll be told what it is. Soon. Aaaaaaaany day now.
Since the strip draws from TB’s “experiences” and is only a 1/4″ from reality (a parallel dimension I NEVER want to visit), perhaps on a book signing tour or convention he tried to pick someone up. I can easily believe this is his “A” material. Now safely back in his studio he can get his payback.
Of course what I would find hilarious is if this really happened and the reason he was rejected is because the woman recognized him.
Somebody’s gonna get lucky! She’s talking to him . . she’s gonna go home with him. So begins the sordid downfall and eventual rehabilitation of poor Cindy. So long Big City, watch out Westview!
Maybe they’re in hell. Especially since it seems that Anton LaVey is their barkeep.
If you re-read yesterday’s strip (and I can understand why you wouldn’t want to), it’s not clear what kind of relationship these two had. It could easily be that Luthor Lothario is actually a co-worker engaging in a little after-work banter. In that context, it would make sense that Cindy would unload about her feelings of worthlessness.
Today, though, it’s clear they’ve never met before. Honestly, you’d think Cindy’s habit of spouting off about her psychological problems to complete strangers would not be a very appealing trait. But then, I don’t live in Westview.
Sorry for the juvenil humor but I have to quote “the guy who says ‘HAHAH'” from over at Comics Kingdom (and also because i tmay get moderated):
“HAHAHAHA! It is funny cause of “GAZING GALILEO”! HAHAHAHA! It could have been funnier though if he had replied “I am not Galileo, but Herschell, cause I want to discover Uranus” HAHAHAHAHA. See that would have been a pun and Batuik is great at puns and it would fit in with the pick up artists meme! HAHAHAHAHAHA”,
Our peerless pick-up artist has got a serious case of rat-face in panel 1. He’s become some type of human nutria, which you would think would become the focus of Cindy’s put-downs. And to be fair, no one watches the national network news on the weekend.
Apparently Batiuk isn’t aware that saying that one doesn’t watch the news on teevee in 2014 doesn’t imply what it did in the mid-70’s, which is where Batiuk seems to be stuck mentally.
Out of all of the Cindy probably looks the closest to her age. Why?
So Cindy used to be married to Funky? So how come he looks old enough to be her father?
As the rut of the network littler by being only the “weekend” anchor is like light years ahead of any accomplishment ever in Westview.
Most small to medium market news jocks would kill for that weekend slot.
BUT… no one from Westview has ever been happy.
Anyone?