Pretty weak word-play in panel three…yawn…what I’m curious about is Funky’s statement in panel two. Really? He…he–Funky– uh, gets emotional? “Pretty Emotional”? Really? I mean, honestly, no foolin’? Emotional–Funky Winkerbean? Tears in his eyes blurring his vision–as, um, opposed to the food court thing, where Funky was like, Dad, eat your Mall Food Court Sammich. Damn you. And now…How, exactly?
Talking to his dad about Dad’s diet of coffin nails, he seemed more–well, alarmed than sad. Like, Oh crap, I’ll probably have to , argh, you know, INTERACT with this “Dad” guy (shudder) way more than I wanna. Funky’s downright phlegmatic most of the time, showing it with his rarely-changing mask of a resigned, weary face. In the (cough) actual panels we saw with Pa Winkerbean, Funky didn’t look sad. He looked like someone had just told him he’d have to stay an extra half hour, as the staff was still cleaning Pa’s room. And they were really concerned about the toilet…
Son of Stuck Funky 
This week Funky’s dad seemed as “with it” as he has in some time. He recognized his lard-laden son, he was communicating normally and (gasp!) he APPEARED TO BE ENJOYING SOMETHING!!! Well, TB put his foot down and put a quick end to THAT because, you see, it was all just an illusion. Pa Bean is deteriorating rapidly and Funky has a sad. Forget that “irrepressible elderly folk” zaniness, someone’s dying here! Another round of tears for everyone! And never forget…you will die too, you know.
This dialog is especially tin-eared and clunky today, just godawful. Check out Holly in panel two, she appears to be completely uninterested in Funky’s maudlin babbling (not that I’m blaming her). “Yeah, there’s the fact that my dad is unwell, but ME ME ME and how I feel!!!!”…jeez, he’s fat, stupid AND whiny. Good thing he’s now centering the entire strip around Funky’s misery and woe, as he definitely won’t run out of material anytime soon and if he does, there’s always “Crankshaft” which is like a bottomless pit of age-related humor and bad gags about the elderly.
More needless exposition in panel one, ” I stopped by Bedside Manor…” No shit, Funky, Holly knows where your dad lives. Just have to get that stupid name out there again, eh?
Maybe we’d feel a bit more for Funky if we’d had any inclination that his father really had changed in any way. You know, if we’d actually seen him in years and had any idea what kind of a guy he was like previously.
But I guess we’re just meant to infer all these major things in Funky’s life that happen off screen.
It occurs to me that a major problem with this strip is that it’s almost never about the people that stuff is actually happening to. It’s always about how Funky feels about his dad in a nursing home and his son in the Army, or how Les feels about losing his wife, or about how various characters feel about two nameless boys who want to attend prom together. It’s no action and all reaction, which is not only boring from a narrative standpoint but makes the characters feel rather self-centered. “Sure my dad is in a long and painful decline, but the important thing is that I’m unhappy as a result!”
TheDiva:
It occurs to me that a major problem with this strip is that it’s almost never about the people that stuff is actually happening to. It’s always about how Funky feels about his dad in a nursing home and his son in the Army, or how Les feels about losing his wife, or about how various characters feel about two nameless boys who want to attend prom together.
This comic was written by a Baby Boomer?! You don’t say.
She dully states that he’s just not the person that he used to be. What a great lady!
Maybe she should spend less time collecting comic books and more time focusing on actual, evolving people.
Maybe he should stop looking at mirrors and be there with his Dad.
These two are so self centered that it’s depressing. Especially because the author thinks he is portraying them as sympathetic. And that is the real tragedy of this effort.
Encroaching darkness creeps back in panel 3, fitting background for Funky’s face & posture capturing how utterly beaten down by life he is.
The cast has a very random continuity with regard to their medical conditions.
Funky’s Dad: early onset Alzheimer’s: now lucid
Harry Dinkle: deaf: now can converse in whispers
Fred Fairgood: stroke: communicative (tells useless stories)
Wally: PTSD: no change (slight relief from dog)
Becky: lost arm: no change
Funky: aged beyond his years, obese: no change
I wish I had more “thumbs” up to give bad wolf.
“I get pretty emotional”—what‽ When‽ Batominc didn’t earn this denouement any more than he won a Pulitzer. There is no evidence that Funky experiences any emotion apart from self-pity. His origin story centers on figuring out plane geometry. His stint in the chapel of reflections focused on multiple images of him, not his dying and unexpectedly smoking father. If Funky Winkerbean ever shed a tear, the last time that happened was when he had to give up booze.
Funky Winkerbean is a reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues affecting young adults in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.
I don’t know about thought-provoking, but this arc provoked me.
Here’s a provoked thought: this arc is the narrative analog of begging the question.
It’s hard to see him like that? Jeez, Funky. Take a look in the mirror sometime. You ARE Like that!
I see what is happening here, Funky is going to move his dad into the full care hospice and there is dad is going to end up with none other than Crankshaft as a roommate! Remember that Crankshaft’s comic strip never jumped forward in time so its ten years plus behind the current Funky,and in the current Funkyverse, they did one strip showing the now ancient Crankshaft in a wheelchair outside the hospice.
This can set up the emotional scene where old Crankshaft finally dies in the arms of his new roomie/best friend Funky’s dad. Thus making Crankshaft the first ever comics character to die in one strip while still alive and starring in his own strip.