As you probably recall from her appearance in last year’s huge Frankie mega-arc, Jessica has no tolerance for scuzzy creeps with no moral compass, thus she is prepared to storm out of the prison in an indignant disgusted huff without asking a single question or filming a second’s worth of footage for her now long-forgotten “documentary”. Remember back when this arc was all about obsolete video cameras, new tripods, Eastern Bloc cars and adorable baby Skyler gags? Those were the days, my friends.
Her reaction doesn’t even make any sense. I mean was she expecting warm thoughtful conversation liberally sprinkled with trenchant insights about her dear old dad? From his murderer? And again, the idea that she wouldn’t have her camera running during this exchange is just inexplicable, he’s completely ignoring the starting premise of his own story here. And on top of that, he’s ignoring the premise that replaced the original one as well, which was supposedly Jessica’s desire to find out why Plantface killed her father. Unless yesterday’s strip where he said JD had it coming to him WAS the answer she was looking for, which seems ridiculous but is definitely within the realm of possibility in this comic strip. But it’s so poorly-executed, confusing and stupid that it’s tough to really tell what he’s doing here.
The indignant Jessica faces are hysterical though. Just like during the Frankie arc, that look of haughty revulsion, total disdain and disgust, the righteous fury, the wildly cocked eyebrows…great stuff. And the degree of detail given to the stubble on Plantman’s head nicely demonstrates that he clearly enjoyed drawing this more than he enjoyed filling in the dialog.
Son of Stuck Funky 
“Leaving so soon” instead of “Leafing so soon”? Man, today’s strip is chockful of missed punchline opportunities. Wait, this is only Wednesday’s strip. That means we still have at least 3 days of Jessica’s abrupt departures for the exit.
I think Jessica needs to stick with something that won’t get her storming off in high dudgeon the moment she really gets into it. Cute cat videos, perhaps, or nature scenes set to Yanni.
This would have been much better if we could substitute Plantman for Batiuk and keep the dialog the same.
Tom Batiuk’s sense of storytelling seems to be, if you can have someone sneering (or smirking) at the end of the strip, that’s the number one thing to go for. Logic, story advancement, character development, or even answers–all that crap is distinctly secondary. The sneer comes first.
This is where my plagiarizing from Sterling Archer should come into play. After all, Mossman is well within his rights to tell her to shut her pout-hole and accept the fact that she’s never going to get ‘proof’ that her FATHER WHO WAS MURDERED!!!!!!!!! was any sort of a great man and would probably have made her own life worse had he lived and move the Hell on with her life.
Somehow, this is exactly what I expected. Also, call me crazy, I don’t think she’s going to finish her documentary
Madness, sheer madness! Batominc appears to be undergoing a transformation into an outsider artist.
This is Jessica’s version of the Commendatore scene from Don Giovanni, and it’s the closest the Westview will come to culture unless you consider the mold that forms on the band instruments after the usual downpour……..
What did Plantman say about John Darling that was any worse than what his co-workers said about him?
Poor, dim Jessica – didn’t really think this “confronting the guy who murdered my dad, John Darling” through, did she? Murderers are so MEAN!
I’m going to make like a tree and get out of here.
One of TB’s greatest strengths as an artist is depicting unjustified righteous indignation, as he does here and in Durwood’s bio-dad story. He may underestimate how appealing this strength is to most human beings, though…
Is Jess really going to just walk away? She was able to set up a face-to-face interview with a convicted killer, keep lawyers and wardens out of the room, and (presumably) receive permission to film the whole thing. Even Mike Wallace wasn’t always able to do that. Is she trying to get her picture in the dictionary next to “squander”?
well we all know that in the in Funkverise leaving a room when angry causes time to slow down so it will take at lest three days for Jess to leave the room.
And Just what was Jess expecting from the man who murdered her father, John Darling, Who was Murdered? “I killed him because he was too good and too pure for this foul and degraded world. Don’t you see I had to send his spirit on to the next level before this world with its comic books and pizzia parlors corrupted his soul. Shooting him was unfortuante but I had to act quickly .”
I’m with everyone else here–all the people she’s interviewed have had the exact same opinion of John Darling, who was murdered. And Jess apparently didn’t storm out of those interviews…that we know, anyway. Perhaps she did–which makes her continued inability to “get it” about her father even greater evidence of ninnyhood.
” And Jess apparently didn’t storm out of those interviews…that we know, anyway.”
Because they could follow her.
She’s brave because he’s cuffed and chained to the floor.
Why she can even allow spittle to come out of her smirk in panel 2.
Plantman should actually be commended. Unlike Jess, he’s actually went through on his commitment.
So far I haven’t really seen any accounts of John Darling doing or saying anything that would put him beyond mildly annoying asshole status, certainly nothing that would merit homicide.
“So far I haven’t really seen any accounts of John Darling doing or saying anything that would put him beyond mildly annoying asshole status”
His issue sure seems to be worse…………………….