Thanks Jan Murdoch John Darling for reminding us that this isn’t one of those “gag-a-day” strips she’s normally associated with. No, this is Funky Winkerbean, the comic strip with a dark sense of loss, heartbreak and dread that hangs over absolutely everything all the time, every day. Note how Jessica, a true Westviewian, is actually amused by her mother’s ongoing pain, cracking a weary and knowing smirk because after living in Les Moore’s house for those few years, she gets it. As we all do.
When I titled my post last Saturday I never thought he’d actually feature a “dream house”. Color me mildly amused. Something appears to be taking shape here and if it holds true to form it’ll be every bit as lame as anyone imagined. Video tapes…the perfect way to keep those long dead characters alive after you’ve bumped them off for spite or easy attention. Watching Jessica trying to piece together a “mystery” that every single FW reader solved within a hundredth of a second is still sort of funny but increasingly less so with each passing panel.
And speaking of panels…a two paneler on a Tuesday? For shame, Tombat, for shame. Too little story for six full days again, eh? Always a bad sign when he’s resorting to padding this early in the week.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Given that Jessica is lovingly toying with a doll house, I guess “Barbie” was meant to refer to the popular doll. (Hope Mattel has their lawyers on speed-dial.)
So, a genuine question–how old was Jessica when John Darling, who was murdered, was murdered? My impression from reading the strip is that she was an infant. And I hate to break this to Tom Batiuk, but infants generally don’t play with Barbies, except to gleefully smash them against the floor to the horror of an older sibling.
This is reminiscent of Becky going to the storage locker….slowly opening up the storage locker…and opening…opening. Then reaching behind some boxes…reaching…still reaching…a little more…reach. Got it. Now slowly pick it up….first touch the handle….then grip the handle…okay now lift…up …up.
Great…now a black panel for affect.
Her mother looks worried ….and rightfully so! Considering how Lisa’s tapes have taken control of Darren and Summer’s souls, she was right to keep those tapes locked in the attic out of harm’s way. There’s a reason the Ark of the Covenant was hidden in the Well of Souls!! Sometimes the dead need to stay dead!
If she was searching for the mystery that was her father John Darling, why were the family videos never mentioned? If her mother knew she was planing a documentary about her father John Darling, why did she not bring them up before? What’s the big mystery? And what happened to the Doco? The vidcam? This is the lamest arc since the time when I can’t think of one lamest of all there are so many!:
Angry band Mom protests the gay prom, but Principal Nate saves the day?
Les and Summer and a stray cat climb up Kilimanjaro?
Dinkle’s anniversary party with cupcakes and pizza which was really just an attempt to get laid?
Class bully loudly extorts fiber supplements from teenage goth girl with middle aged GI system?
The trip to Hawaii where the kids stumble across a cursed tiki and everyone has bad luck from Greg wiping out in the big surf contest to Alice throwing out her back during hula lessons?
I think the Plantman in prison interview for non filmed documentary beats all of these.
Damn, is EVERYONE in Westview required to keep an extensive video diary in the event of their inevitable tragic demise?
Clearly what is happening is that John Darling in his last words was coming out of the closet. The Barbie thing is code because back then he couldn’t say the word ‘gay’ His daughter will realize this and set out to find out who in Westview is John’s long lost boyfriend.
At least Jan is stylish, her skirt compliments the black flowers near the steps nicely.
“Wait… why are there over a million unopened copies of the E.T. video game for Atari crammed inside this Barbie dream house? I’m in search of something much more stupid.”
Aahh, the family video – TB’s favorite ass-pull. Now all we have to do is find a betamax VCR.
Of course she wouldn’t use the tapes first. That would defeat the purpose of being shown that John Darling, Her Father Who Was Murdered was outwardly abrasive but had a hidden soft side. In any event, we slouch queasily towards an indeterminate future in which Jess states “Hating Dad is all Plantman’s got. What kind of monster would I be if I took that away from him?”
Obviously, we are supposed to infer that Jan could not bear to store old home movies in the recommended “cool, dry place” out of grief. Evidence suggests that there are other reasons she could not bear to keep reminders of JD within easy reach.
It just struck me–are we to infer that His Daughter Jessica Darling has never watched any tapes of Her Father John Darling’s television show?
“Sorry I gave them to Les Moore – he said his wife need to make some tapes and as your dad was such a tool that I never wanted to hear his voice again I agreed.”
Man, VCR manufacturing must be a growth business in Westview. To hell with a deli, Kahn (sp?) should have opened up a VCR shop.
Okay, so Jessica and murdered Dad played dolls together. Jessica played with Barbie and dead Dad played with Ken. Hence deceased father would have Ken tell Barbie (Jessica) how much he loved her indicating how much he loved his daughter. This setup would be really cute if TB hadn’t overplayed it by making both Jessica and no longer living male parental.figure named John Darling so unlikable.
BC: I recall it the same way you do, with JD having died when Jessica was “a baby” thus leaving her with no JD memories. Given the time leap, that’d be just about correct as Darin & Jessica should be in their mid-30s right now, TB’s recent attempts to portray them as a “young couple just starting out” nonwithstanding.
GPTA: Why she never bothered watching these “family videos” before is a mystery to me too, as I would have assumed she would have already watched them before starting her documentary instead of waiting until Plantman gave her a different excuse to view them. Add it to the “huh?” pile, I suppose.
Read this with a Yoda voice:
Logic! Heh! Continuity! Heh! An author craves not these things!