Back to Starbuck’s Jones’ arc! For those of you just joining by popping in on today’s strip, Holly is the mother of a US Army Solider that’s currently deployed in the Gulf and retconned into collecting Starbucks Jones comic books. Despite coming out in the 1970s, apparently these comics are so rate getting the last 6 key issues is about impossible, or would be, for most collectors. More than a few times collectors that had the issues Holly needed just rolled over and gave it to her for free, or for “a buck” because her son is in the military.
It looks like the favor well has run dry. The last issue she got by winning it on eBay (A 6 day arc, seriously) and now she’s about to trade a piece of original comic art for the chance to buy the uber-rare Starbucks Jones issue.
Original comic art sold at Heritage is serious business, way out of Holly’s league. Would Cory even get $9,000 worth of enjoyment out of it? I’m sure the thing is slabbed in a tomb, never mean to be read. A single crease on the cover from a carelessly turned page could cut the comic’s grade (and value in half).
Me, I just look forward to seeing yet another maniacal comic collector depicted in Westview.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Keep in mind that when Holly visited Black Hole Comics (or whatever that biker dude’s store was called), she literally threw everything of value from her purse at him. Chester’s going to end up owning Montoni’s at this rate, just to get Cory a comical book. Ironic, since Starbuck Jones actually saved Montoni’s once (so I’ve heard).
And Harry’s little aside at the end there really makes me want to strangle him. I actually used to like that character, a little; my how far he’s fallen.
You know, this premise just keeps undermining itself. Cory quite clearly had gotten a shoebox literally filled with those comics, it seems pretty clear that those were all Starbuck Jones comics, and now it’s constantly implied that they’re very expensive and rare.
So how the hell did Cory ever get any of them? We know he never collected any after he became a soldier (not that a soldier starting out would even have the money to collect unusually rare and expensive comics), and he was only a teenager with at most a teenager’s allowance and salary.
And Beckoning, yeah. This was another strip where upon seeing the way those two were acting I was struck by the same sense I had when Wally and Funky just became aware of Khan’s financial distress. That sense was “god I hate these two guys”.
What really bothers me is not just Skunk Head and Tea Bagger being two stupid jerks who stand there like Seinfeld and the gang when John Pinette was getting carjacked. What gets me cheesed off is the whole “Pat the stupid, useless GIRL!!!! who is stupid and useless because she knows nothing about COMICS!!!!! on the head because she’s a comics-ignorant stupid, useless GIRL!!!!”
Meanwhile, this other dude is telling HIS customers “Hey! Watch out for the creepy weirdo in the Batman T-shirt with the greying problem and the jerkwad with the beard demanding to see the President’s birth certificate! They’re bad eggs!”
John: “The problem with Chester Hagglemore is that he has a name that Charles Dickens or J.K. Rowling would reject as being too silly. I mean, really? ‘Hagglemore’?!? Why not just call him Selfish Andy Meane? Or Piggly McNotSharing?”
Holly: “I’m so glad that you two apparently have had no other customers besides me for almost a year, and thus can devote each and every moment to rolling your eyes and mansplaining.”
John: “Thank you!”
Holly: *SIGH*
Harry: “Forgive her, Dark Lord of Westview, for being a GIRL, trying to play pretend that she’s worthy of thy holy comical books…”
Paul, to be fair, the Tea Party thing was like one joke, two years ago. Now sure, that’s about as much characterization as Batiuk gives anyone nowadays, but still.
It has been repeatedly established that Skunk-head is remarkably creepy and this whole thing does reek of geek sexism, though.
It’s getting to the point where I hope Cory dies in Afghanistan, just to make all the effort these condescending boy’s club assholes are putting into the whole thing pointless.
Actually, no, I don’t wish that, because all Skunkhead would do is shrug his shoulders and ask, “So, would you be interested in selling Cory’s old comic books? I mean, you don’t have any use for them, being female and all….”
@TheDiva, Holly would just bury them with Cory (or in lieu of Cory, depending on the gory circumstances of his death). Skunk Head, Crazy Harry, Codine and Omen, Alex, And All The Rest would stand by Cory’s grave and weep for the untimely passing of the valuable comic books.
DSH’s mention of “bait” would imply that Chester is an utterly reticent shut-in who won’t discuss anything with outsiders unless extremely specific original splash page artwork is available for purchase or trade.
I prefer to think that his plan is to have Crazy man a fishing rod and reel a Mister Sponge splash page past Chester’s basement window, when Chester gives chase, he and Holly will break in and take the last two Starbuck Jones’.
Hagglemore. Sponges. Heritage Auctions. I barely even know what these numbskulls are jabbering about today. He could have done an arc where he explained the “ins & outs” of this popular hobby in an informative and (semi) humorous way but instead he (naturally) opted for nonsensical babbling instead. As usual.
Say, wouldn’t it be cool if Chester was such a successful haggler that he got very rich, and decided to go into movie production? And he was kind of fat and had a porn stache and was the same guy last week who wanted to change Les’ book title? And then he got really mad because Holly tricked him out of some valuable comics using some piece-of-crap thing about a sponge, and he found out that Les and Holly were in the same town, and he vowed that “Lisa’s Story” would never be made into a movieas long as he lived. And Cory would have to kill him. I think that would be great.
The way this comic strip works, you know there’s a better than fair chance that we’ll never even see this “Chiseler”, we’ll only hear about him. One day Holly will venture out to meet the dreaded Chiseler and the next day she’ll come strolling into the Korner with the issues and she’ll say something like “I haggled MORE!” and that will be the joke.
I also believe this arc will end with an unimpressed and almost annoyed Cory shrugging at his mom’s feat, then she’ll overhear him on the phone bragging about how cool his mom is and that will be that. It’s a perfect Batominc anti-climax with a “these kids today” subtext which he loves. I might be wrong (and I often am) but it’s the lamest possible ending I can come up with, thus the most likely to happen.
I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know why Pete owes DSH a favor.
For all of this to amount to nothing would be ever ‘better’ than his getting killed…..from the viewpoint of a man who doesn’t get the kids today’s young people have to contend with.