Month: May 2014

Cat-Astrophe

Pushed so hard? Is there some other comic strip Les is starring in that I’m not aware of that’s being referenced to in today’s strip? For the past three years he’s sat down at his computer a handful of times and bitched about no one understanding his genius but done very little actual writing. From his MS Word’s point of view Les has been in and out of a coma for the last couple of years.

3 years = 1095 days
1 page of script = 1 minute of screen time. (old rule of thumb)

With that in mind, Les was hunting and pecking out a paragraph a day, if that. Some inspiration Saint Lisa was!
The cat should have walked across the keyboard. It would have probably had better results.

Hollywood Stalling

SoSfdavidO here, bringing you snarks for the next couple weeks! Who is up for some more wacky hijinks with Funky & the Gang? I know I am!
funkyhead
Oh, great, the damn talking cat is back in today’s strip! The problem is, the cat is looking less ethereal and more like an actual clawing, pooping cat. Any reader new to Funky Winkerbean and casually dropping in (God help them) would just assume this is a strip that features talking animals.

mtrail

Don’t we have enough of that with Mark Trail?

It’s What’s For Lunch

Link To Today’s Strip

Well, I figured last week’s light-hearted, rather positive view wouldn’t last.  Still, it was fun while it lasted.  It may never happen again, but the fact that it did means that it might.

Today, the joke has been done before and better in this same strip.  I think it was done just a couple of months ago, though the “better” didn’t come into play then.

I’m not sure what else there is to say; the only personality these students have tends to be somewhat loathsome, so I can’t really sympathize with their plight.  If there’s anyone in whose corner I find myself, it’s the lunch-lady, once again having to deal with these cement-heads.

I thought Glasses (I can’t remember who’s who) was supposed to be the smarter of the two, so I’m puzzled by his use of the word “landed.”  Is there a food fight going on, with various flying objects zizzing around?  Does he think erasers are self-propelled, or that they’re manned by a tiny crew of aliens?  What the heck is a “cheese square” anyway–does the cafeteria just drop a brick of cheese onto a plate and say “There you go”?  Actually, I imagine that’s exactly what they do in the cafeteria since they hate these kids.  Everyone hates these kids.

Well, my time in the torture chamber is over and done, so please welcome David O as your new dungeon master, starting tomorrow!

Une Semaine De Bonte

Link To Today’s Strip

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to Tom Batiuk for this week.  I really appreciate the attempt at humor, and while the strip never really rose above the level of, say, Blondie or Beetle Bailey (other than Thursday’s ultra-goofosity), it was miles above what the strip usually offers.  This week was like a vacation.

Those of you who aren’t guest hosts…count your blessings.  A guest host never knows from one day to the next what is being served up.  Will it be something with one of the many hateful characters?  Will it just be lame?  Will it be mind-numbingly boring?  Remember–you’re the host, you have to have something to say!

Here’s something I’d like to say.  I never approach Funky Winkerbean with the attitude of Well, let’s see what can I hate on today.  No, despite how poorly made the strip tends to be, I always hope that it will somehow be good, at least today.  Because there are enough poorly-made, dull things in this world, and if something rises above that, then [insert Hallmark-worthy phrase here].

So, yeah, sometimes I will overpraise something that’s just mediocre, because I think that mediocre is at least a step up from terrible.

Take today’s offering.  Previously in the week, a guy set out to achieve a goal, and through hard work and persistence, actually did so.  That’s rare enough in the Funkyverse–what’s even rarer is what today’s strip shows:  Funky Winkerbean saying, in effect, “Hey, let’s enjoy life.”  When was the last time that happened?  I can’t remember.

That, my friends, is a hell of a lot better than what we usually get.  This strip typically takes the notion that “genius” requires no effort or talent (Les Moore’s entire life-story) or that those who are deemed “worthy” (criminal-in-training Cory) should have others (Holly) slavishly work on their behalf–without, of course, expending any energy at all, other than to say “I want.”

Today’s episode, though, says…you’ve worked for it.  You’ve sweated over it.  And you made it.

Enjoy it.

In this comic strip, that’s praiseworthy.

Besides, we should all be glad there’s not a fourth panel, where Funky says “I think I can get us a good table at a place I know called Montoni’s!”  That would be double-secret barf-bag-worthy.  I’m kind of shocked today’s strip didn’t end that way.  Sometimes, it’s the things held back that make the biggest difference.

Sunday could bring all this crashing down, of course.  While my thanks to Tom Batiuk are sincere, that doesn’t mean my eyes are closed.

See you tomorrow night!