Epicus here, ready to snark away on Batiuk’s latest galling display of mindless self-indulgence. It took me a few seconds to figure out what this piece of crap was supposed to be. Apparently Les is making a little game out of his horribly butchered cancer book by pretending that he’s writing some sort of 1940’s (what a surprise) trashy pulp jungle comic. Which makes no sense whatsoever, but it did give Batom a chance to draw that snazzy comic book cover featuring (sigh) Lisa as some sort of jungle girl and Les (aaarrgh) as a chain-smoking 1940’s (sigh) hack writer. At this point it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s running through TheAuthor’s mind, although “not that much” would be a decent investigative starting point IMO. What a sad and nauseating display.
Son of Stuck Funky 
I’d have to say, No, Les. It is not fascinating. Not in the slightest.
I bow my head to you TB. Every time I think you can’t get anymore self indulgent and obsessed you prove me wrong.
Pulp novels were usually trashy, exploitative, and not very well written. So credit Les for a rare burst of honesty.
Les Moore is a two-fisted private eye who doesn’t play by the rules. Or a simpering pseudo-intellectual who used to get stuffed into his locker every day of his life.
What really creeps me out is this is author-avatar time again, and I can totally see Batiuk putting on a fedora and a vest when he sits down at the keyboard.
I’ll tell you what was in Batiuk’s mind: “How can I tie this storyline into comic books?”.
I wonder how long this mess is going to last. We could well eat up the rest of the month watching Les be self-indulgent.
So much for teaching at Westview….or having a wife waiting.
“In spite of everything…”
Everything, in this case, means being paid handsomely, put up in a luxury hotel for weeks, being treated to expensive meals, and all while receiving an enormous amount of input into the development of the film (especially for a writer with literally no experience in the film industry).
Yeah, in spite of all that, Les has found something positive to take from this experience…
In fairness, the artwork on the cover of “Jungle Action” is quite small. However, it is hard to cut TB (or the syndicate colorist) a break when it appears that “Lisa the Lioness” is, or is fighting, some type of lion-sloth hybrid abomination.
The disrespect LesTom shows for Cayla! Can you imagine if a real-life husband spent this much time thinking about a previous relationship? GROSS!
Well for those of you who wondered what Calvin & Hobbes would have looked like if Batiuk wrote it…..
@Paul Jones, that is really part of the problem. I was thinking about how slowly this started and how i’ve been expecting a Sunday ripoff (eg the Rawhide Kid strip) to cap it off for two weeks now, and instead it just keeps going… probably for another week or two, as Les seems to be ‘winning them over’ and has time for some stupid pat-himself-on-the-back triumph (“Thanks for making us insert a production of Wit into the movie, genius guy!”).
i think Batiuk, knowing how long he intends the storyline to go, doesn’t really cut it into bite-size weeks anymore, much like the decompressed comic books of today that all write for the trade instead of the individual issue. WIth no textual clues to go on the storylines invariably seem slow and plodding, when if you knew upfront that this was going to drag out for a month, you’d at least have a different level of expectation.
Anyway, it looks like Les is picturing his one true love as MST3K’s Jungle Goddess. Great.
Either this is a compete Psychotic break – or the drugs have kicked in.
Normally, I think that TB’s epitaph ought to read “Inexplicable.” But now I think it ought to be the first two words in Les’s speech balloon (panel 1): “In spite.”
No doubt what Les’s epitaph should be:
“INGRATE”
It’s also another dig at “Hollywood”, Batom Inc.-style. Because they don’t respect or have any use for “art” there, Les will embrace the “dumbing down” of his masterpiece and embrace the task at hand by pretending he’s churning out some comic book-level crap. That way his delicate sensibilites as well as those of his beloved cancer book will be kept “pure” and undisturbed…I guess. Batom’s little fantasy world gets weirder and weirder every day, I swear.
“Can you imagine if a real-life husband spent this much time thinking about a previous relationship?”
You mean like Diana being so heartbroken by Prince Charles’ continued adoration of Camilla that the marriage collapsed?
I wish that Les would return from Hollywood to an empty house & find a note from Cayla announcing that she’s left him because it’s plain that he loves his late wife more than his current wife. But that might make this pathetic situation somewhat interesting, so of course it won’t happen.