After summertime stops in such locales as Hollywood, San Diego, and Centerville, the Funky Train has returned to familiar Westview. Today’s stop: the Fitness Center, where once again Funky endures the scorn of his still-nameless trainer, whom we call Fitness Girl.
These Fitness Girl arcs get me to wondering where Mr. “Write What You Know” works out. Maybe at the Medina Tone Fitness Center (motto: “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever”)? I mainly wonder because of the way he draws fitness equipment: Funky is ensconced in what looks like a giant infant swing. His submissive attitude in panel 3, under Fitness Girl’s disdainful gaze, infantilizes him further still. Here is a guy who at least tries to get fit: we see him run–well, jog; play tennis, and put up with this sneering witch of a “personal trainer.” He should be looking and feeling a little better, but Batiuk persists in portraying him as an elderly, hapless schlub.
Son of Stuck Funky 
LOVE the new header!!! Needs pizza, though. You know, I always dread getting another “Funky goes to the gym” arc when I’m hosting. I mean we get it, Funky is a fat worthless lazy unmotivated load, point taken. I suspect this will be a “garbage dump” arc where old unused fitness gags get sent home to die. Like they all are. Sigh.
Tom Batiuk seems to really, really hate Funky. I guess he resents that the strip is named after him and it’s now too late to call it “Les Moore, World’s Most Sensitive Artist” or something. But wow, Funky really gets it with both barrels from Mr. Batiuk.
Considering Funky’s demeanor, the equipment, fitness girl’s attitude and dress; I’m beginning to think this isn’t a gym but a B&D dungeon.
I suppose we should be grateful he still calls it “Funky Winkerbean”, as it could be “Moore Or Les” or something awful like that.
Alternate Medina Fitness center motto: “Fitness. We’ve Heard Of That Here!”. “Postpone The Funeral…For Now!”. “Now With Reinforced Equipment And Vendos!”.
You know, the last time I looked Funky WAS getting slimmer. Now it looks like he has lost 20% more of his hair. Nice way to treat your supposed main character, Mr. Battyuck.
What exactly are Funky’s goals here? Losing weight? Increasing flexibility? So far it looks like his fitness routine just consists of dinking around with whatever apparatus Batiuk feels like drawing that day.
Willis nails it:http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/96941094242/lets-watch-cayla-slowly-transform-into-a-white
The problem is that Batiuk can’t understand that characters need to develop if he wants to pretend to be writing about the real world. This “Funky will always be a lazy, apathetic, greedy slob” is as unrealistic as “Ed Crankshaft will always be an crusty old goat who never pays for his sins.”
@Rusty: Willis does indeed nail it—and the penultimate Sunday strip in that set — ‘If Lisa were here” is the creepiest and saddest. Maybe it is self parody. I doubt it.
The new header is super-duper. As for the return of Sadie the Sadist, the best I can hope for now is to see Funky get beat half to death with a clipboard over the course of a week. Wake me up when September ends.
Think of it this way, it’s a great chance for Batiuk to cover the subject of doctor-assisted suicide by giving Funky a horribly paralyzing stroke.
It’s “Abject Failure” week!! Forecast for next week – heavy rain.
Take away the text boxes and the context of knowing who these two are and it looks like this strip is about an unpleasant gym teacher forcing an unwilling octogenarian to ride a really terrible roller coaster.
Good to see Willis picking up on what we’ve been trying to highlight for a while.
I echo the compliments on the new header, and, of course, stand in line.
@Rusty: That’s a nice summation of how Batiuk, in his own bizarre way, has made Less & Crayola less of way “controversial” interracial couple. Sad, really. A few years ago, I re-did the wedding strip, and called it “The Final Whitening.”
As for today’s strip, Sadie the Sadist needs to know her clients better, and tailor each person’s exercise routine around what they enjoy doing. In Funky’s case, his stretching routine needs to be designed to incorporate shoving large slices of greasy pizza down his maw.
Finally, I, too, would like to add my kudos for the new banner.
When reading today’s pathetic strip, keep in mind the official description of FW from Comics Kingdom:
“Funky Winkerbean is a reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues affecting young adults in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.”
Really?
Also, I still can’t get over how morbid and pathetic it is that Batiuk chose to age Funky, Holly, Crazy and Donna they way he did. It’s not normal aging, it’s like they *mutated* into disgusting, obese (in the cases of Funky, Holly and Donna), pathetic bizarro world versions of themselves (as hateable as Les is now at least he looks like he aged like a “proper” version of his former self). Crazy look slike he’s in his 70s. Based on this, Jessica will probably look like Donna/Holly someday and Darin, *shudder* I don’t want to know. But I guess this is what Batiuk thinks is typical for “normal” people when they hit 50 and we’re supposed to find it endearing and quirky or something. Anyways, gonna be a tiring week reading this for sure. What I wouldn’t give a for a college story with the kids no matter how bad the puns would be, I’d take anything else at this point.
I also want to second what beckoningchasm said about how it’s like Batiuk almost seems to hate Funky at this point. Or wants the audience to hate him? Pre-jump Funky was a recovering alchoholic with an attractive new wife and stepson with what looked like a promising future. Post jump Funky is still sober buit otherwise is just a fat, miserable, dead end restaurant owner who failed to expand his business and an angry, neglectful stepfather with a horrible stepson (oh, but ot’s OK because he’s in Afghanistan now) and a very unattractive wife who looks like her health is about as awful as his. Seriously, what author would expect anyone in their audience to root for someone like this? He’s just a fat, pathetic, baby of a man sitting and looking like he’s in a perpetual state of bloated constipation. Also, remember the “pizza intervention” from (I think) 2008? In the lead up to that I seriously thought the characters were going to have a sincere chat with Funky telling him they were worried about him but instead all they did was give him this weird pep talk about usuing the right pizza ingredientsbut not using them *too well* and then Funky got this weird look lon his face like, oh yeah, I’m working too hard? Maybe? I get it now or something? Thanks guys for talking to me about pizza ingredient symbolism.
And yeah, forgot to add, Cayla’s “transformation” is actually pretty disturbing.
Re: Cayla’s “transformation”. IMO it’s all about TB’s difficulties drawing her consistently. After he brought her and Les together there was no freaking way he was ever going to split them up, as that was a prestige arc. But he never could have handled drawing her on a regular basis either. Thus the “genericfication” process which resulted in the bland generic Cayla of today. She looks like every other female in the strip now except she isn’t fat and she’s a few shades darker. While I can’t prove this theory, I think TB’s general laziness is really all the evidence one needs.
Heck, I think Batboy just plain forgot Cayla was African-American- what with concentrating on comic books and pizza. (And the requisite despair, decay, misery, and anguish which are this strip’s hilarious hallmarks, natch!)
It’s been a very busy day but I wanted to add my voice to the chorus praising the logo. That’s truly awesome work.
Oh the header is the greatest. Kiudos.