Tread Reckoning

Can someone explain to me how the gag in today’s strip differs from this gag from four months ago?

Ok, it’s from a different visual angle. Really though, it’s bad enough that TB goes to the “Funky Goes to the Gym in Vain” well over and over again; must he also recycle the jokes themselves?

18 thoughts on “Tread Reckoning”

  1. I KNEW I saw that gag before. I know I’ve seen this arc before too. Same premise, same drawings, Funky even has the same shirt on. He obviously drew a few weeks (or months) of these things all at once. Insert into schedule as needed. Sigh.

  3. There’s a very simple reason why Funky can’t lose weight.
    Just as there’s a very good reason why his attempt to put restaurants in other cities failed. And why Crazy Harry and Cindy both lost their jobs. And why Bull can’t win any ball games.
    People ask, “Why don’t we see Summer playing basketball for Kent State?”
    Again, a very simple reason. She might be winning games without Les being around.

    Any success by someone from Westview diminishes Les Moore’s status. He is the only one allowed any success.

    And of course, Les’ last success was the Lisa book. So no one since that book’s publication date is allowed to achieve anything–including getting in shape–because it just might overshadow Les.

    And Batiuk is not having any of that.

  4. Using a treadmill is like reading Funky Winkerbean — No matter how much effort you put into it, you’re still in the same place where you started.

  5. TheDiva: IMO these are by far the hardest arcs to snark upon. Not necessarily the worst, but definitely the least, uh…”interesting”, I guess.

    BC: Good point. I was just wondering about Cindy too. At first I thought that having her lose her job and move back to Ohio would (stupid me) lead to something or come into play somehow down the line. But nope, he just wanted to crush her like he did with every other non-Moore character. A few “you’re old” gags and kicked to the curb, all just to remind us that in Westview no one ever truly wins.

  6. Not only does no one actually ever win, they also never seem to see that it’s their own fault that they do. Bull has no idea what he’s doing as a coach, Cindy passively accepted defeat, Funky is too lazy and stupid to get anywhere, Harry is too dumb to ask for a transfer and so on and so forth.

  7. “Harry is too dumb to ask for a transfer and so on and so forth.”

    In the real world Harry likely would have bumped someone with less seniority at another post office. If he really were RIF’d he would have gotten severance and a bunch of other stuff including unemployment.

  8. I wonder if someone at the Ohio Marching Band Association or whatever the heck it’s called pissed off Batiuk – here we are into September and there’s been no band strips. Not that I’m eager for more “it’s raining buckets and the band is marching” storylines, mind you.

  9. Today’s strip is different because Funky is wearing shorts and believes he has been on the treadmill too long.

    Ugh. Sorry, I’ve read too many Crankshaft strips…

  10. “Cindy passively accepted defeat”

    What happened to Cindy? She just let the network fire her? Another storyline I missed. Yeah, as beckoningchasm said everyone in town loses their career except for Les (who has two careers yet CHOOSES to be a failure at both along with being a failure as a husband and father). I’m only amazed Cindy isn’t working for Funky or John now like everyone else.

    “In the real world Harry likely would have bumped someone with less seniority at another post office. If he really were RIF’d he would have gotten severance and a bunch of other stuff including unemployment.”

    No kidding. The father of one of my best friends was a mailman and retired early from the post office early back in 2011/2012 when they were downsizing/forcing people out and he’s in his early 50s. Did he have to go work in the local comic store? No, because he lives in the real world which isn’t dictated by horrible writing, he still got a very nice severance and he and his wife were able to retire comfortably in Arizona. He probably could have relocated if he wanted based on what I know but considering the early retirement package they offered him was sufficient there was little point. He’s now playing golf in sunny AZ. In the comic strip world he’d be making $5 an hour working for DeadSkunkHead.

  11. All the time spent on this lame “storyline” can only lead to one thing: Funky’s death on a treadmill, and we get a month of his spirit going over his whole, boring ass life. Oy vey!

  12. “All the time spent on this lame “storyline” can only lead to one thing: Funky’s death on a treadmill, and we get a month of his spirit going over his whole, boring ass life. Oy vey!”

    Why not, going over strips from the 70’s is the rage.

    Just look at Doonesbury®. But at least those strips have some value in showing the development of the current characters, rather than their decline and fall as in another strip.

  13. captaincab: Let’s get you up to speed on Cindy. After not appearing in the strip for years, Cindy was suddenly canned from her national network anchor job at ABC because she was old. They offered her a job at the Cleveland affiliate which she begrudgingly accepted. Then she visited Funky and they sat down and ruminated on how old they were. That’s where the story left off.

  15. Sure, recycling gags and jokes is going to happen in all long-running comic strips. But after only four months? Even Family Circus waits longer than that!

  16. “No, because he lives in the real world which isn’t dictated by horrible writing.”

    Nice one! I stand in line, sir!

  17. Re: Cindy, we all sort of assumed there’d be a reason for it, like she’d get involved in Corporal Cory’s Comic Caper or maybe a “Three’s Company” scenario with Funky & Holly (who invited her to stay with them) but nope, nada, zilch. She was even useless during the Fatal Helicopter Crash arc earlier this year. Yeah, you read that correctly.

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