“But…but…we already have the regular china AND the funeral china!!”. So yesterday’s seemingly out-of-nowhere gag about Chinese food WAS going somewhere. Les has sprung for two tickets to Hong Kong for some reason. I distinctly recalling him complaining about traveling (basketball team charity raffle fund-raiser arc) but I guess he’s over that now. Look how stunned Summer is to see Dickface spending money on a real gift as opposed to writing one of his laughable “books” instead. Or maybe she’s just baffled that her idiot father hasn’t mentioned Lisa yet. I can’t believe it either. Now perhaps she can explain why she (along with her sidekick) are there in the first place, as the reasoning behind it escapes me.
I really HATE those side-panel profiles like in panel two today. The Keisha one is especially…unflattering, let’s say. All this Les stuff is making my head hurt, it’s like being beaten with a sack full of bad puns, I’ll tell you what.
I was just thinking about an arc where Les and Cayla visit Hong Kong and I actually shuddered thinking about BatWrite drawing throngs of Asian faces. That will NOT go well, unless they stay in the touristy part of the city that’s full of obese white sad-sacks with enormous asses and bulbous noses, that is. Hooooo-boy.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Damn, I really, really hate being right sometimes.
Any chance Les will get trampled in a student protest?
Too bad Batiuk writes these things a year in advance. An anniversary trip to Modern Liberia would have been an excellent nod to current events.
Wow- I guess there’s lots o’ money to be made not finishing screenplays!
(Of course, I haven’t not finished a single one, and where has it gotten me?!)
I guess “Lust for Lisa” paid pretty well for Les. My brother went to Hong Kong earlier in the year, and the airline tickets alone were over $10K. (This was for first class; you can have severe health repercussions in a tourist class seat for 20-odd hours.)
Still, it does show a pattern, doesn’t it.
Les has a successful book. Funky has a business barely making it.
Les goes on a book tour. Funky gets in a car accident.
Les goes to Kilimanjaro. Funky gets a new rental car.
Les gets a lavish wedding. Funky goes to the gym.
Les goes to Hollywood. Funky goes to the gym.
Les goes to Hong Kong. Funky goes to the gym.
That’s quite a pattern.
Congrats to TheDiva and everyone else who foresaw Les’ Chinese junket. Why, I wonder if the reason he chose China will have anything to do with Les (eyeroll)?
BC: It’s a pattern all right. Les is suddenly Westview’s cultural touchstone, world traveler, Hollywood elbow-rubber, mountaineer, charity chairman, successful author…a regular New World Man. And yet he still finds the time to teach school AND be a swell husband to boot. Meanwhile his one best friend lingers near death and the other one has been reduced to hawking comic books to support his family. Funky and Harry will be fortunate if they ever see West Virginia or Pennsylvania again, much less Asia.
Didn’t Cayla have dome lame reason for not going on the epic Killimanjaro stroll? Did she hate travel or just camping outside? Either way, Summer still has a shot at using one of the two tickets.
Rusty: I believe she stated that she “doesn’t do” camping and whatnot, thus paving the way for Les to bond with Summer by helping some moron take care of a cat he stupidly left in his luggage.
Epicus: I was hoping for she hates travel, just to give the strip even more continuity problems. When will they go, the school year just started?
I’m guessing that Les bought these tickets the previous night, since it didn’t seem like he remembered anniversaries until Cayla brought it up.
It really wouldn’t surprise me if tomorrow he goes on to say that Lisa’s Story was just released in China and he got two tickets to go on a signing tour. Or that he’s been asked to release a manga version of it.
Now that you mention it, Cayla didn’t accompany Les to Kilimanjaro OR Hollywood, so she may be adverse to all travel. Aha, Les is really just taking her to a Chinese lunch buffet at Hong Kong Gardens, as evidenced by the menu he’s handing to her.
It’s gonna be a loooong month (or two).
Perhaps it’ll be revealed that Cayla can’t travel owing to an unpleasant incident in her past. Watch as Batiuk makes a hash of getting someone off of Homeland’s Do Not Fly list.
” not finishing screenplays!”
I believe that’s called QUITTING
Hong Kong is such a random destination with no connection to the usual tropes of the strip (COMICAL BOOKS!) that I assume Batiuk went there himself recently.
Les hasn’t said that he is going to China. Bon voyage, Cayla! Don’t forget to write, or text or sext – whatever it is the kids do these days!
This is the worst Price is Right Showcase ever.
Tomorrow, “A NEW CAR! The 2014 Batiukmobile comes equipped with an ignition, two doors, and a classy teal paint scheme. Turn-of-the-century subcompact styling and multiple horsepower make it the perfect car for short drives to local schools, comic book stores, and pizza parlors. Due to manufacturer restrictions, it cannot be driven in Kent, OH.”
And I’ll take “Punchlines that don’t work well when you write in all capital letters” for $200 Alex…
Les goes two years treating Cayla like a roommate, but now he’s showering her with gifts. IT’S CALLED WRITING!
Coincidentally, Hong Kong is the site for the first annual International Conference for Men who have lost Wives to Cancer. Not to worry, there will be a special track for second wives to learn how to better support their husbands in their perpetual grief.
@Helskor, “Hong Kong is such a random destination with no connection to the usual tropes of the strip (COMICAL BOOKS!) that I assume Batiuk went there himself recently.”
Since TB seems to think that China and Japan are one in the same, I guess were in for a very special FW treatment of Manga.
Not sure when this appeared: Zippy the Pinhead name-drops FW:
Huh. The writing gets even worse when TB does do research. That’s the takeout menu from Cleveland’s Hong Kong King Buffet, right? The kill fee from Lust for Lisa should just about cover the gas for the Vista Cruiser.
Cleveland, baby! With a capital C!
Oh Boy. Given the (lack of) quality in the artwork most days my guess is BatHack’s portrayal of the Chinese could result in an international incident.
Oh, for Chrissake…… First, Mt. Killamanjaro…now China. Tom Batiuk is that friend that keeps showing you his boring vacation photos.
Wait! Cayla refused to go to Kilimanjaru with Les when he won that trip, conveniently allowing Summer to go, because *she hates to travel* So now Les expects her to go to China? This is inconsistent.
Does this mean we’ll find out what happened to that Chinese couple that used to run that restaurant ?
Here’s a strip I happened across while trawling the archives, from Feb. 2013. Very timely.
