Trite Christmas

Hrm. SoSfDavidO here, and I’m not sure how to properly snark on today’s strip. It starts off harmless enough, basically a rehash of the last few strips but ends up careening into territory that previously TomBat had designated as a Very Special Issue.

For the record, PTSD is a very serious issue afflicting a lot of people today, and not just combat soldiers. Sure, laughter is the best medicine, but I wonder if Wally was in earshot of this silly exchange.

17 thoughts on “Trite Christmas”

  1. “Cranky Santa Funky”. I bet you that is the only time in history where those three words were used together in that order. Batom’s moments of unintentional weirdness are always the best thing about the strip. Cranky Santa Funky. The fact that’s it’s dialog only makes it funnier. Less amusing is the way the always-moronic Harry tries to pretend he’s never heard this idiotic story before, which seems highly unlikely to me. I mean what the hell else could he have been doing that day? What an imbecile.

    Then there’s the PTSD gag, which is a great example of what happens when Batiuk tries to do pre-Lisa Act I-style satire in his current “woe-a-week” format. The joke dies on the table and one can’t help but picture a shocked Wally standing in the kitchen with a single tear running down his cheek while Buddy looks on with concern. Perhaps next week he could do a hilarious gag about someone dying of cancer, then another one where someone hilariously loses an arm. Then the cycle of tragicomedy will truly be complete. It’s just amazing to me that he could throw a dumb PTSD punchline out there after doing a rather lengthy arc about it just a few years ago. But I guess it’s OK because Crankass is so zany or whatever, I don’t know. I learn less about the comic strip business every day by reading this thing.

  2. What amazes me is that Batiuk thinks “kids with PTSD” makes for a hilarious punch line. Especially when you take into consideration his Pulitzer-nominated bullying storyline coming up this year.

  3. …..O_O

    (*Clears throat*)

    Well, folks, this is just about as dark and awkward as it gets. Poor kids. I can understand an exaggeration, but if this is for real…wow.

    Is this a punchline? Do malice and mental illnesses equate comedic gold to you, Batom? Or is this more of your phony today’s-serious-issue-is-PTSD “Pulitzer” material? Let me tell you–it’s ineffective, lame, corny, poorly executed, and certainly never funny at all. The only thing that could possibly make today’s strip readable would be a “Funky Horror” reaction shot.

  4. So that’s why everybody puts up with Crankshaft-the old bastard is loaded, and if they wait long enough they’ll get a handsome settlement out of him.

  5. You can really tell what the tone of this comic is from just one thing. Look at the art. It’s running out of casual, reminiscing faces by the end and goes into grimness.

  6. So, instead of kicking Crankshaft out of the restaurant and giving the kids free pizza, Funky instead pays for their expensive therapy sessions. Oh, yes, that totally sounds like Funky, wow, Tom Batiuk has truly captured the essence of this character.

    I honestly cannot imagine someone writing these strips then kicking back and saying “This is really funny/insightful/touching.”

    It’s all to keep those syndicate checks rolling in. That’s the only function of these “comics.”

  7. And once again, Ed Crankshaft gets to skate on being a vindictive, irresponsible old goat because no one cares to hold him accountable for the destruction his arrogant stupidity causes. They just pay the bills, clean up the mess and scowl impotently because they can’t and won’t tell the old bastard to act like a man instead of a festering idiot. They need the All-Swearing Eye from “Thick of It” to put him in his place.

  8. Well, Mr. Winkerbean, if it’s any consolidation for you, your “Cranky Santa” is now a vegetable sitting in an “old folks home.” That is also what TB considers to be “contemporary issues affecting young adults in a thought-provoking and sensitive manner.”

  9. The basic premise today fails, as it asserts Crazy Harry wasn’t hanging around inside Montoni’s everyday of his life.

  10. What a pointless, worthless week of strips.

    It’s ironic that Batom is going to be doing an “important” storyline about bullying. Because he’s basically bullying both his imperceptible fanbase and his significant hatedom with crap like this, over and over.

  11. People suffer from all sorts of mental derangements, and query whether Battic would have drawn such ire if he said “went crazy” implying general mental illness over the more specific PTSD. People use “go crazy” in everyday speech without a second thought. The point is there are far more benign terms that could be used to get across his message that Crankshaft mentally abuses children, and Funky’s restaurant is complicit in Crankshaft’s sociopathic enterprise. Battic fancies himself quite the “writer”, and as such, he should know the power of words to provoke hostile responses, but here, once again, he proves himself the thoughtless hack, much like his avatar, Les. He thinks he’s being all clever with “PTSD” but what he’s really doing is pushing the go button on the rage machine.

  13. Well, one thing that this strip captures perfectly–and I’m sure you all remember this from your childhoods–is that, whenever it was time to go visit Santa, your family went to the local pizza place. You know, instead of a shopping mall or a department store.

    I mean, seriously, have you ever seen someone playing Santa Claus in a restaurant? I can only imagine that happening at some charity event, in which case you’d never hire freakin’ Crankshaft to play Santa.

    Of course the reason for this is that everything has to happen at one of only four places: the high school, Les’ house, the gazebo or Montoni’s.

    “Reality-based” my shiny metal ass.

  14. Next week, we learn that Funky also paid for Crankshaft’s therapy for morbid crankiness disorder, and John’s legal fees defending him in those totally unfounded charges that kid Owen brought about, not to mention Harry’s expenses after he blew up the post office. Because Funky is nothing but generous. In weeks to come, Durrhey the app guy will urge Funky to expand the menu at Montoni’s by adding chicken. He’ll call it the Pullet Surprise.

  15. Yeah, I think I see what’s going on here with this sick, stupid “joke” about kids getting PTSD. BatHack himself made a big flowery fuss over PTSD with the whole Wally thing. He had scenes where the service dog was wrongly denied access to restaurants. Obviously was gunning for an award from the American PTSD Foundation that he was turned down for. So this must be his big F.U. finger to the entire PTSD industry. What a petty little creep.

  16. Who knows if this is revenge towards the American PTSD Foundation, but it sure smells like a Take That of the worst kind. Funky Winkerbean deserves to be cancelled from 100 papers based on this “joke” alone.

    Re: Wally and Rachel: It almost feels like Batom® wrote both of them out of the strip with their marriage. For their sake, I hope that was the case.

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