I happen to be a sucker for those “returning soldier surprises his [blank]” videos. My two older brothers both served in the armed forces, and I still remember the joy my family and I felt upon their safe return. So I guess I won’t beat up Batiuk over having Cory pulling the old stealth maneuver for the second Christmas in a row. Though it is kind of fun to remember that Cory’s training and experience afford him the ability to sneak up on his parents and take ’em out before they knew what hit ’em.
16 thoughts on “The Son through a Window”
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Son of Stuck Funky 
The characters in this strip always look so weird when they’re happy. Probably because Batiuk doesn’t have much practice drawing them that way.
The weird thing about Cory is how no one really seems to notice his radical and complete personality transformation. He’s suddenly every mom’s dream son and the pride of Montoni’s, yet no one ever expresses any amazement over his sudden change. It’s tough to think of another FW character whose personality changed as fully and as quickly as Cory’s has. And of course, because it’s what he does, Batom goes absolutely nowhere with it, preferring to stick to endless variations of “oh boy, Cory’s home!” instead. What a hack.
Batom® probably needs to get his Funky Felt Tip worked on. The line work – especially Holly in the second panel – is pretty much the exact opposite of ligne claire.
Otherwise, I really can’t complain. It’s happiness by Batom® standards, as low as they are.
In the world of Funky Winkerbean, a better analogy than the “returning soldier surprises” video would be this one:
Is it really possible to go home for Christmas every year when you’re serving overseas? When you’re not being used for a comic strip’s dose of holiday schmaltz, I mean?
It’d be like if Summer came home from college sporting long blonde hair, lots of makeup and a lower back tattoo, or if Owen ditched the hat, bought a razor, took a shower and got a B in algebra, or if Cody suddenly became a character anyone cared about in any way at all. Cory went from being a sullen, thieving scuzzbucket sporting long bangs and a rather silly necklace to an absolute model of military discipline and character in the span of just a few short years. He’s not only a FW character that’s demonstrated personal growth but he’s also maybe the only one that ever found his true calling without any obstacles or setbacks whatsoever (yet). Think about how remarkable that is in the Funkyverse. Yet it’s never even mentioned, not even in passing.
Batty aims for “charming and sentimental,” but instead nails mawkish and saccharine to the level of hilarious.
@E.D.: Batiuk knows what his readers want, which is apparently “witticisms” about Claude Barlow, and not seeing a total brat go through basic training and service, becoming a man in the process.
SpacemanSpiff85: Sure, but not even a line of dialog? “Wow, Cory sure has changed!”. It’s so unusual for Westview that you’d think it’d really stand out.
This is actually…sort of genuinely heartwarming, when you consider. 🙂
Merry Christmas, everyone!
There might have been a comment about how the Army has Made A Man out of Cory but Batiuk would rather we watch Les hunt for kill fees or Bull whine about DUI.
@ED: That’s probably because it would go against the theme of this strip which is “All of life is futility, misery, and decay”.
I can’t wait to see how Batiuk shows the “sexual chemistry” when Cory and Summer run into each other at Montoni’s. He hasn’t seen her since somebody paid him to take her to a dance.
Plenty sexual chemistry between Summer and Kaleesha. Would love it if Corporal “Rocky” came home too, and started to put the moves on Summer.
I just take military scheduling as the one thing in the current Batiukverse that’s actually better than the real life counterpart it is 1/4 inch away from.
You know, for all the blathering Batom® has made about wanting to turn the strip’s focus to the younger generation… he shows nothing but obvious buyer’s remorse by effectively enrolling everyone not named Cody, Owen and Alex in the Witless Protection Program.
Not that I mind, because the less we see of Summer and Keisha, the better.