In today’s strip, Mason “Hollywood” Jarr thanks St. Les the Righteous Smirker for some as-yet unspecified “help.” Les’s speech balloon in panel 3 is too small to contain the text I expected: “Mason Jarr, the movie actor who was meant to portray me, Les Moore, whose one true wife died of cancer, but then couldn’t, because kill fee, and took the job of portraying Starbuck Jones in the coming Starbuck Jones film adaptation, in which Mason Jarr appears.”
Back in panel 1, with its rakish split-screen motif, Mason’s poolside phone chat illustrates why California is so much better than Ohio. Mason’s illustrator, however, has failed to pick up on recent trends in portraying action heroes. Here I’m thinking of Chris Pratt’s transformation from amiable schlub to rock-hard stud. Mason, in contrast, looks positively couchey-potatoey, gooey-wooey.
All I would have to do to become an action star is move a mere ¼ inch from reality, without logging any gym time, if this awesome guy is any proof.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Are they taking down another Christmas tree?
Although he despises everything about Hollywood, Dickface isn’t above abandoning his high standards to help out his dear friend Mason Jarr, the movie actor. Check out the smug look on his face as he prepares to dazzle his wife by dropping Mason’s name as if it’s no big deal. I just want to hit him right between the eyebrows with an ice axe and repeat as needed. Seeing that obnoxious face always makes me realize that I don’t appreciate FW enough when he isn’t around.
So, what could Les be “helping” Mason with? Mason is starring in a film adaptation of a very obscure and unpopular comic book title whose name escapes me at the moment. Or maybe Mason had a hankering for some mediocre pizza, or perhaps he needs the number of an indifferent and rude oncologist. What else could it possibly be?
So Cayla thinks that “Mason Jarr” isn’t a real name, but she’s married to Les Moore. Come on… seriously.
I either want to recognize beckoningchasm’s psychic abilities. But, alas, Batom® is just too damn predictable.
Oh, BTW, the current Dick Tracy “Boris Karloff as Gruesome” storyline is going into denouement mode this week.
“Anyway, thanks again for pitching a huge hissy fit and ending production on Lisa’s Story: The Movie. You probably saved my career.”
What help? When did we see any help being given?
**I would like to recognize beckoningchasm’s psychic abilities…
Wait until Cayla finds out from Les that Mason Jarr was cast alongside Vitamin Flintheart for the Starbuck Jones movie… with the documentarian Kandice Kane in tow.
She’ll think Les lost his mind.
In her defense, she probably doesn’t associate her husband with flashiness and coolness. Any sign he might be cool could alarm her because of her first marriage to a cool dude who was a jerk. This makes her sort of kind of a black Liz Patterson.
It’s not like he was talking to his daughter at KSU…. like consoling her because her basketball career there is in the toilet
On Mason Jarr, I strongly suspect that she’s not skeptical about the name. Instead we’re probably going to find out that now he’s a famous actor, just so Starbuck Jones will be a big thing in this.
Perhaps he helped Mason Jarr get out of a pickle.
TB’s done it. He’s written the first comic strip in history that could have been improved with a “Jake from State Farm” reference…
I never doubted him for a second.
@bobanero, Aaaarrg! You had to go there didn’t you. Slams his head against the wall wailing, “Why didn’t I think of that first”.
Didn’t Les offer to get Mason Jarr copies of the Starbucks Jones comic books or something like that?
@hankgillette Sort of: he very generously gave Holly’s phone number to Mason. What a guy, amirite?
he very generously gave Holly’s phone number to Mason. What a guy, amirite?
That always amused the hell out of me: just the idea of talking to Holly, who demonstrably knew nothing about comic books or Starbuck Jones when she was collecting them, to research his character. Because, you know, there’s absolutely no one in the production who could give him better answers or insight than some woman who bought some things because she thought her son liked it.
It’s like… I’m co-producer of the new Star Wars episode VII, and I’ve been tasked to put together rough drafts that will ultimately be shaped into the script. I want to know the finer points of Star Wars lore so I contact this kid I saw playing with a toy lightsaber in a YouTube video, even though I could easily pick up the phone and call George Lucas himself.
Anyway, Mason there is sure looking pretty droopy for a leading man.
Batom is all over the place with his little Starbuck Jones fantasy. First it was an obscure and forgotten title that no one liked, then somehow it had a 400 issue run and a motion picture adaptation. Well, OK, the movie part is sort of believable, given how we live in an era of films based on board games and all.
“Hey! Brad Pitt is doing a movie about the Oakland A’s and he wants to stop by to check out your collection of A’s baseball cards!”. Ummmmm, yeah.