In today’s strip, the green pitcher bears witness as Holly tempts Les to betray Mason Jarr the movie actor’s confidence. Cindy suffers yet another case of Westview face from oversmirking.
The temptation of Les
17 thoughts on “The temptation of Les”
Comments are closed.
Son of Stuck Funky 
But media exposure is exactly what Mason Jarr the Movie Actor would want! As would the studio, the agents, the producers, etc! Makes no sense
Damn, Les has gotten full of himself fast. Apparently breaking someone’s trust isn’t an issue, he just doesn’t want the media to find out about his houseguests. “Geez, if I tell her, the next thing you know Anderson Cooper will be here and the Daily Show will be talking about me.” Get over yourself, Les.
Wry banter, sarcasm, smirks, weariness, a stupid punchline that isn’t even a joke, that green pitcher in the background…yup, this one has it all. Yet, interestingly enough, it’s both totally devoid of substance AND profoundly annoying as only a FW comic strip can be. Cindy’s intensely irritating smirking cackle in panel three isn’t helping either. You can take the girl out of Westview but you can’t take the Westview out of the girl, I suppose. But wow, nearly managing to be almost more annoying than Les is quite an achievement for a mostly-buried but still technically living character like Cindy.
Uh, Batom®? Have you heard of this thing called “White Out?” It’s a correction fluid that can help prevent your comic strip characters from looking like they contracted Fred Fairgood Syndrome…
I seriously feel sorry for the green pitcher.
I don’t think there’s any actual gag order on Mason Jarr the Movie Actor’s visit, Les is just enjoying the attention he gets from being cryptic. Kind of like those people who make Facebook posts saying “Waaaah, my life SO sucks right now!” without elaborating.
It’s like he used that idiotic “news anchor” remark specifically to remind everyone that the cackling blonde woman is Cindy, the News Anchor. I mean why would a “big city” anchorwoman cares about what Mason f*cking Jarr is doing? I mean Cleveland is a fairly large city, I doubt they’re THAT hard up for news.
I suppose Mason is indeed the perfect guy to play SJ. Like SJ he started out as less than nothing then suddenly out of nowhere emerged as the single most potent cultural force in the entire Funkyverse. I mean just last year he was slated to play LES MOORE in a TV movie. Think about it, because the author definitely didn’t.
And yet giving up this worthless secret is seen as some sort of high drama. Mason and the studio would kill to get the cheap publicity in the Real World, a real Cindy wouldn’t be so hard up for news, she’d mutate into Gollum and a real Les would have been told that electroshock therapy only sounds scary. The world sure must look different in Batiuk’s bunker-like gated community.
@Mason Jarr: Batiuk doesn’t live in a world where the studios and Mason himself would love the publicity. He lives in a creepy alternate world where his misapprehensions are the measure of all things wherein the studio would kill the movie if people knew too much about it.
Richard Petty read Funky Winkerbean once. He said everyone in the strip talks out of the side of their mouth too much…
Love love love the return of the green pitcher!
There’s two equally improbable scenarios here. 1) By acting like Mason’s visit to Westview is a huge secret, they are intentionally enticing Cindy to report the story and provide free publicity for the movie. Think about it, Hollywood actor comes to East Bumfuck Ohio town to bond with an Army Veteran over their shared love of Starbuck Jones – it’s PR gold. or 2) They really do want to keep Mason’s visit a secret, as knowledge of his presence is certain to attract throngs of adoring fans from throughout the Midwest, and Westview will become a complete zoo (it would be great for pizza sales, though).
Damn it, Les, by the time you get around to telling her, Mason will have already come and left!
The way a spineless, mouthless Les is slumping beneath the weight of his moral dilemma in Panel 2 may be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in this strip!
@bayoustu: Quite right. Les’s spine, like his moral fiber, consists of overcooked noodles, as we’ll learn in tomorrow’s installment.
I bet Mason Jarr is thinking right now, Well,,.I’m going to play Starbuck Jones. But I sure wish I was going to play Les Moore! He’s the true hero for far more people than Starbuck Jones!
I’m sure we’ll find out the above is true when he finally appears in Westview. The Les worship just never stops.