Hey, have you ever wondered what goes on with band kids in the summers, before Lefty gets ahold of the big-and-brassy, loud-and-flashy, Westview High School Scapegoat marching band? Well then, today’s strip is for you! Turns out there is no “before”, as Lefty asserts year-round control of the extracurricular lives of several dozen high school students.
Looks like Owen is still a member of the band, entering what I think is his fourth senior year at WHS. To the surprise of no one, he still has not gotten any better at playing or maintaining his trumpet.
But, unfortunately, it is Dinkle who is the focus of this strip. I do not like these characters in the least, but I do think the punchline is a step above terrible. What is not, however, is the entire set up, which is utterly destroyed by a small piece of artwork.
It makes next to no sense for Dinkle to be so upset that Lefty’s multifunction battery-operated device (smartphone) can perform the function of his single-function battery-operated device (pitch tuner). That small box he is holding, with its clearly discernible button and speaker grate, is a fairly accurate depiction of an electronic pitch tuner. This is “old-fashioned”? No. No it is not. NOT. AT. ALL.
What would be “old-fashioned” would be a tuning fork, or one of those little round harmonica things that telegram messengers in movies from the 1940s blow into before they sing. Had TB drawn either one of those, this strip would have been a far less infuriating read.
Anyways, thanks for putting up with me for a fortnight. BC, I believe, takes over tomorrow. No, not that one, the funny one.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Apparently Harry doesn’t mind newfangled technological doo-dads when it comes to his hearing, only when it’s something that might help somebody else.
Once again we see Dinkle just blithely usurping Becky’s authority and snidely dismissing her in front of her students as he hangs around at the workplace he left ages ago because he has nothing better to do. What a jerk.
Isn’t it weird how all of a sudden he features three characters that never get any face time or respect? Darin, Wally and now Becky, there’s a sad, sad trio right there. You can almost see BanTom’s mind wandering over the last few days, Pete, Darin, Jessica, Wally, Becky, Owen, Dinkle…it’s like one useless character suddenly reminds him of all the others. It almost makes sense in a weird Batiukian way.
Yeah, instead of a small hand-held device used to check pitch, Harry will stick with his small hand-held device used to check pitch. Oh, and his separate small hand-held device keeping time. And of course, God forbid we save a few trees by having digital copies of the band formations rather than having to spend hours xeroxing copies for a couple hundred kids. The old ways are ALWAYS best, no matter how convenient innovation is!
My guess is that TB started the strip with the final panel and worked backwards to create some dialog that would lead to his punch line. Ironically, he’s been phoning in this strip for years.
bobanero nailed it. Batiuk hears or thinks of some dumb phrase, and painfully construct a setup to make it happen. And Dinkle should be dead by now.
The irritating thing is that I can see Elly Patterson mouthing Dinkle’s idiotic comment and April getting shat on for having a slightly better way to do a job. This is because Batiuk has come down with the same ‘work backwards from a weak punchline’ disease StaLynn had.
As for Dinkle phoning it in, he’s been doing that at home all his life so he can waste his life hanging around some band or another.
Batty is such a Luddite. He is mad that the younger generations do things differently than his would, but at the same time he sees himself as being hip and relevant with an important message to share with them.
“Oh, yeah, Becky??? Well do you have an app that can grow a left arm??!! Huh, do you!!??? Didn’t think so??!! Take that you one-armed insufferable bitch!!!”
Or would that be out of character for Dinkle?
“Once again we see Dinkle just blithely usurping Becky’s authority and snidely dismissing her in front of her students as he hangs around at the workplace he left ages ago because he has nothing better to do.”
He probably has something on Becky or someone up the line……….
Why is Owen still at Westview? He started with Summer and all her friends and they graduated years ago. Yet he is still in school. Has Owen been flunking out repeatedly?
@TheDreamer–Owen (and Cody) were established as Freshmen the year after Summer’s Freshman year, i believe, to give her a role as cool upperclassman. Batiuk’s PR about an upcoming bullying strip indicated that the two will be Seniors this, their sixth year in the strip.
They are still at Westview because Batiuk used an unnecessary real-time conceit until Summer and the other well-/semi-developed legacy characters had to graduate, but still needed to do High School jokes. So these nameless, familyless nonlegacies have dragged out past their natural life expectency and actually gotten more screen time than onetime star Summer. The real time conceit may be slipping in other areas, as for instance what year was the recent horrible class reunion? It should have been the 37th but no number was ever displayed.
By the by, in regards to today’s punchline, its so perfectly Batiukian that i will keep my eyes open for its almost inevitable reuse, here or in Crankshaft.