Month: September 2015

Running Up The Snore

Link To Today’s Strip

Where have you gone, Jarod Posey? A lonely nation turns its eyes toward you….wooo hoo hoo. So I guess the big “joke” here is that now the Scapegoats are the ones humiliating their opponents instead of the other way around. Hold on for a second, I have to regain my composure after all that hearty and totally unforced laughter.

Anyhow, some parent from Optimism High (boy does that get even less funny every single time, I’ll tell you what) has filed some sort of “anti-bullying” (and wow, am I sick of typing those words) complaint against the idiot Bull for running up the score. When it used to happen to the Goats it was just more morose downtrodden hilarity but now when they do it, it’s downright actionable. Unfunny, implausible and stupid, aka the FW trifecta.

Channeling Bull’s Inner Batom

Link To Today’s Strip

A “TV reporter”? Really Bull? He’s getting a little carried away here, given his career 10-350 career record and all. But then again, the guy IS married to Linda, so I suppose he’s entitled to a little joy wherever he can find it. That guy looks a lot like the lawyer character on “The Simpsons”, so my best guess is that Bull’s about to be served. I actually kind of like anon-o-guy’s reaction, though, as I imagine that’s how every “outsider” reacts upon getting a dose of that famous Westviewian wordplay. I’m kind of surprised that more Westviewians aren’t sporting black eyes and/or broken jaws.

I also like how Bull looks totally different in each panel. Those eyebrows in panel two are just screaming for a do-over, as he looks like a Halloween jack-o-lantern on November 10th. At least he’s too fat for a real hatchet face, as evidenced in panel three. I’ve never considered Bull to be as objectionable as most FW characters, but if this gloating continues I may need to reconsider that.

And does anything summarize the Cayla Experience more than panel two does? Look at her there, all tucked into the corner, totally marginalized yet again. At least she has dialog today, bland as it is.

The Big Dread Machine

Link To Today’s Fiasco

Hey gang, Epicus is back to steer the SoSF ship through BanTom’s latest dumpster fire arc. Somewhere Sparky Anderson, Tony Perez, Don Gullet, Johnny Bench and Pete Rose are spinning in their graves and/or preparing nasty C&D letters right about now. Anyway, the normally sullen and scuzzy Owen (nice scarf) is beaming with Scapegoat Pride as he reports on the resurgent Goats astonishing 93-0 victory over Optimism High, located in Optimism, Ohio, two towns over and a world removed from Miseryville Westview. Look at him on that screen in panel three, he’s positively beaming with an almost Lisa-like radiance. The effect is quite jarring, actually.

So the Scapegoats are a powerhouse now, eh? Bull’s three decade-long rebuilding plan is at long last paying dividends, as those seventh and eighth year seniors are making all the difference. Now that the team is good (and knowing TomBat as I do) we can expect a lot of gags about how they used to suck, because moving on from something then continuously wallowing in it is how FW rolls, man.

Pant-a-losers

He’s been spending a lot of time in the past, Batiuk has, dating to this past spring when Les got yoked into being reunion chairman. The reunion committee meetings reacquainted us with Junebug and Barry Balederman, and set the stage for a Lisa tribute. The reunion itself of course was the setting for the time pool silliness, in which the Act I cast were trotted out to meet their present-day counterparts (uh, sorry Lisa!). We’ve had a couple Sophmoric Sightings sightings. And speaking of sightings, we saw Les sharing the park bench again with Lisa’s ghost. And speaking of Lisa, we’ve once again dragged out those damned VHS tapes , this time to bake ’em and digitize ’em and preserve ’em for. Ever.

Along the way, Batiuk has of late altered his visual shorthand: the flashback scenes retain their photo album corners but are in full color instead of washed out sepia. Like the central triptych of today’s strip, which offers a perfectly passable gag and which for all we know is a redraw of a published strip from that era. Compare and contrast Coach Jockstrap’s humorous, deadpan style with that of his protege Coach Bushka, who harangues his players with Crankshaftian malaprops.

So Crazy in Glove

Looks like His Craziness is tackling the Digital Lisa project starting with Volume One, Tape One: the Lisa we see onscreen still looks pretty hale and hearty. “I want you to have these so you’ll remember me…” Because if I don’t spend huge chunks of the precious time I have left on this earth delivering rambling lectures into a camcorder, I’ll be forgotten?

File this whole setup under “Batiuk Aims for Heartwarming and Hits Creepy.” Harry’s face is wayyy too close to the monitor in panel one, perchance to appreciate the enhanced quality of his baked videotape. And the white gloves, what’s he slipping these on for? “This calls for white gloves! And some lube…”