I have to admit, this one was just startling enough that I enjoyed it. The strange situation, and the nonchalant way in which it is presented, made for a strip that was actually entertaining. So, kudos to Tom Batiuk; I’d like to see more like today’s offering, and less of what he typically deposits here.
Of course, today’s strip doesn’t really bear any close looking, because the premise is kind of stupid. I mean, I guess the local minister could see a flyer, “Wanted, People to Portray Movie Characters for Film Premier, Costume Provided” and stop darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there and think, “Say, that sounds like fun! And I’ll bring my Bible along, just in case someone wants to get married!” I mean, that sounds really, really contrived, even for this strip…though certainly not beyond the realm of possibility, given this strip’s history…
Okay, I’ve talked myself into it: Tom Batiuk will take something cute like today’s strip and ruin it with tomorrow’s.
Son of Stuck Funky 
My only hope is that that Minister is acasually some psycho with an arsenal full of guns.
Even Sly Stone thinks this wedding is ridiculous.
It’s more confusing than anything else. Is the movie already over? Why would John hire a weird cartoon minister? Where did he FIND a…oh yeah…Westview. Every house of worship in that town probably has at least one comic book costume-wearing minister on staff. So, do things go off without a hitch or (in true sub-sitcom fashion) do the ladies refuse to be married by a guy in a foam rubber monster suit, prompting the only ordained minister in the house (whomever THAT might be) to officiate the proceedings instead? Les isn’t an ordained minister…is he?
So Skunkhead is trying to be Spencer Tracy in “Bad Day at Black Rock,” except Tracy kept his hand in his jacket pocket.
Really, Tommy Batyuck’s pointy little bald head contains a brain that is still back in 10th grade. This whole “Let’s premier our comix book movie in good ol’ OHIO, put the whole Montoni’s Gang in the front row, and put on a SHOW, and have a double wedding and invite EVERYBODY” schtick is just so infantile. I fully expected these four goofs to be in costume for the wedding, but having a minister in costume is just as juvenile, so I’m not disappointed.
Gross John wearing a Batman T-shirt under a double breasted suit is just about the dipshitiest thing I’ve seen in this comic strip this year, and that’s a pretty tough competition.
Ratty-assed Batman T-shirt with a blue-gray double-breasted jacket from Arsenio Hall’s Goodwill donations *AND* motherfucking navy-blue cargo pants…(!)
You’d think the resident king comic geek loser douchebag would treat this premiere with the proper amount of reverence, especially since he was involved in the production as a “consultant” who never even did anything but got paid regardless… You’d think John would pretend to give a shit out of pure gratitude if nothing else…
It’s kind of a testament to Batiuk’s opinion of women that Becky lets John go to an event like this dressed like that. Or that she doesn’t ever seem to talk to him about how he might wear something other than a damn Batman shirt every day. Hell, if it’s one of those situations where she doesn’t have a problem with it, Batiuk could show that so we’re not left drawing this negative conclusion that Becky has married a 7 year-old and doesn’t seem to mind.
Although I can easily imagine John whining about it when she confronts him. “But Moooooom, I wanna wear my BATMAN SHIRT!” Followed by him throwing the tie on the floor and a dress shirt through his bedroom door that she had given him.
I don’t think John came up with this ridiculous outfit himself. Becky had a hand in it.
Uh, sorry, Becky.
The astonishing thing is that I was actually astonished by John’s total lack of anything like taste or a sense of decorum. You’d have thought that a grown man would not wear his formal Batman T-shirt to a formal occasion and not dress up the minister as a Zeton warrior in order to avoid the wedding from becoming a farce but a grown man wouldn’t hold a wedding at a pizza parlor where the happy couple was dressed as Batman and Robin.
Whatever Amphibinostic Church that creature is minister of – I don’t want no part of no way, no how, Mang.
Since TB has given us so little information about whatever really happens in the Starbuck Jones universe, we can only guess what the minister is supposed to be. Given my limited exposure to the story, most of which has come from sideways comic book covers, the minister is dressed as a Xanthan Warrior or something like that, and I was under the impression that the Xanthans are the enemy, so it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the minister to be dressed like that. It would be like Han Solo and Princess Leia being married by a Storm Trooper.
Why is Pete bringing his children to the wedding and why does his son care about the minister?
1. It’s official, the spell works — Cindye Sommerse-Winkerbeane-Jarre is once again 18 years old, and on her wedding day, no less… I wonder if her hymen has been reconstructed as well…
2. GOD DAMN IT TO HELL FUCK SHIT PISS TITS BALLS, BATIUK!!! You can’t have the priest in costume while Masone and Cindye are in conventional attire, because it fucks up the flow! Not only do Masone and Cindy need to be in costume, they need to be in character, too…
OK, here are two big problem with this setup.
1. Wouldn’t it be funnier if the minister were dressed like a devil like devil or demon-like creature? To me, that seems like an opportunity missed. It’s a perfect ironic setup. But a holy man dressed as a sea creature? That doesn’t really have any irony to it.
2. This joke only works if you notice the bible in the minister’s webbed hand. If you don’t, it just looks like DSH John got distracted by a lifestyle statue on his way to get the minister. Which knowing what we know about John, that’s a very likely occurrence.