Oh, did you come here for Funky Winkerbean snark? Sorry, but today’s strip is a John Darling comic, presumably part of a JD revival that few will get and surely fewer asked for.
Yep, this is “Phil The Forecaster”, weatherman for Channel One.
Well, former weatherman for Channel One now, apparently… Back in the JD and early Act I FW days, Phil was the subject of a running gag where, get this, his forecasts were always wrong!!! And everyone made fun of him for it! Ha Ha! Oh man, can you believe it? A TV weatherman getting the forecast wrong… Brilliance.
Anyways, Phil just got fired.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Phil can be the weatherman at BuddyBlog!
Oh no. If there’s one thing I hate almost as much as a book-launch-tour arc it’s when these other Batiukverse characters appear out of nowhere. I have NO idea who “Phil” is or why he needs to be in the strip, I mean FW already has a cast of hundreds as it is. Not to mention that fact that he’s already done one of these arcs with Cindy…and it wasn’t funny then either.
Even when TB pulls old minor characters out of nowhere, he is usually making them an accessory to some one we might actually recognize. That’s probably going to happen here at some point, but it’ll be a realllllllllllllllll stretch. On the other hand, Montoni’s has employed les qualified people than an elderly meteorologist before.
I just can’t imagine who’d remember this character. I mean we dissect every conceivable aspect of the Batiukverse and remember things he probably forgot years ago yet he STILL manages to confound, confuse and baffle me. Plus as I pointed out above, he’s already done a “you’re too old for our news broadcast” arc with Cindy.
Coming soon: Funky authors a book of pizza recipes and bitches incessantly about doing a promotional tour.
You know, it’d be one thing if Batiuk used characters from his other strips and actually made them interesting or funny or did anything remotely worthwhile with them. But of course he doesn’t.
He got to write Dick Tracy and all he had him do was lug comic books around. I have a strong feeling that if DC actually let Batiuk write a Flash story, it would just be the Flash sitting around reading Starbuck Jones comics and talking about how the best thing about super-speed is that he could read the best comic books in the world super-fast.
Well I’m sure Batty has some blog post where he talks about all the rich and deeply layered stories he has developed over the years. He will mention how his keen eyed readers appreciate all that attention to detail.
“Hey Flash, wanna run down to Montoni’s and grab us a double cheese and pepperoni…wow! That was FAST!”
I thought this was Phil Holt for a moment and was really confused.
Dammit! I hoped the giant mutant vampire zombie cockroach would have his own story arc. Instead I get two new (new?) characters for me to not care about.
Wow, that throwback comic is really… something. And this from the guy who brought us the very special ‘episode’ of Big Gay Prom.
Oh no! Another Funkyverse character has been summarily fired, given a bad diagnosis, or has had a business closed. This will lead to a week of maudlin moping, musing about dead dreams and lost optimism, followed quickly by the improbable offer of a pity job that couldn’t possibly pay for living expenses, but somehow solves everything. And then this Pete guy, whoever he is, will be put on a bus to the Memory Hole to visit all the disappeared Funky children.
What compounds the stupidity of the arc is that we’re not only having competence installed (and thus disrespecting loyal catastrophic ineptitude), said knowing what she’s doing is probably going to be connected to a woman. Batiuk impresses me as having the same issues with female on-air talent as the old fart who draws Curtis.
And it begins. Cindy will get fired from Buddyblog , which she should as she never does any work, and will end up back in Westview.
Why would they hire HER? She’s even older than Phil!
Don’t forget, Cindy’s documentary on Cliff Anger was nominated for an enema.
Is Beardy McBeardo firing Mr. Layshio, or is he having him shot? He’s pointing a finger gun at him!
“You want a severance package, Phil? Okay! BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!!”
“Just fire me, you goofy looking dipshit. You don’t have to pretend to kill me.”
Nothing like bringing in a character from a comic strip that hasn’t been seen in 27 years with zero explanation. If it weren’t for SoSF I would have no fucking clue what’s going on here. It’s like every week is some other kind of filler
Since the alternative is actually focusing on the title character and the challenges of running Not!Papa John’s, we’re going to be getting filler for the next 60 months.
ya know. reading the other strip where Phil is being interviewed by the Daughter of John Darling who was murdered, it reads like he’s not at the station then when the interview was being done – as he’s talking about his being a weatherman in the past tense
now of course The Author doesn’t even bother to preserve continuity with major characters so why would one expect him to bother with this.
That doesn’t look like a beard. It looks like someone who fainted into his chocolate pudding.
I’m not shedding any tears because we all know by the end of this month the dude will be a multi-millionaire because comics or pizza or band candy or something…
The Westview Nepotism Mafia always looks after their own.
Boy, Bernie Sanders is pissed on the title card.