17 thoughts on “Pod, Grant Me the Serenity…”

  2. “Pod”? Does she mean like some sort of spaceship pod? Uhhhh, yeah. An AA meeting? Did last week’s story tempt Funky into having a belt or three? Who could blame him?

    1. Knowing Batiuk, I’m pretty sure it’s a stupid Superman reference. Which makes absolutely zero sense and doesn’t at all seem like something someone would say to her husband when he looks upset, so it fits in perfectly for this strip.

    2. I thought she meant one of those storage pods they bring to your house. Which made just as little sense any other suggestion. Well done TB with another gutter ball that I’m sure you think is a strike.

  3. Guess we can add the local AA chapter to the list of things still open in Westview. That brings the list to five, I reckon.

  4. My guess is that most of his past has been so confusing and depressing, he assumes that he must be drinking without being aware of it.

  5. Crankshaft: Ed was too cheap to have his chimney swept, so he dies of carbon monoxide poisoning.

  6. … “your pod get knocked off course?”

    Most batiukisms kinda-sorta make sense, even if nobody in real life uses them, but I can’t wrap my head around this one.

  7. Apparently “alcoholic pod people” is a thing among AA members, and yes, it appears to have been roughly derived from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, so TB should be commended for the serious subject. I’m not sure, however, that forcing your readership to have to divert to Google just to understand a daily strip is the best way to deal with a serious subject. Why not just have her ask him why he’s feeling so antsy?

  9. Why does it have to be a stupid acronym like ARID? Why not just use the real AA? You could publicize an organization that has actually done some good.
    Is Batiuk afraid the real AA would sue him, or is he patting himself on the back for his clever wordplay? If the latter, you can stop now.

  10. spacemanspiff85: Knowing Batiuk, I’m pretty sure it’s a stupid Superman reference.

    Had to resort to Google to unravel this one (I know, why bother?) The judges will accept spacemanspiff85‘s response: it appears to be a reference to the opening monologue of the Supergirl TV series:

    When I was a child, my planet, Krypton, was dying. I was sent to Earth to protect my cousin. But my pod got knocked off-course, and by the time I got here, my cousin had already grown up and become… Superman.

    That time-warp enabling baby Kal-El’s growth to outpace that of his girl cousin is only slightly less plausible than any of Batom’s retcons. And I’m not sure how much overlap there is between Supergirl viewers and readers of Funky Winkerbean.

  11. So, the big question burning in my mind today – Is this a one-off New Year’s Day strip, and tomorrow we’ll be subjected to week two of marching backwards in the Rose Bowl Parade, or is it going to be a week of lame AA jokes, another postcard from the Les book signing tour, or Starbuck Jones?

  12. “Hello, my name is Funky, and I’m an alcoholic”
    “Hello Funky!”
    “I fell, you see I was talking to my friend Les Moore and…”
    “Stop, we understand everything now!”

  13. He’s probably going to AA after going through the Funky Archives and remembering that, back on 3/17/1989, on a test, Cindy Summers said that Donald Trump was President of the United States

  14. The one time The Author could actually do some explaining, he doesn’t. The “pod” reference appears to be AA jargon adopted somewhere around 2011. A Psychology Today article from that year discusses the growth of recovery communities on college campuses. The recovering students apparently refer to themselves as “pods”, likening themselves to the replicants in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (Given the plot of that movie, I have no idea why becoming a pod person would be viewed positiviely.)

    From the dialogue, I assume that Funky is mentoring a “pod” who has relapsed and is going to an AA Center for advice. ARID is an AA acronym for Addiction Recovery Information Distribution and AA meetings are held by ARID Clubs.

  15. So it appears TB was not only making a Superman reference to cover the comic book insider angle, but also a “serious subject” one? I’d love to give him credit for batting a double, but his random-overheard-phrase-usage history, his reliance on off the wall Batiukisms, and general cluelessness towards How Things Work makes me a little reluctant to do so.

Comments are closed.