I have to admit I found today’s entry amusing. For Funky Winkerbean, it’s actually funny.
Good on commentor Double Sided Scooby Snack for catching that Chuck Ayers was the artist for this week’s, um, “effort.” Also, to Gerard Plourde for divining the reason for this: this is something that Batiuk wrote and Ayers drew months, if not years ago, and it’s been sitting in a drawer ever since. I assume the idea was that readers would explode from happiness if there was too much Les or comic books, so a week-long interlude with Funky texting his stepson ought to calm those passions.
I do like the art here. The perspective in panel one is very well handled, and the sidewalk bricks done nicely.
This arc would have been better put to use last week, as it would have acted as a relatively unoffensive palate cleanser after the Atomik Komix ultra-mega arc, a nice way to decompress a bit. Like how a quick glass of ordinary tap water is the nectar of the gods when you wake up at 4AM with severe dry mouth. Instead, though, he cruelly threw a Les “Trilogy” book signing at his readers out of sheer spite, just to prove that yes, it can be worse.
It’s always so painful waiting for one of BatDerp’s obvious stories to finally play out, isn’t it? I mean obviously Cory has been ducking his annoying meddlesome mother over his stupid wedding plans. He will confide in Funky who will explain it to Holly, she’ll get angry and yadda yadda yadda back at Montoni’s. And now after that AK debacle I’m actually terrified that ultra-long arcs that take months to go nowhere will become the new FW normal. Funky speaks to Cory, Funky speaks to Holly, Holly is enraged, Holly gets over it, Holly speaks to Cory, then a wedding. That’s eight or nine weeks right there and that’s before we factor in Rocky and her weird mom. This could easily go on to Labor Day.
While it’s possible that Cory and Rocky’s wedding could be a saga of epic proportions, I think it’s more likely to get short shrift so that Batiuk can quickly return to his real love, writing about comic books.
And there is the possibility that he’ll do both and feature a comic book wedding. He’s already done it…twice (Les & Lisa, the double Valentine wedding).
The thought of Cory as The Incredible Mr. Sponge and Rocky as Absorbing Jr. is too horrible to contemplate.
Sounds about right, although Batty will drag it out for weeks with bad puns, smirks, and heavy thesaurus use.
This stroy has to be an exercise for the new artist…see this is how you make time for reading comic books.
Cory’s text to Funky: “Dad, I’ve decided I want Uncle Wally to be my best man, please give him the day off from the kitchen, and get some pics to the Reverend so he can tell us apart. Don’t want the Rev marrying Wally to Rocky by mistake!”
It must’ve really pained Batiuk not to stretch “Funky sits and waits for a text” over all of next week. Although I guess he could do that with Cory’s next text.
Too much build-up for a weak and stupid joke here and on Crankshaft. He’s running on fumes, people.
Cory’s strained relationship with his parents was a great well of potential interest that TB never tapped despite the occasional hint in early Act III. And really, those “hints” were largely just employing Cory as a resident “hoodlum” teen when ever TB felt he needed one. Here’s another hint that will lead NOWHERE, of course, but I will absolutely take it over Uhtamik Kahmecs and the Les Moore
bookfan insult tour.Does Cory resent Funky for being given his last name even though Funky is not his biological father and for being a workaholic whose interactions with him consisted largely of punishing him for his variety of youthful misdeeds? Is Cory upset with Holly because he has now realized that her enabling of his poor behavior made his life much more difficult than it should have been as the child of middle class small-business owners?
These questions, and more, will NOT be answered in the coming strips!
Has Holly always been this much of a bitch? Or is it the menopause?
She must be peeved that Funky has been getting Cory to text him back since the flip phone days.

Holly Budd? Seriously??
Why did Cindy monopolize the “most wanted girl in school” discussion? She’s easier better looking, and has only 30% of Cindy’s petty bitchiness… Granted, Cindy DID trade her soul to the devil for eternal success and beauty, so there is that….
Please tell me that 20s-30s age Holly wore her majorette outfit to a bed decorated with flaming batons, because I’d give it to her hard and fast in all three holes… The only question is would she have me wear the Scapegoat mascot outfit, the Dinkle march leader’s outfit, or a fill-in-the-blank comics villian?
Krankenschaaften: I need a trigger warning because I’m getting all these god-awful flashbacks to the years I had to deal with Bank of America!
Nice to get a twice-yearly reminder that Batiuk CAN be mildly humorous when he puts some effort into it…
Cindy and Holly are the same age. Cindy probably shows up at the wedding with Mason Jarr and announces she’s pregnant. Making poor menopausal, aging Holly furious.