Hello SoSFers, billytheskink back for another two weeks steering this runaway bus. Lucky me, today’s strip shifts back to Pete, Durwood, and their adventures at the City of Cleveland’s newest employer. Now that Chester has acquired the remnants of Mort Winkerbean’s life savings, I guess Atomik Komix’s bankruptcy has been postponed… and that, sadly, means we have to peek at the Batty Atom Bullpen’s “creative” process.
Durwood is the star of this one for sure, offering one of the few reasonable explanations for the existence of the last decade of Funky Winkerbean. On the other hand, Pete is being Pete… that is to say, useless.
Son of Stuck Funky 
The fact that Darin is getting closer and closer to Pete’s chair combined with Pete’s smug lounging in the third panel really creep me out.
Same here. I’m afraid tomorrow we’ll see Darin bungle the murder.
Oh, and today’s Crankshaft has Les being insulted, which is good, although it foreshadows Les leaking over into that strip too.
Lillian strikes again! If Les is appearing only to be insulted by the elderly lady destined to rapidly eclipse his every accomplishment, I’m all for it.
Looks like Pete is tightening an imaginary noose around his neck in panel 3. I can dig it.
It took me a few long seconds to figure this one out. Forget the pencil, after another week of these two imbeciles and their jaunty, punny brand of workplace bro-banter I’ll be ready to break out the harpoon guns…as in plural.
It’s somewhat violent imagery for the normally feather-lite BatCringe, you know? But I guess this is how he thinks work-bros talk while they’re putting in a shift at the ol’ comic book mill.
“Hey bro, how things going with Mindy?”
“Great! Last night was so hot!”
“Awesome! (raises eyebrow) This I gotta hear!”
“We visited her cranky grandpa at the home and the AC went out.”
“Has your colon ever been brutally violated with an axe handle?”
Sure, Tom, it’s just like that. “Water log”…there’s no worse feeling than that groan of disgust you feel when you “get” the joke in a FW strip.
Nice to know not even Batty can keep from imagining Pete being violently murdered.
Also I choose to believe this merry situation came about from sloppy punctuation. And that it is not because Boy Lisa and Mopey Pete do mean to use “scuba cop” as a verb, describing the activities that Rip Tide or anyone else might engage in, whether above or below water.
What I am saying is that I had a tiring day and it’s very late.
And of course, Batiuk misses out on the possibility that someone’s going to say “That’s how he got that way.”
I like the background in Panel 1. It looks like a set piece from a 1980s game show. I really hope Chuck Woolery is a guest star this week.
Or instead of a Lame Ass Pun (Trademark of Batom) you could do 10 sec of research.
https://www.leisurepro.com/blog/scuba-gear/underwater-writing-devices/
FW: “Riddle me this?” Take a shot…. Long, awkward, forced setup? Take a shot… Groan-inducing nonsensical uninspired and unfunny punchline? Finish off the rest of the bottle…
FW 2: If all you need is an average writer and a below average 100% amateur artist to create a half-dozen wildly successful comics series in the span of 2-3 months, then I’m in the wrong racket…
“Riddle me this” this, Batiuk.
I just had a scary thought concerning the Les crossover in Crankshaft. I think the book Les was pushing was his John Darling murder work. If that’s the case, and Les becomes a Crankshaft regular, then Lisa would be alive and he could reprise the whole cancer saga in Crankshaft.
I wonder that too but I think that TomBat is too worn out for anything long form that doesn’t involve comics these days, especially revisiting the Lisa arc in detail. More likely we’ll get a very brief, weeklong glimpse into cancerdeathsaga, for some bite sized melodrama.
And is that Le Chat Bleu hanging around? https://safr.kingfeatures.com/idn/ck3/content.php?file=aHR0cDovL3NhZnIua2luZ2ZlYXR1cmVzLmNvbS9DcmFua3NoYWZ0LzIwMTgvMDYvQ3JhbmtzaGFmdC4yMDE4MDYyNV8xNDQwLmdpZg==
WHY WOULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT !?!?!?!? There’s a good chance TB lurks in this blog and probably never thought of it.
Love the change to the masthead. Few are more deserving of this than Pete.