I suppose today’s strip indicates that Adeela was the mother and not the child in last Sunday’s strip, which makes her fairly close to Wally in age.
No, that wasn’t obvious. Wally has been back in Westview for 9 years now. He was taken hostage in late 2007, BEFORE the time jump*, so he hasn’t patrolled an Afghan street in about two decades (heck, it is still a decade plus if you ignore the time jump). Adeela easily could have been that child and, oy… piecing together this strip’s timeline makes my head hurt. Still, I gotta say that Adeela has aged better than anyone in this strip except for maybe Cindy.
* Back in early Act III when Wally had apparently disappeared from the strip after the 10 year time jump, TB stated in a blog post (the infamous “it’s called writing…” post, in fact) that a “clue” in regards to Wally’s whereabouts appeared in the October 11, 2007 strip, in the immediate aftermath of Lisa’s death and just before the Act II to III time jump. That clue being the newspaper in the newspaper box that Les slumps past before he is pickpocketed by a couple of hipsters. It reads, muddily, “Soldiers Taken Hostage”.
Wally remained a hostage until July 2009…
Son of Stuck Funky 
Is that Loweezy Smif standing next to Adeela?
Looks like Richard Nixon to me.
At CK LBJ was suggested!
John Goodman!
We also would have accepted “Mr. Magoo”. “Mr. Magoo”:
I want that tie…
So is that supposed to be Wally or is it just a generic flashback she’s having about US soldiers in general? What a blatantly fraudulent attempt to be “topical” this one is. This isn’t a “story” at all, it’s just the premise, repeated over and over in every possible FW permutation. Flashback, wry remark, sidewards eyes, silent panel, dog reaction shot, every one of them establishing what we already know, which is pretty much nothing. Even Darin’s weird half-sister was more interesting than this Adeela person, who’s thus far done nothing but act perturbed and pensive in an annoying and cliched sort of way.
I’m not sure what Batty is trying to say. He could use his strip to show the folly of US intervention in the Middle East, he could use it to show how intervention leads to more war and misery. Misery being a topic Batty does well.
But no, shoehorn in an unlikable, flat, character in order to pretend that you have this rich and diverse cast, when in reality, you are just grubbing for awards. Please, look at me, I handle touching and tough subjects with my comics, nobody has done this before! This is my secret sauce! I use large and awkward words, where simpler ones would suffice, now give me a damn award already!
1775: “Careful…we don’t know the friendlies from the bad chaps!”
1866: “Careful…we don’t know the friendlies from the Rebs!”
1945: “Careful…we don’t know the friendlies from the Japs!”
1968: “Careful..we don’t know the friendlies from the Cong!”
“Friendlies”, bad guys-so gritty. When did this strip become Saving Private Ryan?
If there’s a cliche that might qualify for a cartoonist award, Tom Batiuk will be there!
When Tom Batiuk learned that Bill Mauldin won TWO Pulitzer Prizes for his military-themed cartoons during WWII!
This is why P J O’Rourke said that life is full of irony when you’re stupid……
So, will Adeela turn out to be a friendly or a bad guy? The suspense is killing me.
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth
To have an awardless strip
This Wally arc exposes the loose ends that TomBa has left over the years. It shows an early example of his lack of attention to reality. As the headline from just before the time jump shows, Wally wasn’t MIA – the military had him listed as a hostage. As such, he wouldn’t have been declared dead without proof, thus precluding the apparent way Becky was able to marry John (DSH). Assuming remains were discovered that were thought to be his, they would have been subjected to DNA testing, which would have eliminated the possibility. Misidentification of casualties has, for all intents and purposes, been rendered impossible.
Another question – Has he now retconned Wally’s first POW stint out of existence (the one where he was actually declared dead)?
You know, looking at Wally’s dumb distressed face on the masthead, I’m really reminded of how this comic just is absolutely no fun at all. There’s no levity. The humor is labored. All the characters seem to feel victimized all the time. The whole thing is turgid. It’s no fun at all. I’m not even talking about funny. I’m talking about fun, about how something could be interesting even if it is about something bleak like cancer or PTSD or betrayal or something.
This is instead simply tiresome when it’s not actively appalling. We’re following the final stages of the college career of worthless dipshit Wally Winkerbean, and there’s nothing here that’s worth the time thinking about it. Batiuk sets up a dumb and obvious premise and does nothing more than saying “Well…” for the rest of the arc.
why would this woman Wally knew during the war end up at Kent State anyway? this is a stretch!