I was kind of hoping (as I’m sure most of you were) that Sunday’s Dinkle was a one-off, but all hopes come to Funky Winkerbean to die. I’d be happy to have a week of John and Harry talking about an event that they’ve never been to, but when the chance to shovel in Dinkle rears its ugly head, Batiuk jumps in with both feet.
I hate characters like Les and Darrin, but it’s Dinkle that really pushes the loathing lever to FULL. Both Les and Darrin are obnoxious, untalented dullards who whine when the universe rewards them richly, but neither one is treated like a sage wise oracle the way Dinkle is. And he is utterly undeserving of such worship, but he’s based on a beloved teacher of Batiuk so he gets lionized.
Gah. I say Gah again, sir.
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Yes, it’s a lot “like” Comic-Con. There are attendees, tables and shit like that and it’s typically held at an indoor venue, just like Comic-Con. So sure, the comparison is totally apt and not at all a piss-poor way to ram this week’s skull-numbing premise home. This Author Guy guy must think his daily readers are complete dimwits or something.
I’m pretty sure the Venn diagram between “SOSF Commentariat” and “Author Guy’s Daily Readers” is very close to being a circle.
So as per usual Batiuk skips a day by writing this introduction featuring two characters who will play no role in this sequence. He couldn’t possibly start the sequence at the conference. Think about how many readers would be totally confused and frightened!
Hahaha! You thought Batiuk would actually SHOW an event rather than having two characters talk about it in an entirely different location and time? I wish I had your optimism!
“So what’s the Ohio Music Educator’s Conference like?”
“It’s like a conference.”
I mean seriously, is there any conference that can’t be described that way?
This is a real event so you can see for yourself: https://omeapdc.com/
Those of us who attended public schools in Ohio are familiar with the OMEA as they sponsored the solo and ensemble competitions. So Batty gets this right. He will probably be attending as an honorary member so this butt kissing is expected.
However, why is it a big deal to say that Becky will be Cleveland? Westview (Medina, Ohio) is a mere 25min ride from Cleveland during non rush hour times.
If you have a chance to get away from John Howard, you take it.
Ha! Yeah, can’t blame her.
Becky’s favorite cosplay is a husband who brings home a paycheck bigger than hers — it’s a true fantasy.
Since she will be in the big city, maybe she can find a boy/girl toy (not sure what her preference is) and get some action.
But do they have Dinkle? That’s the difference between burn the conference to the ground and nuke it into a crater.
These men are acting very chill, given that apparently the sun has died, and the outside has become a purgatorial blackness from which no light can escape.
Yep that’s how it is up here in NE Ohio in the winter, total darkness and blizzards every day. While it’s true that we say “grey until May”, we have had a decent amount of sun the past few days. With the fresh snow, it was actually quite pretty outside.
They never went outside anyway.
You know Dinkle loves diaper play, heck, he loves having to wear one every day. There goes Good ol Diaper Dinkle, yes sir, good ol Diaper Dinkle, how I hate him.
Is this the same conference Batiuk has shown the last several years? Dinkle and Becky walking around, Dinkle making bad puns?
It is. He apparently has a longstanding connection to the organization. He drew an occasional strip for their magazine which featured Dinkel’s daughter Hallie, who is apparently an elementary school music teacher.
He also does CD covers for them.
What the hell is a CD?
A formerly cutting-edge technology for sharing audio files.It replaced other formerly cutting-edge technologies – audio tape and vinyl records (the latter format is now again inexplicably hip).
Imagine some unsuspecting newspaper reader–a bright-eyed, precocious child, perhaps–opening up to the funny pages today for the very first time. “Funky Winkerbean,” she says. “That sounds fun and whimsical; I’ll read on!…I’ll read about…the…Ohio Music Educators Association Conference?”
If she had any sense, the precocious child wouldn’t even proceed to panel two. She would move on to something more entertaining in the paper, like the legal notices in the classified ads. “Notice of Service of Process by Publication–NOW we’re cooking!”
But this child could read Mary Worth where a vape princess blinks her eye and expects to get an A from her professor, even though she hasn’t turned in her assignment.
That professor is about to get MeToo’d.
Good stuff today, good stuff.