After a six day stretch of Montoni’s pizza ‘n’ coffee with a side of band candy, Batiuk serves up a palate cleanser in the form of a sideway Sunday Atomik Komix kover. These Sunday treats typically consist of artwork by Batiuk’s comics buddies (this one’s the third or so from “America’s [and northeast Ohio’s] Thom Zahler” and colorist Rob Ro). Batiuk’s contibution, if there’s any, is what our Epicus Doomus dubbed a “reality bubble”: a little vignette of one or more FW characters doing or saying something that provides context for perplexed Sunday-only print readers of Funky Winkerbean.
“Reality bubbles” in most cases are inserted at the bottom of the vertical frame, almost as an afterthought. Today’s bubble in at the upper right hand corner, and is so large it renders the comic’s title as “KY KERBEAN” (what a silly name for a comic strip). All this real estate so that Batiuk can throw shade at Trump, with a jab vague enough that he could write it a year in advance and folks would still smirk knowingly like Ruby is smirking here. As for the Wayback Wendy cover itself? It pretty much gives away the resolution of the story, doesn’t it? Looks like successfully delivers the speech (written on an envelope, natch) to Honest Abe in time not to disrupt history.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Honest Abe was anything but honest.
The kids would be better off learning not to trust politicians.
But ok Batty let’s be honest, there are no kids reading this crap.
“Remember when we had presidents named Honest Abe?”…uh, actually no, I don’t, as he died a hundred years before I was born. Not everyone harbors nostalgia for things that happened many decades before they were born, despite FW’s claims to the contrary.
At first glance I didn’t notice he was in Gettysburg, nor did I notice that a copy of Wendy Windbag goes for a hefty $3.99, which is $3.98 too much. For a while there the Sunday strips were sort of related to whatever was “going on” (so to speak) in the strip but now suddenly they’re random again.
Didn’t Lincoln carry his speeches in his hat?
Believe it or not, $3.99 is pretty much the going rate these days for a typical comic book (with special issues going for more, up to $9.99 for a 100-page issue). And yes, I do remember going to a newsstand or drug store and getting them for 12 cents a piece.
What gets me about today’s sideways snoozefest is that this is supposed to be the second issue of Mr. Peabody and Sh…er, Wayback Wendy. According to the records issue 1 was foisted on the buying public in January, with a crossover special with Miss Lib…er, Miss American the following month. Today’s numbering means WW is on a semi-annual publishing schedule. That’s not a particularly successful formula in an era when the few surviving companies usually (pandemic notwithstanding) come out usually monthly of bi-monthly, but some bi-weekly releases during big events or storylines. Maybe if Atomik Komix had more than four employees they could put out more books.
So much for saying something nice about each strip.
You did make it one day, which I haven’t done since 2010 at least.
If Batiuk wants to dip into history, why not steal from Gasoline Alley’s usual “Closed For The Holiday” schtick?
Calling this “pathetic” gives it more dignity than it deserves.
“And that time was when had a president named ‘Abraham’. Because at no other time would calling a president ‘Abe’ make any kind of sense”.
Seriously, if Batiuk wanted to take a shot at Trump, why not just leave out the “Abe” part? Did he think his readers wouldn’t get the connection otherwise? Because even if Trump was a paragon of honesty, nobody would be calling him “honest Abe”,
Animaniacs did it better.
Anyways, the Funky Winkerbean I know would have had Wayback Wendy making sure William Henry Harrison didn’t forget his 2 hour speech inauguration speech that he gave on a damp cold day which allegedly contributed to his illness and death one month into his presidency. Or at least make sure Lisa didn’t forget her ticket to Ford’s Theater…
Animaniacs has been off the air for 30 years, and I still can’t believe they got away with the “finger Prince” joke.
I don’t think THEY could believe they got away with that.
This must be an alternate timeline, because Honest Abe looks like he got punched in the face several times.
This strip should’ve run on Lincoln’s bd. That would make more sense and oops sorry I forgot where I am.
A better one would have been, “Paul Revere! You forgot your horse!”
PS I was looking at the moon tonight and I can’t see any sign of an eclipse.
It was a penumbral eclipse; the moon slid through the edge of the earth’s shadow. North America’s next chance at a lunar eclipse is in May 2022.
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html
I knew it was a penumbral eclipse. I knew where to look, but I couldn’t see any darkening, and that was before i had a patriotic Manhattan (or two). Maybe it’s my old eyes.
I had the same experience when my eyes were a lot younger, along with the rest of me. It’s hard to spot the penumbral phase until the moon is closer to the umbra.
Better still: “John Hancock! You forgot your pen! So you can sign your name real huge on the Declaration of Independence! In which the Thirteen Colonies said they were free! Of the hated British rule!”
Be careful, Wayback Wendy! Lincoln is in the prodromal stages of smallpox on the day before and day of the speech and is quite contagious…uh, never mind! Carry on with what you were doing.
“I thought kids should know there was a time when we called our president ‘Silent Cal’.
Very interesting. I only knew about 30 of the nicknames out of a bunch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nicknames_of_presidents_of_the_United_States
The subtle as a mallet to the head moralizing about honesty in politics distracts from the real concern:I have about Mindy’s steaming pile of ordure: “Who would buy this and why?”
Plus the usual Batiukian problem of “You have a girl doing something trivial.”
I’m trying to figure out the background, specifically what the “Gettysburg” sign is attached to. It looks like it’s a destination marker on an old-fashioned trolley car or it’s attached to Lincoln’s railroad car, neither of which make any sense.
What in fuck’s name is Mindy’s problem?!
Say what you will about the American education system, but is she really going to stand there and smugly declare that kids of today aren’t learning enough about one of the top 3 best known presidents *ever*? And she has the gall to act like she’s making some profound insight?
As implied in my comment above, none of our politicians are worth a dime.
Funny that Batty still believes those elementary school fairy tale history lessons.
But I do hope everyone is enjoying their family and friends this weekend.
Sorry didn’t know the F word would show up in the title.
Just wanted a little silliness, since we don’t get it from this strip.
It would really be better if we did not talk politics very much in this forum. But to say that none of our politicians are any good is as lazy and foolish as Batiuk’s plotting. Do you know how many elected officials there are in the United States? At all levels of government? There are many thousands. Do you know how all of them behave, think, vote? It would be quite remarkable if all of them were no good. In fact, of course, of the ones we all know about, in the US Congress, there are many, good, decent, honest and courageous people trying to save the United States at some considerable risk to themselves. It may be funny to dismiss all “politicians” as worthless, but it isn’t helpful and if it were true, we’d already be a fully failed nation.
Sure…I agree politics shouldn’t be discussed here. In this case, Batty started it.
And yes, there have been a few politicians here and there where I thought they took a good position on certain issues.
I do think we are largely a failed nation…I wish it weren’t true, but sadly it is.
But I do apologize for injecting some political commentary. I won’t do it again. I do hope you enjoy the holiday.
Russ.
The development process at Atomik Komix astounds me. Mindy, the dumbest character in a dumb universe, thinks kids don’t know who Abe Lincoln was. So that immediately becomes the topic of a issue. VOLUME TWO of the entire series. Out of ideas much, Mindy? And Tom?
Mr. Hamilton! You forgot your dueling pistol!
So 40% of “Funky Winkerbean” is covered up by two characters talking about a comic book. That is some Grade-A symbolism right there.
Peace Brother