Becky prefers CONCERT band over MARCHING band??? Burn her at the stake! Crucify her! Wait…scratch that second suggestion. I mean you’d need to hire someone to build a special cross and surely the Americans With Disabilities Act would come into play and with the WHS budget being what it is and all…
But anyway, yeah, winter in Ohio is cold. The thing that really stands out here is Dinkle’s out of character reaction. He’s just standing there with that moronic grin on his face as his prized one-armed protege essentially spits in the face of everything he’s ever stood for. If he’s going to react like that what’s the point of this “gag” at all? And what the f*ck does this have to do with Christmas?
Son of Stuck Funky 
Never mind the joke! What’s with that sign? Why isn’t it held to the door with the traditional four pieces of tape? Is it held in place with glue? Or is it a permanent, professionally-made and mounted sign? Will the concert’s first piece be the Dies Irae from Verdi’ “Requiem”?
Oh great, two characters I hate! Hang on…I hate ALL these characters. Boy do I feel cheated!
On a related note, based on the masthead, it looks like Batiuk sold the rights to his characters to Rankin-Bass.
If you had to pick a favorite character, who would you pick?
The green ice pitcher is probably the least annoying, but yet I still do not like it because it is gratuitous…it is there only because they have one at Luigi’s.
My favorite character would be the park bench, but only if it gave all the characters splinters. Huge, microbe-infested splinters that could only be removed at the ER.
Park Bench stole every scene it was in this year, while helpfully supporting Mason and Marianne while they wore those horrible wigs and said those horrible lines for that horrible movie based on that horrible book.
Hm…well, Buddy hasn’t done anything awful (that I can recall). And Funky’s trainer has the right attitude.
Looks to me like Dinkle is indoors… I’ll take the snow.
You know, upon first glance one might think that the message written on the rock in panel two is meant as a salute to Westview High’s Class of 2021. Clearly, however, it’s pointing out that the town’s over-60 population is in charge of every facet of daily life. Apparently Becky cannot enjoy more than a day or two of peace without her wizened predecessor popping his head in to make certain things are done the way he wants them to be, just like Tony stopping by Montoni’s to oversee the oh-so-complicated job of hanging Christmas decorations, or Crazy Harry teaching area restaurants to have a BYOSD (Bring Your Own Salad Dressing) option on their menus.
So true, and we know Batty loves to draw old men’s backsides.
Just be glad there are no old horses in Westview, or we’d think Les was appearing all the time.
Is this going to be like the fifth week of Dinkle since LA was burned down?
Well, whatever. Another week of Dinkle is another week without Les.
Winter is also the time when the OMEA convention is held and so Batty needs these band director, butt kissing, filler strips for his booth.
I wonder if any of the band directors actually read and enjoy this strip. I doubt any of them will be roaming the halls after they retire.
When are there ever any non-filler strips? This feature is an endless cycle of sucking up to Luigi’s, sucking up to high school band directors, sucking up to the comic book industry, sucking up to Kent State University, sucking up to people who give awards, complaining about things he doesn’t like, praising things he does like, and indulging Les Moore’s inability to accept Lisa’s death after 13 years. Do the characters ever do anything other than these things?
Meant to upvote you Banana!
These two people have known each other for decades. They have a mentor-student relationship. They spend far more time together than they do with their own spouses. And this is the small talk they have? “I like concert band better than marching band. Do you like concert band, Harry?” And as Epicus Doomus notes, he doesn’t even react to this.
“And the internet kills another tradition”. Is that from one of his blog posts?
Becky is so mean. Not only is she making her band students practice all through the holidays, she’s just keeping them penned up in the stinky old school building, instead of getting them “gigs” at the mall, or the craft fair, or the old folk’s home.
Okay, that last one would exponentially increase the danger of them meeting Crankshaft and then having to spend a week worshipping Crankshaft, but since Dinkle’s here anyway, they might as well go all in.
Funny you mention that. When I was in band we performed at the local mall and at various nursing homes. Sorry, Batty got it wrong, there were no senior ensembles in those homes. And once our director retired, he moved away to a warmer climate. There were no retired faculty roaming the halls of our high school. Then again these people had real jobs, they were not paid simply to make stuff up.
Holy smoke, this strip gets more loathsome by the day. And it looks like an enormous bear native only to Westview took a dump on the school lawn in panel two.
Why the F**K is Hairy Dingle always in that school bothering Lefty? Get a load of the pusses on those 3 students. At least one dude is smiling. He must have been Toking in the Boys Room or something.
Excuse me now Becky I feel like I need to drain my dinkle.