Today’s strip is just unpleasant. I mean, that could be said for a lot of Funky Winkerbean strips, including yesterday’s, but rarely is this strip so overtly nasty… and over such a trivial thing too.
Melinda looks to be going hard after Rose Murdoch for Batiukverse mother of the year, though. I know, I know, “Rose is dead,” you’re thinking, “so Melinda should have the title locked up easily.” Yeah, well, Phil Holt and Lisa were allegedly dead too… and there’s still time for them to make a run at mother of the year.
Son of Stuck Funky 
I guess we’re supposed to root for Holly here as the put-upon party, but I find myself rooting for the tree in the background to fall on both of these loathsome characters.
I hope that tree draws down a huge bolt of lightning. Kill them with fire!
Remind me again, which of these characters are we supposed to be identifying with or relating to again? How is this supposed to be “fun”? Why are these people still involved in each other’s lives?
Also, it would appear that the Montoni’s logo chef visible on Funk..er, Holly’s shirt yesterday is so embarrassed by the continuation of this mother-child bonding exercise that he decided to skedaddle rather than witness any more bile and nastiness. Can’t say as I blame him.
It’s just Batty turning Melinda into another Dinkle. Good stuff.
Plus we get to see Holly stuff her post covid butt into a pre-covid pair of shorts.
“Since High School” would be a terrific name for the strip. Holly hasn’t been this angry with her mother…since high school! She hasn’t done any baton twirling…since high school! No one in the strip seems to remember anything that happened…since high school! Except for Les, of course, who remembers one specific post-high school thing over and over.
I guess BatYam thought this would work as a funny “role reversal” kind of thing, with the daughter addressing the parent by her full name instead of the traditional other way around. He often finds humor in these kinds of scenarios. Unfortunately, though, no one else does. In fact, it’d be fair to say that I haven’t seen a FW gag really land…since high school!
I was just going to say that parents address children with their middle name, not vice versa. My mom only did that with my brother and I when she was really pissed off. I’ve never heard of a child doing it to a parent.
My theory is that this is all some big fetish. They’re role-playing as mother and teen daughter, and now they seem to have switched roles. Because if Holly were really that angry about this, she’d just quit. Because she’s only doing this stupid show because Mommie Dearest badgered her into it. I think it’s part of the game.
I was going to make a “this is the only video on Pornhub that fits all of these fetish categories” joke. But just trying to compile the list of every kink that could be on display here melted my brain.
Well, Holly’s mother is very old and in the Funkyverse growing very old means you become sillier, zanier, more irresponsible and more childlike, while your children assume the role of “responsible parent”, typically in a wryly humorous way dripping with sarcasm and cynicism. Like how Morty became a cigarette-smoking horndog who jams with a hip jazz combo after his Alzheimer’s suddenly cleared up. Oh, how that frustrated Funky to no end! In a wryly humorous way dripping with sarcasm and cynicism, I mean.
I haven’t seen a FW character get this mad at their mother since Becky flipped out and stranded her meddlesome old bag of a mom on that marching band scissor lift. I wonder how that turned out? Because if she’s still up there I’d have to imagine she’s long dead by now.
Look. I jokingly address my mother with all of her names quite often. So I’m going to give that aspect of the joke a pass.
The real travesty in today’s strip is that Holly’s kick in panel 1 is perfectly adequate for an overweight post-menopausal woman, and that in panel 2 it’s clear that the part of Holly has been replaced with Funky in a bad wig.
I appreciate Hollys angry face in this, and the previous, strip as its a change from her normal face…
At least there’s conflict, for a change? We always talk about how averse Batiuk is to conflict.
Yes and no. It’s faux conflict. Holly *is* pushing back, but they’re both just being passive-aggressive at each other. The real conflict isn’t being addressed. Which is that Holly doesn’t want to do this dumb show at all. It’s a proxy conflict.
See, I think that Holly does want to do a show. She seemed pretty enthusiastic about the idea last Tuesday, and called Dinkle on her own initiative. But after a week of jokes about her flame-related injuries and her controlling stage mom, it’s hard to understand why she would want to, or why she would have any pleasant memories of being a majorette at all.
I think this whole arc has been a passive-aggressive flame war between Melinda and Holly. There’s plenty of PA in Funky Winkerbean, but it normally only flows from Les and Dinkle to everyone else. Who all just sit there and take it. But this is a rare case of two people equally trading jabs. There’s clearly some underlying tension in this relationship, which could be interesting to explore. But we all know that’s never going to happen. Batiuk will cut the story right back to “oops! I set myself on fire again!” or some other Act I banality.
Oh, man! This could finally lead to the resolution of the infamous, long-simmering Marilyn Melinda Budd/Holly Budd Funkface conflict! The next five weeks or so are going to be appointment viewing! Keep a box or three of tissues handy!
Shtick aside, panel one has to be a candidate for Panel of the Year.
Could Holly be short for “Hollyhock”?
Or Hollyhock Manheim-Mannheim-Guerrero-Robinson-Zilberschlag-Hsung-Fonzerelli-McQuack?
This is one of the many many many strips where I would honestly love to ask Batiuk what the point is here. What is supposed to be funny or interesting or worth printing about today’s strip? I can’t see anything.
And yeah, it seems extremely odd for a high school girl to refer to her mother by her full name, even if she is mad.
Is there some reason Holly can’t go somewhere where her mother isn’t to practice? Why is that whenever someone is bothered by something in this strip, they just suffer through it? Go inside and lock the door. It’s not hard.
See, this is when a normal person would say “I guess I can’t do this after all” and back off the project. Nothing to be ashamed of, we’re all getting older and less fit.
But Batiuk has some women to humiliate, and it’s not going to happen on its own…
I don’t know. Holly’s kick looks pretty good to me. How many 60-year-old women weighing 200 pounds can kick that high?
There must not be any quality beauty salons in Westview. Holly always has the frumpy hausfrau do with the cowlick from hell. Judging by the Sunday strip Melinda hasn’t changed her hairstyle in more than half a century.
Melinda truly looks shocked. I wonder if this is the beginning of the end for her character. No longer feeling needed she removes one of the rubber ends from a baton and performs ritual seppuku.
Aw, no longer needed Mommie Dearest can be abandoned like an elderly Eskimo the next time Lake Erie freezes over.
Gotta wait for the lake to freeze over because witches don’t sink in water…
She’ll turn you into a newt for that, ComicBook Harriet!
(But you’ll get better, don’t worry.)
Does TomBa look at the artwork beneath his word zepplins? As others have pointed out, Holly’s kick doesn’t match up with Melinda’s criticism.
Also, where did “Marilyn” come from? As far as I know Holly’s mom has been consistently called Melinda. When did TomBa decide to make that her middle name.
Meanwhile, over in Crankshaft, TomBa must have come upon the Bain Capital video that aired during the 2012 Presidential Campaign. His one-armed journalist is discussing “harvesting strategies”. In the process it looks like he thinks a hedge fund is the same thing as an investment firm. While an investment firm may have a hedge fund component, that’s not the whole picture.
Also, one has to wonder what attractive assets the Centerville Sentinel possessed that could be raided by Mordor Financial.
RE: “Marilyn”: One of my grandmothers went by her middle name her entire life (as far as I can tell), and so did all her brothers. I thought it was her first name. I don’t think I learned her real first name until I was an adult.