Does anyone else get the feeling that today’s strip is a reflection of Tom Batiuk’s own creative process? We’ve often see Pete enthusiastically “tossing out” his half-baked ideas as rapidly as they pop into his head. But where Pete’s concepts must now pass muster with a couple of cantankerous comics creators, Batiuk seemingly is given carte blanche by an editorial director who’s probably too busy on Twitter to pay much attention.
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Son of Stuck Funky · The web's premiere source for Funky Winkerbean snark
Son of Stuck Funky 
It’s so funny how BatYam can romanticize something while simultaneously making you despise it. The ol’ Atomik Komix “bullpen”, exactly like the ol’ comic book bullpens of fabled lore, except uninteresting and dumb. Two ninety year olds (one of them who was actually dead not that long ago) exchanging wry, cynical comic book banter with a “young buck” (a man in his mid-40s). I hear this is exactly how Stan Lee got his start. Except for the faking his own death part. ‘Nuff said.
Some days I wish Batiuk had actually gotten that Marvel Comics job, so he could have been exposed to what the industry is really like. There is no bullpen. There is no aimless screwing around. There is no sitting around pointlessly thinking up characters and catchphrases, and then never writing them again. There is no excessive, self-chosen lead time. There are no art directors showing up to hand out huge checks. There is no hiring other artists to do your work. There are deadlines. There are supervisors. There are editors. There are expectations. There are business pressures.
Then I remember that Gwen Stacy’s death happened at about the time Batiuk interviewed at Marvel. Can you imagine how atrociously Batiuk would have screwed that up if he’d gotten onto Spider-Man like he wanted? It would have been proof that comic books can’t do serious stories, as most people believed at the time. Whoever at Marvel decided not to hire this man almost 50 years ago may have single-handedly saved comic books.
The irony is Pete was absolutely miserable as depicted in his last days working for some Marvel-esque conglomerate since he had actually deadlines and bosses and editors to answer to…
What a great idea! Give your new superduperhero a catch phrase that forces the reader to compare him to that silly old Superman guy. No way can that end badly for you! Now, what would be a good catch-paraphrase for Les Moore? And whatever it is, would you hear it in the voice of Porky Pig or Flounder?
How about “In blight-est day, in dork-est night, no exploitable angle of Lisa’s death shall escape my sight”? And, to be honest, whenever I’ve needed to imagine Les’ voice, my thoughts have generally turned to Jon Lovitz as Jay Sherman in “The Critic” (“Buy my book! Buy my book!”).
Catchphrase for Les: Is that a lump on your breast?
“Never fear! The answer for cancer is here!”
Les Moore, played by Jerry Lewis
Flash and Phil don’t dig it, Pete.
Maybe they do. They look so grave . . .
Though the banner may be indicating otherwise, the main thing that I dislike about this strip is that I now expect tomorrow’s entry to have a panel showing Pepe in Maximum Scowl Mode with arms tightly crossed like a fucking toddler. Again.
But yeah dude, go ahead and hash out base character traits and gimmicky catch phrases after the debut issue launches, why not, that’s a great time for it.
Where is Philled Hole’s right hand? It appears to be (best case scenario) on Flesh Floppyhead’s upper thigh. That’s cool. Maybe this is an attempt to make up for the gay prom couple who we never really saw.
Or maybe it’s just an illustration of how our Statler and Waldorf stand-ins shit on the awful ideas of the middle-aged guy’s ideas.
Or maybe it’s just that Batdick was too insecure to display his “Down, down, and away” line as an actual punchline.
1. Wait just a goddamned minute here… Is Peter Rattabastardo giving unsolicited creative suggestions to two absolute undeniable comics industry legends ON HOW TO MANAGE THEIR OWN FUCKING COMMERCIAL PROPERTY?!? But even Pete isn’t this fucking stupid — He’s clearly thinking if these fossils accept one of his half-assed suggestions, he’ll be able to put his own name on the boilerplate along with theirs, right?
2. Besides, doesn’t Pete have a half dozen of his own titles and characters to worry about at the moment?? This is why I hate the fact that the Atomikkk Komixxx staff has no discernable job titles, defined responsibilities, structure or hierarchy… For all that money and all that artistic talent, this outfit has the professionalism and maturity level of a bunch of neighborhood kids in a treehouse with a mimeograph machine…
3. Given that Flash spent an entire month telling us that Phil was the meanest, most unlikeable, hardest to work with SOB to ever terrorize the industry, it’s strange to see how much he’s mellowed. Guess death will do that to a person?
3a. I still stand behind my theory that Flash+Phil are secret lovers, seeing how they behave like an old married couple.
4. I’m sorry, I’m still trying to figure out why these two fossils are slumming it at Atomikkk when Marvel/DC would have literally given them a blank check, plus an entire office building floor to themselves with a handpicked staff… To say nothing about Marvel/DC having infinitely better means to promote and distribute their work…
You raise an interesting question: who owns the “The Subterranean”, anyway? The reason for Phil Holt’s quitting “Batom Comics” in 1956 or whenever was because he wanted ownership and the syndicate wouldn’t give it to him. (Sheesh, what a petty little jerk.) This never got addressed, but somehow Atomik Komix was able to publish a titile under it. We didn’t even get the usual handwave of Chester buying it or already owning it somehow.
Crankshaft: Ha, Lillian is being a bitch towards the person who is trying to help her. Hilarious!
Batty sure is great at creating loathsome characters.
I think the idea here is Batiuk saying “See? I can’t do punchlines, my prodigious, unique and world-challenging talent can’t be scaled down that small.”
Finally, two characters that a reader can relate to, in that they both want to beat Mopey Pete’s ass.
Down, down, away, away, left, right, left, right, B, A, start.
You know, it’s weird. We have just enough weeks of, say, Dinkle pile up to make me forget how much I hate Atomik Komix, and then two days back into it and I feel like begging for more Dinkle. The only time this doesn’t work is when it’s Les. I always hate Les.
Ignoring the likelihood that the obvious ripoff of Superman’s catch phrase would probably spark a a lawsuit from Warner, Pete’s total lack of creative imagination is on full display today.