It’s been great being able to comment on one of the weirder recent arcs.
—spacemanspiff85, yesterday
And kudos to you, Spiff, for the past fortnight of great posts!
Listen: Harry Klinghorn has come unstuck in time. Harry has gone to sleep a befuddled boomer and…well, he’s still a befuddled boomer but he’s revisiting his high school years. He has walked through a door in 2022 and come out another one in…‘78? ‘88? Who the fuck knows?
Oh yeah, nothing sketchy at all about a graybearded stranger accosting a teenage girl outside the high school to talk about boys. But hey, that’s Crazy Harry! Mousy Lisa, for her part, is not the least bit fazed to find herself chatting with this weirdo.
Les’ teenaged penchant for hanging out alone in the bleachers (during lunch…after lunch, he would probably be expected in class) actually is a recurring Act I theme. And, speaking of Act I, who else remembers Westview High School’s Cliff the Security Guard? Me neither! But I’ll bet he and classic Crazy Harry were well acquainted, and they’re about to meet again…across…the Time Zone!
Hey Snarkers! Amidst all the “excitement” of Tom Batiuk’s 75th birthday, and Funky Winkerbean‘s 50th anniversary, I sort of let the 12th anniversary of Son of Stuck Funky go by unremarked. Yep, on April 9th, 2010, we picked up the sputtering torch of the original Stuck Funky, and kindled it into a blazing…well, into a very niche comics snark blog. A long-running comics snark blog, and this never would have happened without the contribution of Epicus Doomus, billytheskink, ComicBookHarriet, spacemanspiff85, beckoningchasm, and everyone who over the years has guest-authored, commented, or just read and enjoyed. Batty is showing no inclination to putting down the Funky Felt Tip, so stick with Team SoSF, the web’s premiere source for Funky Winkerbean snark. Thanks all!
Son of Stuck Funky 
Happy anniversary! I’ve enjoyed every ban pun and smirk!
Thank you, Lord!
Oh yeah, Les was totally into Lisa back then… or “that girl”, as he called her.
This is not the first time Crazy has played wingman for Les, by the way.
Both of those Act I strips are solid gags. So many of us longtime FW snarkers remember reading, relating to, and actually laughing at the strip in its heyday.
Also, who the f is “Allison”?
I mean, in the first four years there were a couple random namedrop students…not characters, just a name out of a hat for a one off gag. And fair enough, Westview seems like a ‘graduating class between 100 and 250 students’ sized place.
But IDK, maybe Allison IS a recurring mid Act I character…
Allison may have been one of Cindy’s friends. She had a friend with swoopy light hair whose name I don’t recall. Cindy’s most regularly appearing friend in mid-late Act I was Carrie, who had dark curly hair.
There was also an Alison in Act II, who was Lisa’s roommate before she married Les. She was from France, and Les once described her as “Juliette Binoche, but cuter”. Ugh.
St. Lisa: “I’m sorry but just who in fuck’s name are you again, how in fuck’s name do you know me, and why in fuck’s name would you think I’d give a rat’s ass about that nebbish dweeb virgin nerd antisocial loner in the first place?”
“[N]ebbish dweeb virgin nerd antisocial loner” is Les Moore to a T. Then and now.
Fantastic post title today. Twelve years of complaining about Lisa always being in the strip despite being dead…time sure does fly. As mousy as Retcon Lisa may be, I recall her being way mousier back in Act I. She was kind of cockeyed too. Not literally, of course, but one eye was up here and the other one was way down there. And her hair was dumber too.
He does a story about Crazy Harry traveling back to 1980 and he can’t think of anything better for him to do than make idle chit-chat with Lisa, who he barely even knew back then. Wasn’t she originally some sort of transfer student from another school or something?
Glad you dig the post title, chief!
Creepy Harry is about to get arrested? With any luck he’ll be convicted of something and imprisoned. He won’t be released until late April 2022, at which point nothing will happen . . .
*sigh* That cop is about to ticket Lisa for being out of class, isn’t he?
Knowing Batiuk, it’s probably more likely he chides her for talking to a strange man, and then says something about how if she keeps it up, the next thing you know she’ll follow any old guy into his van. And then wink at the camera.
And that old guy was…Mort Winkerbean.
And now you know…the rest of the story!
So Harry is going to … uh, bring a couple together who already got together anyway?
Wow. This is breathtakingly stupid.
Yes, but now we all know they would have never gotten together if it wasn’t for Crazy Harry.
Also, her exposure to the chroniton particles emitted by a time traveler is what caused her cancer. Surprise!
If anything, Harry’s disrupting the natural order. Act I Les and Lisa were both a psychiatrist’s couch full of issues. Having their relationship forced on them before they’re ready for it might have turned them off to each other permanently. And you can make a case that this would have been for the better. Especially for Lisa.
It would help if we had any idea how time travel and causality work in this storytelling world, but… you know.
On Batiuk’s blog entry yesterday, he praised the cover of one of my favorite recent comics, which I do love, and now I don’t know what to think anymore.
Look the guy is garbage at creating his own stuff, but he does admire some pretty admirable creations by others.
Neil Breen can enjoy David Lynch. That takes nothing from the Lynch and adds nothing to the Breen.
Not that you COULD add anything to the Breen.
I’m just always a little shocked when I see that he actually reads and enjoys modern comics, given how fixated his writing is on older ones.
I found that comparison rather forced, Yeah, they’re all sitting around a table, but the similarities to The Last Supper end there. Where’s Jesus? Is he that head on the table? The characters don’t all appear to be reacting some momentous news, it’s look like different conversations appear to be going on. Maybe I’m missing something, but I just don’t see it.
Then, Tom Batiuk has to correct what he clams to be praising. “The result is the Mark Brooks cover for Immortal X-Men (and women) “… it says “X-Men” three times, Tom. Don’t put words in its mouth.
I finally realized what had been bothering me about his last cover post (#203), where he calls something an example of “vaporware esthetic”
First, i think he means “vaporwaVe aesthetic”
Second, that’s our word
Ps congrats and thanks to TFH and the geniuses of SOSF, for making enjoyable many otherwise frustrating comic readings
Heck: here is the invite link. https://us04web.zoom.us/j/73343850983?pwd=EGr3KjjFq6EjYcKzCwNyKQ9v6ecfOp.1
Why is Old Harry playing matchmaker for Lisa and Les when they get together anyway? He should be lecturing her on mammograms and staying away from post offices
Next he’s going to see young Funky,, ‘guess what! In the future you get to bed Cindy Summers!!!’ ‘Really?!?’ ‘Yeah but you become an embittered middle aged alcoholic and she divorces you and hooks up with a movie star. She’s not worth it. Try dating Holly Budd instead. Nice girl She won’t leave when you get old and fat’
Then Old Harry gets on Crankshaft’s school bus and tries to ride home ‘Old man get off my bus!!’ ‘But I need to warn you abour your future granddaughter and her terrible taste in guys!’
I’m glad he didn’t tell her to get a mammogram.
Yet.
Bart Simpson would have (man). He had a Treehouse of Horror, though, and not a Taj Moore Hal.
Harry a week ago:
You know, if Harold is going to haphazardly screw around with the time space continuum, I really wish he’d go all the way so we could see a totally different alternate 2022 Funkyverse… I mean, this would be right up Batiuk’s alley given his love of “what if…?” comic books, would it not? And for those who would rather keep the traditional status quo, Batiuk can continue it over in Krankenschaaftenland… Win/win!
And I don’t care if this means St. Lisa is still alive in 2022 as long as Les is either dead or unhappily married to someone else, Dinkle retires to Arizona forever, Montoni’s turns into some sort of hipster craft brewhouse or whatever, the Valentine Theatre show new release movies people want to see, Becky never lost her arm, Funky is a lecherous party animal and plays in a garage rock band, anybody who is married is married to someone new, all that Hollywood bullshit never happened, Holly Budd is still a hottie while Cindy Sommers is a broken down hag after a long, punishing career in the adult film industry, all that Comicon bullshit never happened, Jerry Bushka is the longtime head coach at Ohio State, Wally is either KIA or exposed as a traitor and left to rot in Afghanistan, Chester Hagglemore never became a multimillionaire and is currently managing Komixxx Korner which is now mainly an online only store, Atomikkk Komixxx does exist but it is strictly an amateur two-person operation that’s more of a hobby than a commercial success, and Pete+Darrin are living happily in a domestic partnership or something…
I honestly don’t get over to Krankenschaaftenland that often anymore. Covering the Funky Winkerbean beat day after day is all the Batiuk I can handle.
And now it appears that Harry is dead set on guaranteeing his timeline. I can only hope that getting this information from a weird old guy would ensure that she never meets Les and that this eliminates Darrin, Summer and a host of Act 2 and 3 plotlines. But we know that’s not what TomBa intends.
Oooh, interesting Les tidbit there TFH! Makes me remember that the first interaction between Cayla and Les was her asking to sit with him on the empty bleachers. Which, in the context of a better story, would actually be a cute little thematic call back.
Happy Belated 12th to the Blogmeister in Chief!
A 12 year Anniversary for SOSF
(Apologies to Winnie the Pooh)
Guiding our Son of Stuck Funky
The honored TF Hackett
Guiding more bloggers, critics, and posters
Spacemanspiff85 plays
ComicBookHarriet is his friend
And there’s Epicus Doomus
Beckoningchasm too
Hey! There’s us
Loving to snark on Winkerbean
Billy the Skink
Do not forget!
All creative nitpickers pick their nits
Son of Stuck Funky
S. O. S. F.
Likable, challenging fare.
Happy Anniversary!
On behalf of all of us, thank you so very much @sorialpromise!
I’m honored. Kudos, sorialpromise.
This killed ME, more than the last one. The tiny ‘KILL HIM.’ surrounded by the massive empty speech bubble just…visual comedy of the highest order.
Makes me wonder how many strips would be improved by changing the last speech bubble to ‘Kill him.’
I admit it. I giggled through every one of these.
a mercy killing really.
Which FW strips could not be improved by changing the last speech bubble to ‘Kill him’? (Other than the ones that don’t have any speech bubbles?)
I had to work with the speech bubble that was there, so it was more of a happy side effect. I love your takes on it, though.
This is fun.
Guess what high school the Milford Mudlark baseball team clobbers in today’s strip…
https://www.gocomics.com/gilthorp/2022/04/18
Has it gotten to the point that the artists responsible for Gil Thorp are trolling TomBa?
My money’s on “Funky Winkerbean is so irrelevant that even Gil Thorp, the only other comic strip about high school sports, doesn’t know who they are.” Westview sounds exactly like those lame high schools that exist in the Gil Thorp-iverse anyway. “Tonight on local high school football: Big Walnut Tech vs. New Thayer!” Sounds right, doesn’t it?
“Why do I always spend my lunch period sitting alone up in the bleachers?” Because you’re a deeply shitty person, Les.
You think you’re a lovable loser, but you’re actually a nasty, selfish, bitter, arrogant, pushy loser. Even in Act I. You treat everyone like they owe you something. Especially girls you don’t even know, who are also way out of your league. The other kids aren’t being bullies or cliquish. They just know not to invite you to anything, because you’re going to make it about yourself and your massive ego. You’ve never lifted a finger for anyone else, unless it’s to get yourself some role you can use to lord over other people (hall monitor, newspaper editor). You’re Elliot Rodger waiting to happen – and Westview High School gave you the gun.
So now we’re into the fourth week of this nonsensical story arc, where Harry has travelled back in time and pretty much broke every rule of time travel. Now it appears that maybe Crazy is about to be detained? I’m hoping that a squirrel will crawl into the helmet and get transported back to 2022, leaving Crazy to languish in the past.
It also breaks one of Tom Batiuk’s stupid Rules of Cartooning, that story arcs should be no longer than three weeks. This is more of that cargo cult writing: one of the hallmarks is blind adherence to rules, while having no understanding of why those rules exist.
The point of advising a cartoonist to keeping arcs shorter than 3 weeks is because anything longer than that can probably be trimmed down. Tom Batiuk has no concept of editing, and is openly hostile to it. This story didn’t need a week setting up the helmet’s history, a week of Harry wandering around figuring out where he is, several days Harry worrying about time anomalies which he causes left and right anyway, and a pointless conversation with himself about comic books.
Then Batiuk breaks his own rule anyway.
Was this how Secret Squirrel started? Was there a mole with the squirrel who became the mighty Morocco?
Pickle, please, Rocky Rococo.
I “got” the Vonnegut reference in the strip link!