Oh yay, we finally get to meet Rocky’s mom, Carla! I’m sure she’ll quickly become a beloved recurring character, and surely doesn’t exist entirely for this “sin-in-law” joke. Holly’s face is looking especially rough in the second panel. I don’t know if it’s because she’s weary at the prospect of at least another week of bad sitcom level wedding tropes, like I am.
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Son of Stuck Funky · The web's premiere source for Funky Winkerbean snark
Son of Stuck Funky 
Rocky’s harried, weather-beaten mom lives! And apparently she’s some sort of weird religious freak now, too. I remember her having something to do with the Starbuck Jones collection arc, which had to be in 2014 or 2015 or thereabouts. This is a really, really shitty gag, just abysmal. “Sin-in-law”…sheesh. I’d be so embarrassed to have written that. But then again, I’ve never been nominated for any really prestigious awards, so what do I know? I did win a FW mug in a parody strip contest, though. And the contest wasn’t even rigged or anything, swear to God.
The contest was the first time I posted a parody strip here, and I was robbed!
Here are two Rocky sightings. Notice the only line that she got is one the one that I gave her.
In the first one from 2018 Holly and Funky are leaving for FL to pick up her mother.
Didn’t Rocky kick the winning(?) field goal wearing her prom dress? Wasn’t it raining? This strip shows Bull getting inducted into the hall of fame.
That was Mickey, Bull’s daughter. Rocky was “introduced” off-screen, and if I recall correctly the “gag” was that “Cory’s army friend Rocky” was a girl named Roxanne, which wasn’t immediately made clear.
I remember the contest too. Les was reaching for a bag of something from the kitchen cabinet and I Photoshopped “Lisa’s Ashes” on to the bag. It was funnier than it sounds. As much as I enjoy and respect your work, Ian, I earned that f*cking mug. Still have it, too.
In fact, that was actually the second SoSF contest I won. There was one going on when I first found the site. I won, but I passed on the prize, as I felt it should go to a regular, which was really just a shameless attempt to curry favor with TFH and the rest of the regulars, as that was a tough, tough crowd. And here I am today, with a corner office and my own scanner/fax machine.
Well I’m a FW mug nominated writer. I make sure and let everyone know this any chance I get.
Oh look, it’s Holly’s “good friend” Carla Rhoades… making her first appearance in 8-and-a-half years.
Oh wow, I was really wondering if she’d ever been mentioned before. I honestly kind of assumed Batiuk just created her for the “sin-in-law” gag. I’m actually kind of impressed he got her name right. Considering his strips have two different characters named “Rocky Rhodes” I’m surprised he didn’t name her Dirt, Winding, Paved, Icy, or Open.
You know, I thought I remember her having a bunch of kids, but the whole thing is really kind of hazy, given how it happened so long ago. “Rocky Rhoades”…I forgot all about that. I seriously doubt that Carla holds the record for most time elapsed between appearances, but she has to be in the top ten, I suppose.
Most time elapsed between appearances? So far I’d put it at Roland disappearing in 1975, and showing up again in 2008.
Though Funky’s AA crew was a really weird find.
“It seems Cory and Rocky have become good friends” seems like a much better euphemism than “sin-in-law” for “the two of them have been humping like rabbits.” Seriously, ladies, they’ve been engaged to be married since Obama was in the White House. Can we just acknowledge that a 21st-century heterosexual couple in their 30s (40s?) and together for the better part of a decade have probably slept with each other and move on reception decor and seating arrangements?
This seems like a quest for Comic Book Harriet….
CBH, just how many recurring named characters does this strip have?
I suppose I should put some sort of qualification on this: I mean characters we’re somehow expected to recognize even if it’s been years or decades since their last appearance. So, named FW characters who appeared in speaking roles in a series of strips over the years, maybe at least 5-6 times.
Is this a question that would break the CBH research algorithms? Am I pushing you beyond the realms of the possible? Are there some things mankind is Just Not Meant To Know?
Just a guess, but IMO one hundred sounds about right. There are some REALLY obscure characters out there who are just long, long forgotten. Like Les’ daughter, you know, ol’ Whatshername.
Gotta catch ’em all!
(And then never let them escape from the titanium-reinforced holding cell you have imprisoned ’em in.)
We are in the middle of haying season! Do not tempt me with this.
I would say for Act III, more than 200 characters have been given names and appeared in more than one arc.
Two hundred? Good Lord. And that’s not even counting the SLEW of Act II characters we haven’t seen in decades, like the old girls’ basketball coach or those jerks who ran the “other” comic book store.
Oh, I recognize this might be a long, long-term project! But 200+ for Act III alone? Wow…..
For one panel, I thought Carla might actually be a real character. But Panel 2 disabused me of that notion. She’s a one-note object to set in motion a tiresome, long-overplayed discussion of pre-marital bed fun. This seems to be at least 20 years past its expiration date. OK,
Bon Jovi’s most famous album Slippery When Wet had a song called “Living in Sin.” Even in 1986 I thought the concept was outdated.
“This was quite controversial, as schools had already been racially integrated for a while, and I did not realize that.”
Dan Ronan as Tim Negoda, the gift that keeps on giving. (And right after we got done with “a huge slap in the face to the African-American community”, too.)
So Roxanne has a mother after all? Once again I ask why she isn’t planning the wedding herself?
It’d probably be for the best, as Carla appears to have a hell of a lot on her plate. Man, has she aged terribly or what? I never understood why BatYam felt compelled to give the impression that Cory was “marrying down”, as they say. I mean, Cory was easily the second biggest all-around scumbag in FW history (Frankie), it’s not like he was some great catch or anything.
But you’re forgetting that Cory is third-in-line to inherit the Montoni’s franchise. That’s basically like marrying a Rockefeller in Westview.
Funky should be the Boss Hogg of this town. Widely hated, but sucked up to because he’s the only source of any jobs.
So, even though I thought Carla was supposed to seem nice, if a bit strung out…I guess we have to put in her in the same category as Roberta Blackburn.
Also, had we gotten any confirmation that Corey and Rocky were living in sin up to this point?
Ah, that age-old philosophical question, “Can Tom Batiuk craft a joke so unfunny that even he won’t copy himself?”.
Good old Roberta, FW’s token meddlesome old bag. She may have been the second most dislikable character in the entire strip.
I actually like this one? Rocky’s mom is giving her own daughter the “ugh what a tramp” side eye! And for some reason Rocky looks gobsmacked, like she somehow forgot that her mother disapproves of her life choices.
… And also that she’s a war veteran who can say “Mother, marrying Cory is my choice. Just like how joining the army was my choice. Therefore, if you don’t love Cory, you don’t love AMERICA!”
“Oh, chortle! How witty that you imply our son/stepson is going to hell, for not getting married on *your* timeframe. Please come and enjoy our large, newly renovated home, which your daughter is already acting like she owns. Judging from that stringy hair and those lines on your face, how are things in the dumpster behind 7-11?”
Sheesh, this woman is rude. Why do characters put up with this treatment? Why does Tom Batiuk think it’s funny?
Judging by her hair and face, I was going to infer Carla was a witch who flew in on her broom.
Nope. Still not a sentence for Shiny Nickel ™ purposes as Rocky has yet to say a word about the actual wedding. “Her” wedding. She probably knows it’s going to end up at Montoni’s anyway and she’s just resigned to getting through it.
♫Roxanne
You don’t have to put on the red light
Those days are over
You don’t have to sell your body to the night♫
The Police – Roxanne
Geez, Mrs. Rhodes, slut-shame your daughter much?
I’m so old that I can remember an ad for the record containing this song in a newspaper (not *The Sentinel*!) which called it “Rock, Sand.”
And singing, as a good Vassar boy, “Born in the Fifties” as “Born in Poughkeepsie.”
Kissthisguy.com is a website dedicated to misheard song lyrics. “Rock Sand” is in there.
https://www.kissthisguy.com/search_results.php?SearchType=Genre&SearchType=Artist&SearchType=Song&SearchType=Lyric&SearchType=Misheard&SearchAccuracy=contains&SearchTerm=rock+sand&findThoseLyrics=Search%21
According to today’s strip and the strip @BillytheSkink just posted where Holly is visiting Carla, it’s somewhat safe to assume Carla lives within reasonable driving distance. If not, where’s her luggage?
Let me get this straight. Please, correct me if I’m wrong. There are gaps in my Funky Winkerbean reading and knowledge. There is a hole in my mind, as my husband would like to joke (from one of his Sci-Fi programs).
Cory fell in love with Rocky while both served in the same unit abroad, thousands of miles away from home. Yet both are from the Westview area?
Wow, that is one hell of a coincidence, Batty.
I remember that one—its from Babylon 5! Nerd alert (i mean me).
Husband confirms he stole the line from Babylon 5. The quote was from an alien called Kosh?
He bought the entire Babylon 5 series on iTunes.
I got another question — I’m sorry because so many legacy Funkyverse characters get married and divorced and married to someone or born to a different parent that I lose track…
1. Does Dr. Rundfunk have any grandchildren?
2. Did he have any kids with Cindye Sommerse-Winkerbeane-Jarre?
3. Does Cindye have any kids, period? Because if she does I find it impossible to believe they wouldn’t be hitching themselves to the Hollywood gravy train after she married the biggest actor in town…
As far as I know, Funky and Cindy didn’t have any kids. Cory is Holly’s son from her mysterious first marriage. Wally and Becky have a son, Wally Jr., who doesn’t appear all that much, or at all.
Holly: Sin-in-law. Ha, good one Carla. We call your daughter “Trampasaurus Rox”.
T. Rox for short, as you bang the gong and get it on, jeepsters for your love!
In panel two, if you brushed Holly’s hair straight up (including her prehensile cowlick), she would resemble a troll doll.
I’m sure she’ll quickly become a beloved recurring character,
You joke, but since she’s an elderly woman, there’s an excellent chance she becomes the recurring character her daughter ought to be and pushes them out of the comic. Because while being sassy is hilarious, being elderly AND sassy is comic gold!