Now THIS one is just totally, wildly out of nowhere. The odds on EVER seeing a daily strip where Maddie and Keisha interact, only with each other, had to be a billion to one…until today, where Maddie (!) grills a recalcitrant and oddly hostile Keisha (!!) over Summer’s love life. This will undoubtedly fuel speculation over Summer and Keisha’s relationship, whether intentionally (I seriously doubt it) or otherwise. Until proven otherwise, everyone will still assume that Summer was the prom scenery of “uncertain sexual orientation”, let’s call it. And Keisha’s bitchy fronting over Maddie’s seemingly harmless query will do nothing to squelch that theory.
There’s a non-zero chance that this is the last time we’ll ever see either of these characters, which makes the whole thing even more mysterious and wildly random. And speaking of bitchiness, why are Westviewian women so notoriously catty? They’re fine while they’re in the background, setting up punch lines for the boys or making observations re: how dumb the men are, but get a pair of Westviewian women together and the claws come out. Someone obviously hurt BatYam a long time ago, but the less I know about it, the better off I am.
But anyway, circling back to the strip again, yeah, this seems to be a real sore spot with Keisha, for some mysterious, never-to-be-resolved reason. And why is BatNutz doing a strip about Summer’s love life (or lack thereof) anyhow? Was anyone clamoring for this? Has anyone ever clamored for this? What is it about single characters that makes him so uncomfortable? Why the incessant need to pair everyone up? Huh?
Son of Stuck Funky 
Was anyone clamoring for this? Has anyone ever clamored for this?
Well, I suppose we were clamoring for Not Dinkle and Definitely Not Les. Perhaps we should have been more specific.
Should we ask for “not-anyone-but-Pizza-Monster-and-Zanzibar-the-Murder-Chimp”? (I think they’re the only characters that I could feign any interest in at this point…)
Now there’s a couple I’d like to see get together.
I prefer Wally’s dog Buddy to the two of them.
Well, I mean…if Batiuk is actually paying attention to this blog the April Fools gag this year could have given him some ideas…
We may, or may not, have been clamoring to finally know who is behind the big gay castle.
I’m not, only because there is going to be some tie in to comic books!
Curiosity killed the cat? This is like a toddler who just learned a phrase but doesn’t yet understand how to use it. What harm is going to come to Maddie from making small-talk with Keisha? … Is Keisha going to stab her?
This interaction makes no sense whatsoever. Maddie knows Summer, and she’s right there, so why doesn’t she just talk to Summer directly? And why is Keisha so touchy? Does she still have a problem with playing second-banana to Summer, or is there some other mysterious reason? Or is she just a jerk?
Look, in my time as a single woman, I kind of understand getting touchy at people asking after your love life while at a function where someone else is getting hitched. That actually gives Maddie a reason to ask Keisha instead of Summer herself.
What makes no sense is Keisha’s reaction. Unless she is constantly bombarded with questions in college about Summer’s availability as a free agent to play for either or both teams.
Well, if Summer and Keisha are in a relationship that’s not out of the closet yet, I can imagine Keisha finding this question pretty annoying.
I really don’t like to speculate on Summer and Keisha’s sexuality. But good Lord, could Tom Batiuk imply it any harder? Thanks to Summer’s sudden, unexplained switch to the Ellen DeGeneres look, the two of them are even dressing as butch and femme now.
I genuinely don’t believe he’s intentionally implying anything, in my opinion he just sort of stumbled into it, as he is often want to do. But it’s just so odd.
I don’t think he is, either. But Batiuk is such a bad writer, and is so out of touch with reality, that he doesn’t know what he’s implying. And these two characters’ relationship is so stereotypically lesbian.
If Batiuk writes something that has the slightest chance of being interesting, it’s a good bet it wasn’t intentional.
Overkill? I’d settle for any sort of kill here. God nose how much this one stinks.
Hoo boy…
Yesterday The Dreamer theorized a trans arc with Summer, but it looks like we’re going Sapphic triangle instead. (on the last day of Pride Month no less).
As an Alphabet Person myself (Asexual) I might have to sit this one out, it’s not shaping up to be good….
Did someone just take over writing for Mr. Batiuk? We have just seen conflict enter the FW-verse. Where did it come from? Why is it here? Whoever the guest writer is, we want to thank that person. I can prove that Mr. Batiuk did not write this strip. Where is the ubiquitous smirk on either character? Do I expect this sudden appearance of writing skill to survive? NO!
Yet I bask in the momentary glow of FW having a potential plot. (and if I imagine deep enough, even an interesting story.) [Yes, I do still believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Why do you ask?]
It helps if you clap your hands.
It is conflict, but it’s inconsequential conflict. This story point came out of nowhere and it will probably go back there just as fast. If this was Monday or Tuesday, I might hope that this will get explored, but it’s the third Thursday of an arc that’s been completely filler. We’ve got two more random, terrible jokes and then it’s on to something else.
Thanks BJ6000. 🤪 My one slight, faint, inconsequential hope that Mr. Batiuk could actually write conflict, granted on a Thursday, and in a split second you wipe it away like the smudge from a small moth’s wing.
(*I have a dream.* It’s a good thing that you weren’t around MLK Jr. it would change to:
*I have a ‘broken’ dream.*) 😭🤓😅
Sorry, I didn’t mean to puncture your dream. And hey, I’m just speculating. I could be wrong.
You are wonderful! But we know where the smart money is being bet.
It’s pretty clear that we’re not supposed to give a rat’s ass about the Cory/Rocky marriage. (Luckily, we don’t, at all.) This wedding was just a vehicle for a bunch of rightfully buried one-liners that Batdick exhumed to fill panels. And now this. Will this Summer thing be continued into next week or, as ED suggested, will it be a one-off piece of nonsense like every other strip in this arc? Whatever happens next, it’s going to be worse than we could have imagined.
I’m only venturing an educated guess here, but I think this is what BatYam thinks “girls” talk about with one another when there aren’t any men around.
“So, how about that sex, huh?”
“What do YOU care, bitch?”
“Well, f*ck you too, bitch! Excuse me for asking!”
Something like that. And with this strip he’s pulling back the curtain for the benefit of us men, who ordinarily wouldn’t be made privy to this kind of “girl talk”. It’s highly disturbing, of course, but it’s oddly fascinating at the same time when you put it into overall FW context.
If we have the Bechdel Test, must we also have the Batiuk Test?
Batiuk Test: Whether or not two adults of any gender discuss a topic that is something other than comic books.
To pass you need (a) two women (b) talking (c) about a comic book (does this count? Hmm)
My favorite thing about this strip is that it reveals that these two, Summer’s own step-sister and Summer’s best high school friend, know just as much about what’s going on in her life as the readers of this strip do. I guess she’s “off-panel” a lot in the Batiukverse itself too.
On the extremely remote chance that Maddie’s question implies romantic interest on her part, TomBa owes CBH royalties for her masterful April Fools Day post.
As much as I would love to steal the credit and hide it away, it was TFH who dreamed up that genius little spoof strip. I just wrote the post to go around it.
An excellent joint effort!
The extraordinary talent behind this site never ceases to amaze, Thanks to all of you for creating and sustaining this gem of a community.
Just thinking out loud here.
In the real world, the living daughter of a dead mother who was the subject of an Oscar winning biopic and was played by what’s supposed to be the top of the A-list Hollywood celebrities would mean that Summer would be subject to a level of scrutiny, exposure, and criticism which most people never experience, right?
In that position, Summer could be capitalizing on her position to gain notoriety and publicity the likes of which millions of others dream of, right? That or she would crumble under the immense pressure and become a taciturn recluse who wouldn’t even be at this event, right?
Or is Summer just a common nobody’s daughter of a nobody high school teacher today. That’s how it appears this week, I guess. I donno, maybe these angles and Maddie’s question is rather justifiable to be discussed, Kesha. It would be interesting to have this all addressed in some manner, wouldn’t it?
And yet Summer was more visible than Rocky during Rocky’s wedding here, and none of this was even hinted at for a moment. Huh. That’s some writing there, bub.
1. WHY DON’T YOU CUT TO THE CHASE AND ASK HER YOUR OWN DAMN SELF?! SHE’S STANDING RIGHT OVER THERE!
2. Ah, nothing like a half-assed, cheap, bargain basement, completely 100% non-romantic non-religious wedding officiated by a member of the Holy Order of St. William of Gates to get Miss Copper Top in the mood for some “experimentation”…
3. Romances make me uneasy… Forgive me, but with all the marriages, divorces, stepchildren, adoptees, surrogate parents, and long lost family connections, is it wrong that as a precaution I just automatically assume all the young people in Westview are somehow related or in-laws or something?
In the immortal words of Cosmo Kramer, “Ye ye, catfight!”
Oh my god, I was kidding about the invisibility. But I see no other reason why Keisha wasn’t part of the Moore ensemble when they were admiring the “unification display.” Does she have a restraining order against Les?!
Anyway, it’s nice to see that the characters can’t recognize each other either. Maddie was just talking to Summer and she didn’t even know it!
Curiosity never killed a cat, so this strip is going to weaponize boredom and try again.
It looks like we’re in for an old-fashioned cat fight! In immortal words of Mr
Peterman, “Woof!’
Meow!
I was wrong. The young lady in the floral print dress is indeed Maddie, and not Rachel. In hindsight, the hat and the absence of a ponytail should have been dead giveaways. Only in the Funkyverse does a high school relationship trump a family relationship.
I hope poor Rachel had fun baking and boxing all those pizzas with Wally. Rachel left Montoni’s to go back to school after Wally graduated, but she did say she’d be available for special days. I assume Cory’s wedding qualifies.
What’s the deal with Maddie being colored as a blonde in the Sunday strip, just like Rachel usually is? Does the Sunday colorist have an issue with gingers?
I was wrong. The young lady in the floral print dress is indeed Maddie, and not Rachel. In hindsight, the hat and the absence of a ponytail should have been dead giveaways. Only in the Funkyverse does a high school relationship trump a family relationship.
I hope poor Rachel had fun baking and boxing all those pizzas with Wally. Rachel left Montoni’s to go back to school after Wally graduated, but she did say she’d be available for special days. I assume Cory’s wedding qualifies.
What’s the deal with Maddie being colored as a blonde in the Sunday strip, just like Rachel usually is? Does the Sunday colorist have an issue with gingers?
Moderator,
Why are my comments going into moderation? Please email me why. Thanks
I’m not the moderator, but I think it just happens to everyone sometimes. it’s happened to me on and off.
Thanks. I’ve been posting here for almost a year without issue. I guess it was just my turn. 😁
Honestly, I’m not sure why that happens, but it’s not anything you’re doing. Let me see how I can prevent that, apologies. We recently got a flood of spam comments, so perhaps the filter is a little wonky.
Oh, so you’re the moderator, not someone at WordPress. Thank you for the explanation.
A week or so ago I noticed my comments took a long time to post when my VPN was engaged. I normally only have the VPN on when I’m paying bills or the like because there’s such a performance drag. Perhaps this website doesn’t like my VPN. Maybe I had it on this morning. I did do some online banking.
Cheers
That’s totally possible and plausible. We get alerts when a comment is held, sometimes we can check it out right away, sometimes not. Sorry about that!
I do recall that Summer and Cory were pretty close in the early days of Act III, and it seemed like they were going to get together for a while. Maybe that’s what the girls are touchy about, who knows. It’s not like this will lead to anything substantial.
I think I’ve said it before but who would you have expected to have a featured wedding with: Summer, or Cory? She was all set to be the future star of the strip and tbh i still think her wedding would work as an end to the strip (better than Elizabeth/Anthony in FBOFW).