by | February 10, 2023 · 11:33 pm

Dumb Cranky Post

Here. Ya Happy?

More Frankie nonsense Sunday night.

Advertisement

36 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

36 responses to “Dumb Cranky Post”

  1. sorialpromise
    February 11, 2023 at 1:16 am

    So here at the beginning, I have the blog to myself. CBH is playing with the new ChatGPT. TF and Epicus are in their third day of Super Bowl parties. Go Chiefs. We have won 2 and lost 2. So the suns comes up on Monday regardless.
    But I am pumped for other reasons. Took my wife to the airport to visit her Mom in Arizona. Mr. SP made points with Mrs. SP: I had ordered a dozen red roses and a rose corsage 🌺💐🌹to be delivered on Thursday. When she got them, she thought they were her mother’s until she read the card. She was quite appreciative. ♥️💖❤️.
    Then I invited my kids, spouses, and grandkids to meet me at the best chicken restaurant ever. You know it is the best because of their motto: We Choke Our Own Chickens! (You can even buy the shirt!)
    Then even bigger news. My son invited me to attend my 5 year old granddaughter’s baptism on Sunday. She accepted Jesus as her Savior. Then asked to be baptized. That is until she found out it was by immersion. Her Dad calmed her down, and she has decided to go through with it.
    So it has been an eventful week.
    I leave a note for Anonymous Sparrow: I just bought “the Waste Land” by TS Eliot. I had to do a little research on his editor, Ezra Pound.
    Then to Be Ware of Eve Hill: why are we not having a SOSF Super Bowl party at YOUR house?
    What are you fixing, if we all stop in?
    Last of all, there is never a wrong time to dump on Les More. 🤪😱😵‍💫😜

    • ComicBookHarriet
      February 12, 2023 at 12:43 am

      Going from a chicken restaurant with a filthy double entendre motto to the touching story of a child’s baptism….

      Only you SP. Only you!

      (Congrats to your granddaughter btw!)

      • sorialpromise
        February 12, 2023 at 12:47 am

        It is quite a gift I have, my dear CBH, and Strouds makes good chicken! If it was closer, I would eat at the Machine Shed in Des Moines. Love to you and all your family. ♥️💖❤️🌺💐🌹

      • Hannibal’s Lectern
        February 12, 2023 at 8:29 am

        At least he didn’t go down to Missouri to buy some fudge from Uranus. Yes, they have billboards all up and down I-44, proclaiming “the best fudge comes from URANUS!” Pretty sure you can buy a t-shirt with that slogan. But where would you ever wear it?

        And now I’m off to church…

    • be ware of eve hill
      February 12, 2023 at 9:52 am

      Ya’ suurrr… SOSF Super Bowl party at MY house. I still have the frozen peas and hot dogs from the last time you volunteered my humble abode. 😉

      I believe I also added bargain frozen pizzas to the menu to simulate Montoni’s pizza. A recent restaurant opening has added a new pizzeria to the neighborhood. Some pizzerias have great Italian names, like “Giuseppe’s” or “Guido’s”. This one is named “Guillermo’s”. We haven’t tried them and probably never will. Several friends and neighbors have described Guillermo’s pizza as, “the worst I’ve ever had”, “a disgrace to the name pizza”, and “even my dog won’t eat it.” Sounds like Montoni’s to me. 😂

      So, SP, we’ve got the chow if you provide the transportation. Should I ask the church if we can borrow some folding chairs?

      Even if the Chiefs lose, sports wise, I’ve had a good year and can’t complain (too much). The Buckeyes made the BCS playoffs and the Chiefs finally beat the Bengals and are in the Super Bowl.

      True story: My son’s family was in town for New Year’s Eve. We were watching the Ohio State/Georgia BCS playoff. The rest of the family wanted to see the ball drop in Time’s Square, so I was relegated to the bedroom to finish the game. It was too close of a game to quit watching. While everyone was shouting “Happy New Year” in the living room, I was yelling in anguish in the bedroom. Just as the ball dropped in Times Square, the OSU kicker missed the potential game-winning field goal. I remember my husband asking my son to help me off the floor. The kick was wide left as soon as it left his foot. The kick did not go through the uprights. The kick did not hit the net behind the goalposts. The kick did not reach the stands. I’m happy to report, the kick eventually did hit the earth. TCU got killed by Georgia the following week, but I’ll always be grateful they upset “That School Up North.”
      —————-

      So you ship Mrs. SP, off to her mother’s and party down with the kids in her absence? Harsh. Glad you bought her flowers. 😁😂

      Can’t you visit your MIL too?

      My MIL is great. If I ever dump her bum of a son, I’d still love to hang out with her. My FIL, too. He’s the funniest man I’ve ever met.
      ————–

      Congratulations to your granddaughter on her baptism Sunday.

      My baptism involved a minister’s damp hand, and I don’t recall having much of a say in it, as I was an infant. It all worked out in the end. 🙏
      ———————

      I’m glad to read there’s a Stroud’s still open. Acquaintances in the area have informed me that a few have closed. 😞😥

      Harry Dinkle: (rubs chin) Never touch a turkey Never choke a chicken, you say?

      CHEERS

      • sorialpromise
        February 12, 2023 at 1:56 pm

        There is nothing quite like a BWOEH reply.
        Kansas City misses you. You and Mal should come back to retire. Then you can meet LaDonna in person. We would come out there, but apparently you do not live in Colorado. Wouldn’t we feel foolish going there. 😜😭🤪

        • be ware of eve hill
          February 12, 2023 at 5:20 pm

          We’re in New Mexico.

          Moving back to Missouri is a thought, but I doubt I could talk Mal into it. Golf all year round, hunting, and good skiing a couple of hours away. I would like to be near my son’s family, but their location can be a moving target until his wife retires from the military. Not only that, but I pray she doesn’t get transferred to someplace like Guam in the meantime.

          I really miss hanging around with three cousins who live in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. They’re second cousins (once removed) on Mom’s side of the family.

    • be ware of eve hill
      February 12, 2023 at 10:01 am

      @Gerard Plourde is an Eagle’s fan. Why don’t you bet some Kansas City barbecue against some Philly Cheesesteaks? 🤔😉

  2. William Thompson
    February 11, 2023 at 1:39 am

    Good news/better news: The good news is, there are no regular Crankshaft characters in today’s Crankshaft. The better news is, there are no FW characters in it, either. By introducing two utterly irrelevant characters, Batiuk has vastly improved the strip. Now he just needs to change the name, get some decent artwork and hire a good comedy writer, and the strip might stink less.

  3. Paul Jones
    February 11, 2023 at 2:49 am

    The interesting thing about Crankshaft that people tend to not realize is that deep down, Batiuk actually appears to give a shit about it. If apathy were visible, we could light up the room by Winkerbean.

  4. Rusty Shackleford
    February 11, 2023 at 7:22 am

    Very happy! Thanks CBH.

  5. Gerard Plourde
    February 11, 2023 at 10:00 am

    A week of TomBa making fun of The Weather Channel with the main characters reduced to observer status. Is this kind of thing going to become a periodic feature? (The first week of January was spent watching football).

    Also, is the meteorologist reporting outdoors on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday supposed to be the same person? The face certainly looks the same.

    And if TomBa actually paid attention to The Weather Channel, he’d know that, unlike his Cindy clone, the women reporting from the field wear weather-appropriate gear, like their male counterparts.

    • Bill the Splut
      February 11, 2023 at 8:07 pm

      Well, remember that this is the Crankyverse, which is set 10 years ago. That’s why the Weather Channel buys their lady garments on Fleabay…
      …Or was Funky set 10 years in the future? But they have the same technology…but the “flu epidemic” arc in Cranky was obviously about covid…but it didn’t affect Winkerview at all…

      Oh, man. I got it, man. It’s
      Flash #123, man! Flash #123s all the way down!!

    • William Thompson
      February 12, 2023 at 12:22 pm

      Why is Batso dumping on the Weather Channel? Did they get his local forecast wrong a year ago? Did that error devastate some special event in his life? Maybe a St. Lisa’s Day picnic was spoiled by a lack of gloomy clouds. Did someone hold a marching-band competition, and it literally rained on his parade?

  6. Gerard Plourde
    February 11, 2023 at 10:04 am

    CBH,

    Your reworked strip is genius!

  7. Rusty Shackleford
    February 11, 2023 at 12:29 pm

    Love how the GoComics people are having fits now that all us Crankshaft snarkers have moved over.

    One guy has some nerve complaining, he follows Luann!

    • Bill the Splut
      February 12, 2023 at 4:37 pm

      I started reading Luann after Josh at CC refused to. It’s certainly not as…”entertaining,” is the word I’ll use, as FW. It’s weird, in like a very pedestrian way.
      In 9CWLane, everyone is obsessed with sex and has it in public. In Luann, everyone is obsessed with sex and NEVER has it. If the current arc ends with “Bets climbs out of that guy’s bedroom window before the deed” I may quit. That’s been done in 2 strips in the last year. There’s a point where it becomes “Tarantino sure likes lady-feet” and then is a weird author fetish. Like, I dunno, ignoring your TWO hot young GFs while you dance with your dead wife’s ghost, but who’d write that?

      • beckoningchasm
        February 12, 2023 at 5:08 pm

        I like the art in Luann. Evans’ female characters are very well drawn, while his male characters are generic potatoes.

        If you want weird comics, you should read Banana Triangle.

        • Bill the Splut
          February 12, 2023 at 5:16 pm

          Hecks yeah. I called the him “that guy” because he looks exactly like the “married to hot blonde firefighter lady” other guy. I have no idea who they are, and I’ve been reading it for about 2-3 years. Of course, this also applies to “every hot blonde trophy lady nerds get” in FW.
          Remember recently in Luann when hot redhead Tara said…one of those 2 dudes was hot, and he was drawn like a diseased skin tag?

          • beckoningchasm
            February 12, 2023 at 10:20 pm

            The female characters are really well drawn, with well defined faces and expressions. They really are alive. The male characters, on the other hand, look like they wandered in from a Walker-Browne strip, or a “post your stick figures!” contest. It’s odd, but it makes reading the strip interesting.

  8. Y. Knott
    February 11, 2023 at 1:37 pm

    “Dumb Cranky Post” watch, day 3: The post has arrived! And was worth the wait.

    Your Funky/Cranky remixes are always welcome, CBH! Also Funky/Frankie/Cranky remixes.

    (Although after typing that, I realized that Funky Frankie Cranky sounds like the stage name of possibly the worst 80s rapper ever…)

  9. MopMan
    February 11, 2023 at 2:14 pm

    Exxxxxxxxxxxxcellant!

  10. Bill the Splut
    February 11, 2023 at 9:32 pm

    The best Cranky strip:
    (Jeff and Rot-nose stare blankly at TV screen)
    JEFF: “All-Death TV says there’s a bit about the town next to us!”
    ANNOUNCER: “And here is the horrifying footage of teacher and beloved author and Best Actress Oscar-winner Les Moore being run over by a school bus!”
    **SQUISH**
    (pause)
    Crank: “He must’ve eaten Lena’s brownies!”

  11. William Thompson
    February 12, 2023 at 1:31 am

    “A tip of the Cranky Crayola to Joe Filipiak?” For a one-panel idea? Is Crankshaft turning into Pluggers? Keep an eye on Ed’s nose. Maybe it’ll morph into a rhino horn.

  12. Rusty Shackleford
    February 12, 2023 at 2:44 am

    Ah Sunday is here and Batty is now shilling for the Medina ice festival. Wow, that is like 12 miles from my house! And to be mentioned in the newspaper, well huzzah!

    Seriously, this sucks.

    • Hannibal’s Lectern
      February 12, 2023 at 8:36 am

      I liked today’s strip, simply because Batty didn’t give us a week of buildup before the Sunday “punchline” (Krankus destroys the winning sculpture, Krankus awards first prize to an uncarved block of ice, etc.). Today’s strip acknowledges the annual repetition of the gag and goes right to the payoff. Maybe at some point he’ll just replace the panels with the words “Old Joke Number 76” (which is itself an old joke).

      • TFHackett
        February 12, 2023 at 10:07 am

        See, I disliked today’s Crankshaft.

        I needed “a week of buildup.” Right off the bat, my brain wanted to know why a dolphin is leaping from an ice puddle behind Crankshaft’s bus. Then my eyes picked up the sign (and I hate when cartoonists use digital type instead of hand lettering shit like this), and I understood that this was an ice sculpture. But what had that sculpture looked like before Ed’s exhaust ruined it? Was it a towering, elaborate sculpture, or just a big dolphin made out of ice? You also would think that the Lord of Climate Damage Awareness shouldn’t be so cavalier about an unnecessarily idling diesel bus.

        • ComicBookHarriet
          February 12, 2023 at 11:28 am

          I appreciated the gag, but felt the execution was off from a fundamental artistic perspective. The framing is all jacked up on this strip. The way the bus takes up half the frame and then the lines on the bus intersect with the tree line means there is this weird focus point right in the center of the panel where NOTHING is going on. It takes the rule of thirds and just chucks it.

          https://www.virtualartacademy.com/the-rule-of-thirds-in-art/#:~:text=The%20rule%20of%20thirds%20is,and%20layout%20for%20your%20compositions.

          Meanwhile the little puff of exhaust is too far at the bottom of the panel, the area of focus needs to be either the exhaust hitting the statue, or Cranky’s face. Or both. both works.

          Cranky and teacher’s feet are hidden by the snowline, which is something a middle schooler does when they can’t be assed to draw feet.

          Such are the constraints of collage

          • Gerard Plourde
            February 12, 2023 at 1:41 pm

            CBH,

            Great analysis of the strip’s artwork. It made me take a closer look at what they chose to present as a finished product. It appears that both TomBa and Davis are basically “mailing it in”.

            The only thing that even hints at perspective is the sign and I’d be curious whether it’s drawn to fit the scale of the rest of the work.

            I see that there’s a hint of teacher’s feet but that only shows up how truncated Crankshaft’s legs are.

            On a different but somewhat related subject, I see that Batiuk’s blog has abandoned pretty much all commentary – no Flash Fridays, no posts about his rereading of Asimov’s Foundation and Robot series. I would think with one less strip to deal with that he would have written more on his blog.

            It makes me wonder how long Crankshaft will continue if for some reason Batiuk no longer remains involved. Will Davis continue as writer and illustrator or is his contribution only the art?

  13. Mela
    February 12, 2023 at 2:10 pm

    CBH-Brilliant work as always!

    I didn’t mind the Crankshaft arc too much this week. Weather reporters standing outside dipping a tape measure into snow and telling you the weather’s bad so stay inside, basically overselling winter storms, is pretty standard in the Midwest. Six days of it was maybe a bit much, but it wasn’t awful.

    Uranus Fudge Factory is definitely for real. I see occasional posts from friends who have travelled west and have seen the signs.

    SorialPromise-Many congratulations on your daughter’s baptism! I still remember being a little mortified watching my aunt get baptized when I was a little kid. She stepped down into the baptismal font wearing a lovely white robe, the reverend took her hand said some words, and all of a sudden dunked her into the water. I had no idea what was going on, but I remember thinking “what a really dirty trick!” I was baptized years later as an adult-no immersion, just some water on my forehead and bangs and a much better understanding of its meaning.

    Luann-Now there’s a strip featuring characters with severe boundary issues. I think I’ve read that one since it started, when Luann and I were almost the same age :).

    Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! Go Chiefs, go Eagles!