Sunday October 30, 2011. Batiuk has Ayers spend hours of his life drawing a bunch of nerds in a pointless single panel strip as a homage to a Rembrandt painting. Why? I don’t know. I guess he’s trying to imply that the grading of second-hand comics by a group of high schoolers and small business owners has the same amount of solemnity and grandeur of elected officials grading the quality of hand woven cloth.
The only thing I got from it is a nerdy version of ‘I Spy’. I found ‘Star [The Clone Wars] Wars’, Hellboy, Stan Marsh, Venom, Domo, and Ground Zero comics. What can you find?
But at least I can get behind the concept mashing up pop culture or memes, and masterful high art for comedic, ironic, or surrealistic effect.
I understand the artistic impulse behind The Comics Graders, even if I think it’s a weak attempt.
It’s got nothing on the week that follows.
You all know me by now. I am always ready to throw Batiuk a bone when I can, and defend something. I’m always ready crouch on the line with a fence post up my ass if I think restraint is justified.
Today we bitch.
First, our dear Chullo Head, Owen, walks into Komix Korner and immediately starts talking about hot button political topics. And this is the ONLY strip this entire week that I can get behind. Being concerned that the media people consume will negatively affect their behavior is Older than Feudalism. So any one thinking moral outrage is ‘new’ is ignorant and should be corrected.
EURIPIDES: You wretched man,
How has my Stheneboia harmed our state?AESCHYLUS: Because you helped persuade the noble wives
of well-born men to drink down hemlock,
ashamed of those like your Bellerophon.EURIPIDES: My Phaedra story—did I make that up?
AESCHYLUS: No—it was there. But it’s a poet’s task
Aristophanes, ‘The Frogs’ 405 B.C.
to conceal disgrace—not put it on parade
front and centre and instruct men in it.
Small children have a teacher helping them,
for young men there’s the poets—we’ve got
a solemn duty to say useful things.
AND HERE’S WHERE THINGS GO OFF THE RAILS.
The first panel states a simple, uncomplicated fact. Dr. Fredric Wertham published The Seduction of the Innocent in 1954. And then the next two panels DSH comes to a simple, uncomplicated, and unsubstantiated conclusion.
Let’s zoom in on Ol’ Johnny’s glasses. For the lulz.
Ahem. I am sorry, but WHAT? How, in the year of our lord 2011, could anyone claim that playing video games was against the ‘status quo’? The status quo WAS video games. In 2011 my brothers were looked at as weirdo freaks because we DIDN’T have video games. And that was just because my brothers didn’t have the patience for them, not from any kind of moral standpoint. My mom even got them a console, which they almost never used, and promptly lost most of the hardware for.
Tom. You do not need to defend the concept of video games in a vacuum. No one except the Amish have a moral or ethical problem with occasionally using a computer and a joystick to move objects on a screen for fun.
There are two modern arguments against video games. One, that they’re addictive and overstimulating to children. And Tom doesn’t want to address this aspect of it at all because he doesn’t actually care about compulsive gaming or hyperactive children. Because neither of those fit his pet narrative of ‘bullied nerds vs. moral guardians’.
Two, that some SOME video games could lead to increased aggressive or antisocial behavior. And Tom has DSH John simply say, “Not True.” and then plug his ears and run away from examining any further evidence about the effects of Duke Nukem Forever on the adolescent brain.
His reasoning seems to be:
People say video games are bad for kids.
People used to say comic books are bad for kids.
Comic books aren’t bad for kids.
Ergo, video games aren’t bad for kids.
You all are smart folks. I don’t need to tell you how braindead that is. But incase Tom is reading, here is why that is dumb.
People say an icepick to the head is bad for you.
People used to say bathing is bad for you.
Bathing isn’t bad for you.
Ergo, an icepick to the head isn’t bad for you.
Plus it shoves everything labeled ‘comic books’ or ‘video games’ under this aegis of harmlessness, and not allowing for any specifics to be condemned. Like asking someone if dogs are cool, and then showing up with the original dog from hell, (Poochie). Or inviting John Wayne Gacy to your son’s birthday because ‘clowns are funny’.
Argh! It just keeps getting worse and worse! Every panel of this damn thing is like self-righteous sand paper, with tiny little nuggets of stupid, grinding up against the logic centers of my brain.
First panel, truthy enough. But with huge problems. What if the bogeyman really exists? If you dismiss every word of caution, or moral panic, as the rantings of a self-important Chicken Little you’ll miss your chance to prop up the sky.
Second Panel demonizes the busybodies, and says they’re the ones ‘to blame’. Maybe sometimes that’s true, but I seriously doubt it applies in this case. Is Tom saying that the people concerned about the levels of violence and aggression in teens are somehow the actual cause of violence and aggression? How? Please, I’d love to see the scenario.
And then, again, I’m sorry but WHAT?
Kids who play video games are the weakest and most vulnerable in society? My lord, but Tom’s Nerd-Martyr complex is insane and intense. Does he see every kid with a Batman shirt as a pathetic social outcast, misunderstood by society, unable to fit in, and the object of universal scorn? For someone who started his career seeking to overturn tired old highschool clichés, Tom seems to take this one as the gospel truth. News flash, Tom, being a cheerleader doesn’t make a girl a bitch. And being a Dungeon Master doesn’t make you a suffering saint. I don’t care what things were like for comic collecting boys in 1962, this is 2011. Video games are mainstream and nerds are cool.
And what is this nonsense with the Salem Witch Trials? Does Tom know anything about the Salem Witch Trials? The people accused of witchcraft ran the entire social gamut, from a local beggar woman, to wealthy landowners, to a preacher who recited The Lords Prayer on the gallows. And you know who the accusers were? A group of girls and young women, some servants, some orphans, who claimed to be tormented by apparitions in the shapes of the accused. Yeah, the powerful in town were involved in the trials and executions, but it wasn’t a story of the strong against the weak. It was the story of an entire community swept into hysteria by the power of a common and oft repeated narrative.
Guys…I’ve really jumped down the google hole again on this one. Batiuk’s passion is preaching about comic books from his soap box, and my passion is hosing the man down.
Looks like we’re in for a THREE PART SERIES.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Now, the original beef most people had with Wertham is that his shtick appears to let parents clean off the hook. He wasn’t the first huckster to reassure inept parents they weren’t in any way to blame for behavior they didn’t like and he ain’t gonna be the last. Walt Kelly wasn’t fooled by this. He had Churchy La Femme huff and puff that adult delinquents had seniority over junior ones.
Also, this is in service to Batiuk’s monstrous vanity. He needs to see himself as uniquely put upon and misunderstood. It’s why he had a sock puppet on Comics Kingdom whine about being ‘bullied’ when people called him on his weak BS.
There’s a difference in having a passion for certain things (like comic books) and allowing that passion to completely dominate your philosophy of life. Tom Batiuk is a perfect illustration of the latter.
Person: Looks like it might rain today.
Tom: Yeah, that darn Weather Wizard!
Person: Whut.
Mark Mardon always blows up a storm, doesn’t he?
(Allusion to *The Flash* #145, June, 1964.)
I think the first image reminds me of Breaking Bad
Owen (with Bryan Crantson’s voice): Cody, we need to cook.
(Breaking Bad intro song plays)
The Sunday strip is the sort of thing i often see on an artist’s Patreon. “Oh, here’s a specific commission someone else paid for, let me repurpose it here for you all.” Maybe he wanted something to hang over his mantle and got Ayres to whip it up under the guise of the syndicate paying for it. Mission accomplished.
As for the diatribe against Wertham et al let me note for the record that Thomas Batiuk Esq was all of seven years old when Seduction of the Innocent came out. That’s quite a time to keep that chip on his shoulder!
Thomas Batiuk Esq was all of seven years old when Seduction of the Innocent came out.
He’s seven years old now.
Not sure of the precise wording, but someone once noted that you had to remember in dealing with Theodore Roosevelt that he was really only six years old.
That should put seven-year-old Tom Batiuk one up on the 26th President, but I’ll bet he couldn’t govern the country and control daughter Alice simultaneously any more than Roosevelt could.
The hero of A.A. Milne’s poem would stop at six, because he was “clever as clever.” Perhaps at seven he’d think he’d found heaven, and needn’t wait for eleven!
Through tedious but worthwhile research, the best answer I can give to who said the President is 6 years old is Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, a British diplomat and lifelong friend to Teddy. He was also Teddy’s best man at his wedding. I thought it might have been John M. Hay, Teddy’s Secretary of State. I believe the great movie, “The Wind and the Lion”, has Hay say the quote.
I did not connect Hay being the same Hay the worked with Nicolay as personal secretaries to A. Lincoln. They both produced a 10 volume biography of the great man. Hay had the great misfortune to work with Lincoln, assassinated, Garfield, assassinated, and McKinley, assassinated.
SP:
Your research is much appreciated. Thank you for taking the time and trouble.
John Hay and Robert Todd Lincoln could have compared assassination notes. Lincoln was called to his father’s bedside in 1865, was there with Garfield when Guiteau shot the 20th President in 1881 and was also at the Pan-American Exposition in
Buffalo when Czolgosz assassinated McKinley in 1901.
Lincoln outlived Warren Harding by three years, but was not there when Harding died in San Francisco.
John Hay was a great friend of Henry Adams, and figures in *The Education of Henry Adams.*
For those who care: Spring-Rice was best man at Theodore Roosevelt’s second wedding in 1886, when he married Edith Carow. The best man at his first wedding in 1880 was his brother Elliott, whose daughter Anna Eleanor was born the same year as Theodore’s daughter Alice. (Edith Roosevelt thought that Eleanor was an ugly duckling who might prove a swan. Good call, ma’am!)
Theodore’s first marriage is the shortest Presidential marriage.
Woodrow Wilson’s second wife’s name was also Edith.
No First Lady has had the name Lisa or Cayla.
Jimmy Carter (who has the longest Presidential marriage)’s mother’s name was Lillian. Rutherford Hayes’s wife’s name was Lucy.
I have also taken your literary advice. I read and enjoyed Shirley Jackson. This includes “We Have Always lived in the Castle”, and “Dark Tales”. I read Ray Dalio’s book, “The Changing World Order”. We will see if he is more accurate on China’s future than Peter Zeihan. But finishing that, I have just started “Dubliners” by James Joyce. What a world of difference in short stories between Joyce and Jackson. Both are incredible. As you predicted, Dubliners is a much more pleasant read than “Ulysses”.
Que votre week-end soit bien rempli et enrichissant!
SP:
It’s always a good feeling to know that people are listening to you when you talk about books.
*Dubliners* is the source of John Huston’s final film, “The Dead,” which comes from the book’s last (and longest) offering. Believe it or not, there’s another Gabriel Conroy in fiction, in a novel from Bret Harte.
(You mentioned “A Nice Place to Visit” recently, so I should say that a character named Pip appears in Herman Melville’s *Moby-Dick* and in Charles Dickens’s *Great Expectations.*)
In her lifetime, Jackson published only one collection of short stories, 1949’s *Lottery.* *Dark Tales* should draw on it extensively, unless it’s made up entirely of work published after that date.
My friend Carey’s reading of Iris Chang’s *Rape of Nanking* and my own experience with “Farewell My Concubine” and Jung Chang’s *Wild Swans* has set me to thinking about China, so I will have to search for Zeihan and Dalio (not the Marcel of three classic movies, “La Grande Illusion,” “La Regle du Jeu” and “Casablanca,” and a first-rate oddity from Samuel Fuller, “China Gate”).
(As predictions go, the most incorrect in fiction goes to George C. Chesbro’s *City of Whispering Stone,* which is set in the last days of the reign of the Shan of Iran. Chesbro and his hero Mongo are sure that when the Shah falls, a secular democracy will take its
place. It did not.)
*Dubliners* is Joyce before he became Joyce in many ways, so much so that my father’s copy of the book eschewed the dash before dialogue Joyce preferred for actual quotation marks.
Thank you for the good weekend wishes! The same back atcha!
I highly recommend Ray Dalio’s book. He has it set up for you to professionally skim and/or read every paragraph. I have not read any books by Peter Zeihan, but I receive his near daily podcasts of global and economic information. Zeihan can easily be found on YouTube. I got introduced to him when he was interviewed by Joe Rogan. For all of his faults, Rogan is a very good interviewer. He asks tons of informational questions. If you find that interview, it would be an excellent introduction to Mr. Zeihan.
“Success! A dozen years later, my work is still being discussed, still provoking reactions! Do their shallow minds yet grasp the truths I provided them? Not yet, for the tapestry of my art is enormously complex, and only the exceptional can comprehend it all on first, second or even hundredth reading. But read it they will, and continue to read! Such is the power of my writing, my message, my legacy, my — ooooh, look, a Flash comic book cover! Neat-o!”
Darn it, no time to comment on this season’s “Lena stinks at bowling but doesn’t seem to notice and no one takes a Saturday afternoon to try and help her practice” CS storyline. Now I’m stuck looking for Waldo in the Sunday “Funk Masters” splash panel. I spy with my nerdy eye Captain America’s shield, a magic 9 ball, a Nightwing figure, a Godzilla poster, and Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and X-Men comic books.
By the by, who’s the little homunculus with the mustache fifth to the right?
I think that’s Kevin. He was a Little Person (c) who worked at the comic book store, until an authorial lapse (c) wrote him out of the strip.
Yeah, Kevin was introduced at the comic shop when Roberta came in, so she could think he was a child and get all Maude Flanders about Skunky selling adult comics in front of children. That he was actually an adult wasn’t revealed until he was testifying at the trial, because apparently, despite him being on the witness list, the prosecutor never bothered to look up who he was.
I don’t have any proof that Batiuk created Kevin solely to do that “haha, Roberta’s so clueless she thinks a little person is a child” reveal, but… given how much Kevin appeared in the comic outside of that story, that would seem to be the prudent assumption.
I think Roberta could mistake Peter Dinklage and/or Danny DeVito for children despite both of them being middle-aged
Clearly she’s been reading John Byrne’s work.
Clearly she’s been reading John Byrne’s work.
That’s actually the joke. You know how Tom Batiuk hates fourth-wall jokes? A character mistaking a little person for a child is a fourth-wall joke. It’s a meta-joke about the nature of the comic strip’s art.
Kevin is Mr. Bun.
We see Hobbes as real and Mr. Bun as a stuffed animal, because we see the world from Calvin’s point of view. And, this depiction speaks to something real about childhood. We see our own toys as special, but we don’t see other kids’ toys as special like they do. It’s a nice little insight.
This is not nice. The joke is basically “they all look alike.” They only look alike because they’re drawn in a cartoony art style that omits the obvious differences between a real human being, and something you want to unfavorably compare them to. The cartoons page of Der Sturmer ran on the same principle.
Making matters worse, the point was “ha ha, Roberta’s so dumb she confused a little adult with a child.” Even though the reader just made the same mistake, because the strip never gave us a clue who he was. It just added this character with no explanation, then called you dumb for not decrypting the story’s intent.
This is why Calvin & Hobbes succeeds and Funky Winkerbean fails. Calvin & Hobbes was always clear about its intent. Funky Winkerbean is intentionally opaque, dishonest, and hateful.
Never mind that the whole story violates the Funkyverse’s asserted realism. Roberta’s error would have been caught in discovery, not during the trial, which Roberta also wouldn’t be leading. And, if Komix Kraphole was employing children, Roberta would have a slam-dunk of a case against it. (And against The Village Booksmith, but that’s another case of unclear intent. We’re supposed to think Lillian McKenzie’s exploitation of unpaid 9-year-olds is cute.)
On top of all that, the joke quickly became obsolete. 2011 was the first year of Game of Thrones. Elf was 2003, so most people had seen Peter Dinklage by then. And it’s blindingly obvious that you’d never confuse him with a child.
It’s not that she doesn’t seem to connect her amazing colossal failure with the punishing losses and the mockery the others receive at the hands of Axelrod. It’s that she wants to be treated as if she actually is competent because her intentions are good and she should be rewarded for wanting to help. Mean-to don’t pick no cotton but you can’t tell her that or she gets angry. She’s an idiot. She’ll be the only one to survive THE BURNINGS because stupid people like her are suckers for the idea that passive, whiny white male suburbanite humanity is our nation.
Let’s see, other things in “The Comic Book Graders”…
First off, we’ve got the title.
That’s right, you absolute uncultured heathens might think it’s called “The Dutch Masters”, but Tom Batiuk knows the real title of the piece! He’s so much more smartier than you!
Anyhoo… there’s also a Nightwing statue, a Godzilla poster, a Captain America shield, a Magic 8-Ball, Yoda, and issues of The Flash (I know, what a surprise), Wonder Woman, The Hulk, Thunderbolts, Spider-Girl, and (I think) X-Men, at least based on the logos.
And there’s a volume of Manga on the shelf in the top right. What manga? Apparently… Manga. That’s all it says. “Manga”. I’m just going to assume that, after the Roberta incident, Skunky has taken to covering up all his manga volumes with a generic cover that just says “Manga”. Sure, it makes it hard to know if you’re getting Cardcaptor Sakura or Urotsukidoji, but, really, isn’t all manga the same anyway?
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to read Comic Strip..
Oh, sure, I remember this one. A mini-prestige arc about one of the early ’10s most pressing societal issues…the persecution of gamers. It really was a simpler time. Interestingly enough, John’s and Owen’s emotional growth completely stopped as soon as they began collecting comic books/gaming, which kind of, you know, undermines BatYam’s entire premise. But that’s never stopped him before.
I sometimes still wonder what became of Owen. If Batty was capable of anything more than the absolute bare minimum, some sort of post-FW “where are they now?” graphic novel would be pretty cool. “The Secret History Of Westview”, that sort of thing.
Anyhow, I see Owen living in a small trailer on the edge of his girlfriend’s mother’s property. He’s co-manager at a local vape shop, and still hangs out with Cody, who’s hopelessly addicted to computer duster.
After Tony and Funky sold Montoni’s, John had thirty days to vacate the Korner. He now runs a Komix Korner Ebay store from his garage, and Crazy helps, as he doesn’t really have much else to do. Becky is not thrilled by the situation, but resigned to her fate, as usual. Montoni’s itself was razed, and replaced by a brand new Wawa with sixteen gas pumps.
I cant see DSH doing the Komix Korner at all, I can only see him begging for money, while Crazy kicked him out so he can run it himself
I can only see Dinkle forcibly throwing Lefty out of Westview High so Dinkle can be band director again
That 2011 story arc on the moral panic about violence in video games was about as timely as the Skunk Funkybuns story arc about their school becoming racially integrated.
Good grief, Joe Lieberman was more than a decade away from collecting Social Security when he was stumping for the creation of the ESRB… an organization noble in its quest to prevent the youth of America from playing Night Trap copycats, which had the horrible consequence of making copycats of Night Trap (briefly) seem cool and mysterious to the youth of America.
Depending on what news article might have come across his eyes, this could have been something written a year after something Jack Thompson said or did at some point there.
I don’t recall anything specific to 2010 or 2011 that was video game related involving Thompson. There was some GTA stuff years before.
Regardless, it’s a topic that’s so broad and perennial that you can easily make a strawman out of “there’s some people out there getting outraged about them there video-games to-day” at any time and find something recent, which fits right into TB’s prime wheelhouse of “address a topic without having anything definitive to say about it”.
And the focus of the week is, of course, Lena. She is a terrible baker who makes comically inedible food. She cannot brew coffee. She stinks at golf. She is a visible drag on the bowling team. She is insistent that any complaints about her colossal ineptitude are lies meant to hurt her because she wants to help. Offers of assistance or pleas to not sabotage her fellows are answered with angry and punitive revenge because since she means well,, she should be treated as if she does well.
I have a feeling that if i write a story, it’s probably going to be almost as or just as bad as Tom Batiuk’s comic strips
The thing with Batiuk is that he has no self-awareness, and cannot (and will not) look at his own work critically. There is no rewriting with Batiuk — first thought (and only thought) equals best thought. Write it down and move on.
So write your story. Make it as good as you can. And then show it to a couple of trusted advisors, listen to their comments on it, and spend time re-writing it.
If you do this, I can’t promise you’ll create a deathless masterpiece. But I CAN promise you’ll create better material than Batiuk.
The weirdest thing about TB is that he says he writes these comics, which seem like they were done in about 30 seconds, and then sits on them for 11 months. Without any apparent editing. Most strips operate on “published 3 weeks from now.” He doesn’t ask “Will this be true in a year?” Remember Crank’s “flu” arc that was obviously inspired by covid? He was convinced that covid would be gone in a year, and that no one would remember it.
And then 2 weeks out, he dumps it on the artist. While demanding “No dialogue, just Summer’s Eve walking around these buildings in Lorain and they MUST BE ACCURATE!” No wonder Ayers walked.
He doesn’t ask “Will this be true in a year?”
He doesn’t even ask “is this true now?”
Don’t sell yourself short. Your writing is clear, and you’re capable of telling a joke and/or making a point. I’m sure anything you put to paper will be lightyears better than the Funkyverse. If you want practical advice, I recommend a book called How Not To Write A Novel which teaches through counterexamples. I plug TVTropes a lot, but it has a Useful Notes section that’s a fantastic (and free) resource for almost everything you might want to know. Excelsior.
Hey, I have that book! It’s a fun read. I should go find my copy.
As a lifelong video gamer, even I’m embarrassed by this shit… No words.
It’s funny because my neighborhood is named after a famous local woman accused of witchcraft — What dark evil spell did she perform, you ask? Well, she didn’t remarry after her husband died, and not only did she take over his business, she was *successful* at it!
https://virginiahistory.org/learn/grace-sherwood-witch-pungo
An informal pardon? Sorry for the inconvenience?
After 300 years, why bother? Nowadays, everyone knows she wasn’t a witch. It’s like the GoComics moderator deleting comments on Crankshaft two, three or four days after everyone has already read them. Too little, too late.
After 300 years, why bother?
Because I think there’s social value in a government acknowledging its past misdeeds. Yes, it’s symbolic and doesn’t do anything for the long-dead offended party, but it can renew public faith in instutions. Much better than government denying its past misdeeds ever happened.
I don’t know. The Witch of Pungo is (was?) a small-town legend. The involvement of the politicians seems hokey to me. The mayor read the governor’s informal pardon before a ceremony reenacting the dunking “trial”?
Call me skeptical, but these totally seem like public relations ploys. I wonder how close the elections were to the ceremony?
Politician: See, what a marvelous, caring politician I am! I care about my constituents. Remember to vote for me on election day!
@Hitorque and you may disagree, but I don’t see the benefit of killing off a local legend. Aren’t small-town legends part of the charm? I love stuff like that.
Tourist: Hi there. What is Pungo’s claim to fame?
Citizen of Pungo: We used to have a legend about a witch, but after 300 years, she was exonerated.
Tourist: (unenthusiastically) Wow. Sounds great. Where’s a good place to eat around here?
Dadgummit! This was meant as a reply to Banana Jr. 6000’s about the Witch of Pungo. I must have accidentally refreshed the screen. I hate that.
I only have a short bit of time, so just to clarify real quick:
1. It’s not just a “small-town” legend, it’s fairly well known in Southeastern Virginia since everybody knows the “Witchduck” part of the city along with “Witchduck Road” and at some point most kids are going to ask their parents how a prominent road got such a weird name (that’s how I first learned about it). And yes, back when I was a kid there were ghost stories circulating around the neighborhood every Halloween which scared me back then but in light of knowing her full story as an adult, they seem kind of quaint.
2. I think even back in 1706 there were probably some people who thought the “case” against Sherwood was shady, but there seemed to be JUST enough clamor to push for a trial. I don’t know if she pissed the wrong people off, or if it was jealousy, or her knowledge of herbal remedies, or if she spurned someone’s advances or if it was just somebody trying to get her out of the way to confiscate her land and livestock (which she had a good bit of). Historical research has shown that Grace Sherwood was just a capable woman doing her own thing who got falsely accused and when they didn’t kill her during the trials, they just chucked her in jail. And once that becomes the public narrative, it’s impossible to see her as some sort of sinister sorceress worshipping Satan or sacrificing children. After all, if you were a REAL witch who just got paroled after spending seven years in prison wouldn’t you lust for revenge and just go scorched earth on everybody’s asses? But Grace Sherwood went back to minding her own business and living her life quietly…
2a. Yeah I’m familiar with the famous line from “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence” but in this case, we go with the real story instead of the myth because there’s an important feminist lesson to be learned. Besides, we’ve got a shitload of other local ghost stories to fall back on…
Sorry. I didn’t mean to belittle the legend and Grace Sherwood’s struggles. I was influenced by the size of the town on a map and the Wikipedia article on Pungo.
No apologies necessary… Yeah once upon a time Pungo was it’s own little town in old Princess Anne County but now it’s just a community in the modern-day Virginia Beach County — Still farming land to this day, notable for their strawberries!
Pungo is a ways south, about a good 15-20 minute drive. And I live less than a quarter mile from where the “trials” took place. I’m certain that were it not for the geography and street names, Grace Sherwood would have been lost to history by now…
If you’ve been to Wikipedia then you’ve seen that photo of the street sign where North Witchduck meets Sherwood Lane — I live maybe 150 yards from that sign!!
I’m glad you weren’t overly offended. Some folks are intensely proud of their hometowns.
Oh, wow. I had no idea the ducking sight was so far away from Pungo. For some reason, I read the Wiki on Pungo rather than the one on Grace Sherwood. It was a much better article. Virginia Beach sure covers a lot of area.
I miss your numbered gripe lists, but I understand. Funky Winkerbean could be genuinely awful, whereas Crankshaft is just… meh.
Cheers
After I got home, I asked Mr. bwoeh his opinion about the actions of the Virginia politicians. He stood there with his arms crossed, looking puzzled, and stated in a deadpan, “They’re politicians. It’s what they do.”
*sigh* It’s not my day for commenting. I’m shutting up now.
It’s Friday night, where’s my damn drink?
I’ve been so locked-in on the middle east unpleasantness that I haven’t seen what the nutbars up in Richmond are up to today… I’m almost afraid to check now 😕
It’s not only Friday, it’s Friday the 13th. “Hey Ted, where’s the damn corkscrew?”
I received the below as a gag gift. To this day, for some reason the box remains unopened. 🤦♀️
Keep it MIB!! You can sell it on fleaBay! It’ll be as worth as much as this 6-pack of 1978 Carter-era “Billy Beer” will be!
Or just use it. See how many people say “I’m…not thirsty anymore. Although, I really would like to chug a bottle of wine right now.”
Did it come with the 19 Crimes Australian wine, as seen in the advertisement?
@billthesplut
The person who gave me the corkscrew admitted it was a regift of a regift. I suppose I should continue the corkscrew’s journey in the spirit in which it was given to me.
My husband’s family used to have a white elephant Christmas gift exchange. It would have been perfect.
The truth is I have no need for a corkscrew. We have a Coravin Wine System which allows us to pour the wine without removing the cork. The wine stays fresher longer with a Coravin. It usually takes me a week to finish a bottle.
@ComicBookHarriet
It did not. What good is a corkscrew with no bottle to open? ☹
#UselessGift #NotCool #UnnecessaryCruelty #CrimesAgainstHumanity
I would like to offer a third view of the Seduction of the Innocent. It set up so many limitations. Yet it forced certain creators to stay within those bounds, yet break the box. Without Fredric Wertham, I doubt that Lee, Kirby, and Ditko could have been accepted as the geniuses that they are. It would have been difficult to stand out. What do we remember from DC of that era. TB is correct that “Flash of Two Worlds” is a major milestone. The Green Lantern stories are high quality. But what of their stars do we remember? Superman dickery, goofy aliens from Batman, and horrible letters and responses from the Letters to the Editor pages. No wonder the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man were such a breath of fresh air.
They broke down barriers and inspired new artists and writers only due to the Comics Code. Before the Code, Kirby was good, but not great in the 40’s and 50’s. Ditko was good but not great in the late 60’s as he produced stories in the magazines Creepy and Eerie. Why? I think because they both could not stand head and shoulders above the competition in a more adult, anything goes medium.
I think Batiuk would think that Golden Age Superman and Silver Age Superman are utter assholes because of the amount of Superdickery on early Superman covers
And there was a bunch of covers! It was spread between Superman, Action Comics, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and World’s Finest. I thought Adventure Comics with Superboy and Legion of Superheroes were much better written stories.
“SO! They laugh at my BONER, will they?! I’ll show them HOW MANY BONERS THE JOKER CAN MAKE!”
If you don’t get the reference, please look it up.
I read stories on Joker’s boner, but never the actual comic. My older brother was the Batman fan. To me, the best things about 1960’s DC was their summer annuals. They were full of older great stories. My favorite Batman story was Joker goes to a baseball game. (Aren’t comics amazing! Joker sits in the bleachers right next to other fans!) But he sees baseball teams trading players. He gets the idea of trading mooks for specific robberies. Great story.
sorial:
I have read the full comic. I expected it to say “boner” like twice, but it’s boners all the way down. It’s pure Dadaism.
BTS,
You made me look up Dadaism. It is a successful night. I wonder if this current war climate will produce a new era of dadaists?
BilltheSplut. BilltheSplut! BILLTHESPLUT!!!
I feel calmer in my new Dada mantra.
The August 1957 Mad Magazine (#34) had a takedown of Wertheim, “Baseball is Ruining Our Children,” featuring Dr. Frederic Worthless– https://madcoversite.com/mad034-26.html. (the website is pretty cool–it has full scans of old editions of Mad)
Of course Mad was the main survivor of the EC publications that were hit by the Comics Code Restrictions