Welcome to the second installment of This Week In Act IV. This Crankshaft arc had no characters or overt ideas from act IV. But it was still a cavalcade of everything that sucked about latter-day Funky Winkerbean, and how that suckitude has infected Crankshaft.
Let’s start with Monday’s strip. The previous week was about Ed Crankshaft soliciting Montoni’s to sponsor his softball team. Ed told lame jokes for a week, then it ended with Mindy and Pete at the softball game, meeting the detestable one-armed news reporter Skip. I ended last week’s post by calling this “undue attention from the local media.”
I undersold it. Because now there’s a frickin’ TV reporter at the game! Are they broadcasting live? Is it viewable on my ESPN app, between kabaddi and the New Zealand pro basketball league? Can I bet on Summer Silver Senior Slowpitch Softball Society games on DraftKings? Did they really need two media outlets to report on a 93-year-old softball player turning 94? It’s like something out of The Onion. “Local Old Man Is Now Slightly Older.” How much media coverage does this small town need? Especially when 60% of residents are content creators themselves?
Characters setting up and telling lame jokes like a 1930s comedy duo is a Funkyverse trope. (If you want a TBTrope name for it, I call them Vaudeville Weeks.) But this should be Skip interviewing Ed, not an unknown reporter interviewing an unknown old man.
Not that I want more Skip, or more Ed for that matter. But at least they’re Crankshaft characters. We just saw Skip is at the game, with his standard-issue journalist notebook. And we know Ed played for the Toledo Mud Hens in 1940, making him at least ten years older than a 94-year-old. So why couldn’t this be Crankshaft’s birthday? Skip and Ed fit this story much better than the two new characters he made up specifically for this story.
On Tuesday, Guy Who’s Not Crankshaft says he’d rather be playing tackle football. Really? In this universe, where football is the second-leading cause of death? Nobody eyerollsmirked at that?
On Thursday, Not Crankshaft has regressed from 94 years old to 90. Curse you, Timemop!
Which could have been an actual joke. Have the reporter say this line in front of a crowd that includes Timemop, who’s at the game. That would make it a continuity nod, and show that Tom Batiuk has a sense of humor about his own work. But we all know he doesn’t, and he thinks acknowledging the audience is bad.
And what happened to the Montoni’s sponsorship? Last week was ostensibly about that, but it never got resolved one way or the other. You’d think he could have resolved this by showing the word “Montoni’s” on their uniform. He had plenty of chances:
Okay, “Old Timers” is canonically the team’s name, as we saw in Harriet’s flashback. And the May 29 strip specifically said the sponsor name would be on the back of the uniform. So you’d think Batiuk could have positioned one guy with his back to the camera, so we could see the sponsor’s name. Oh, wait, he did do that:
The lettering is clear enough to make out “OLD” on the front, but the letters on Ed’s back are the same size, and they’re completely illegible. If it had looked like “MONT”, we could have thought “okay, they sponsored the team.” As it is, we don’t know. Look how Tom Batiuk handled this in the past (again, from Harriet’s flashback):
Panel 1 answers the question of whether or not Montoni’s decided to sponsor the team. And, it sets up the whole conversation, in a way that also feels natural. Tom Batiuk used to be able to do this.
What he does now goes beyond bad storytelling. It’s intentionally bad storytelling. As if its purpose is to mock the nature of bad writing, like “it was a dark and stormy night” symbolized Snoopy’s lack of literary skills. But there’s a difference between mocking bad writing, and just being bad writing.
But look what he gets right every single time:
Yep, this is definitely a Channel 1 news story. Of course, this is the same channel that broadcast the John Darling Who Was Murdered Show, and gave Max and Hannah temp work while their 24-Hour Phantom Empire Movie Theater was out of business. Why was this so crucial, when the story went out of his way to ignore every other bit of continuity? It’s almost like Batiuk is being petulant, as if to say “I can write story details, I just don’t waaaant to.”
Batiuk only cares about the things he thinks are important. Not the things readers would want to know, or would make any sense. We’ve said that he seems to have “rules”, and I think this week discovered two of those rules. First, Channel 1 is important to modern-day Crankshaft for some reason, so Tom Batiuk wants it fresh in everyone’s minds. This would explain why he blew off Skip, a character he otherwise likes, to let this non-entity do the interview. Maybe Channel 1 will have a role in the Burnings?
Speaking of things Tom Batiuk thinks are important, Sunday’s strip is some dreck about how much Inner Child and Jeff love comic book omnibus editions. Which reveals rule #2. Were you expecting Ed to be the star of Sunday, as has been the case lately? He’s not today, and I think I know why.
The rule is “Ed Crankshaft must appear in Crankshaft at least once a week.” If the whole week excludes Ed Crankshaft, like it did for recent Dinkle and Mason Jarre arcs, then Sunday will be all about Ed. This week, Ed was seen with the birthday cake on Monday, so he doesn’t have to appear on Sunday. Which frees Batiuk to use the Sunday strip for the comic book wanking he loves so much. I haven’t back-tested this theory, but I’ll bet this has been the pattern for a few months now.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Be Ware of Eve Hill,
1. I enjoyed this post by BJ6000. He demonstrates that TB puts no effort into planning these arcs. Apparently, Davis does not either. How hard was it for TB or Davis to come up with Ed and Skip like BJ6K did?
2. The post mentions “the Burnings”.
BWOEH, what does your imagination 💭 predict for that storyline? Schnikes! Whatever you come up with, will be much better than TB’s idea.
90% of me thinks that TB has already moved on from that plot point. We will never see it. However, there is that 10% of me that thinks TB is laying groundwork for the Great Disaster that results in a robot run bookstore. (Maybe not a robot, but Lizard Lillian in a metal jacket!) Do I remember correctly that the only books to survive ‘the Burning’s’ are Summer’s, Les’s, and the Lizard’s?
3. TB should shut down Crankshaft, and go straight into “John Byrne the Futures”. It seems to be the only storyline that stimulates TB.
4. An aside note to Anonymous Sparrow: I used the Great Disaster with you in mind. Jack Kirby originated ‘Kamandi’ after DC ruined his New Gods storyline. He had wonderful visuals of a natural disaster mixing with a nuclear disaster. ☢️
To all of you: the best!
❤️💖🩷🫂🌺💐🌹
Summer’s daughter said, “It’s an antiquarian bookstore … one of the last to survive the Burnings!”
My new guess is that perhaps Mike and Charlie Burning, the Burning brothers, sought to buy up all the bookstores in America, but they went bankrupt and most of the stores had to close. Hence, few bookstores survived the Burnings.
Joshua K,
I promise you, that plot will be better than anything TB comes up with.
1.) As usual, a great blog by Banana Jr. 6000.
We joke here that TB’s current creative philosophy is “First thought, best thought.” Get it done, hit send. More time for cocoa and comix!
Ninety-four! Ninety-four! Ninety-four! Ninety-four! Ninety-four! …Um… ninety!
2.) The “Burnings”? I have no farkin’ clue. Trying to predict a Batiuk story arc is a fruitless task. I gave up on that quite a while ago. Too many zigs when I expected him to zag. Another famous saying among Batiuk snarkers is, “No matter how bad you think a story will be, the actual story Batiuk writes will be worse. Always.” It’s uncanny.
Do you think the “burnings” have anything to do with “climate damage”? Nah, me neither. I hope the Burnings start with Harry Dinkle being burned at the stake.
You’re right. It’s not inconceivable that TB will completely forget about the Burnings.
What comes out of our dog’s hiney will probably be less offensive than what TB comes up with. I hope it has nothing whatsoever to do with one of the Moore clan achieving godhood or creating world peace. That would probably kill me.
Newspaper Headline: Woman spontaneously combusts after reading Crankshaft comic.
We can safely assume the “Burnings” have nothing to do with a toilet paper shortage because ‘Lisa’s Story’ would have been the first book to go.
3.) “John Byrne the Futures”? John Byrne may be a friend of TB’s, but I doubt he has an interest in an extended story. The bonds of friendship only go so far. TB can’t afford him anyway.
If wonder if TB can still draw. Or have those skills withered like his sense of humor?
Dearest Be Ware of Eve Hill,
1. Thoroughly enjoyed the Cardiacs. (Especially the lady playing guitar and sax!)
2. Your quote: “Another famous saying among Batiuk snarkers is, “No matter how bad you think a story will be, the actual story Batiuk writes will be worse. Always.” It’s uncanny.” This is so true and why it is impossible to predict an outcome to an arc. We all know how bad a writer TB is, yet he has depths and levels that even Dante would envy. (the Italian poet Dante!) I saw you look up wistfully and heard you demand some mansplaining. You are welcome.
3. But his arcs have an addendum: As bad as the current arc plums the absolute depths of hell, the next one will be worse! This was proven over and over again in FW. But it has an escape valve in Crankshaft. TB can feature a week of Ed, and it is almost always better than what preceded. Obviously, there are Pop Clutch exceptions. Particularly if he is wearing a uniform. [Did you notice that uniform does not take the “an” article? That is weird!]
4. However, if you skip Ed’s involvement, and just examine the FW invader arcs, the crapitude spreads and abandons hope like the door over hell. {More Dante???} [CBH likes her medieval authors!] (I am sure we have also gotten the interest of Anonymous Sparrow. I admire him. I would bet that he could quote Dante in the original Italian.)
5. BWOEH, Not that you are any slouch. I understand that at sporting events, you entertain fans while standing on a stadium seat. [without a microphone.🎤
Such is life!🍓🐢❣️
(One last note to BJ6000: thank you to the link to your inner child post from last year. Your posts and all the comments are spectacular from that week. Well worth a read.)
Thank you! I do my best.
A video for you. Dear husband was playing a Cardiacs LP with this tune on it and I’m hooked. I know you’re a guitar fan. I hope this gets past Spammy Filter.
Cheers
Rather sad about Tim Smith, though.
Indeed. Incapacitated then dying at such an early age. It’s a shame.
Today’s Funky Crankerbean:
Oh fuck not another of this Jfff/Starfuck jones nonsense
One of the questions that came up during this week of dreck was “why does Batty feel the need to start every strip by reminding us that Matt is 90+ years old and on a softball team?” Some speculated these were separate interviews for separate news programs. I don’t buy that. My theory is that those who hate-read the strip and snark on it, and those who hate-read the snarky comments and whine about them, make up nearly all of the people who read “Crankshaft” on a daily basis. Others, I suspect, are just casually or accidentally landing on the strip, for the first (and very probably last) time. I think Batty knows this and so feels that each day he must restate the premise of this week’s story so that these accidental readers won’t be totally lost.
That’s my theory and I’m stickin’ with it till somebody comes up with a better explanation.
It’s not just Batiuk … it’s tricky for anyone writing a serial comic strip with a punchline every installment. You can’t assume that each reader has followed every day’s strip. This means that you often have to figure out a way to restate a premise, or a key piece of info, in such a way that new readers can catch up quickly — while long-time readers don’t feel frustrated that things they already know are being re-hashed.
Batiuk used to be able to do this. Sadly, the ability seems to have atrophied, along with almost all of his other communicative skills.
________
As for not using Ed for this week’s interview subject? Ed now grew up in the 50s watching Rocky Colavito. He’s no longer a WWI vet, and he no longer pitched in the minors in the 1940s. He’s maybe 74, not 94. So he wouldn’t fit all those delightful ‘jokes’ Batiuk had for a 94-year-old.
Continuity? Pfffft. Doesn’t matter. This week, Ed is 74. Maybe next week, if Batiuk has some looming mandatory retirement/social security jokes lined up, he’ll be 64.
Given the setting, it would have made more sense for Time Mop to explain that history shuffled itself in such a manner as to make Ed a Vietnam vet.
He’s no longer a WWI vet.
Crankshaft was a WWII vet, not a WWI vet
“Crankshaft was a WWII vet”
…FOR NOW.
This week: Crankshaft says “Boy, that invasion of Grenada sure was hard!”
(csroberto: Ask your parents. They won’t remember either)
My parents don’t know anything about either Funky Winkerbean or Crankshaft
As someone who does remember the invasion of (we got there just in time) Grenada, I have to wonder whether one of the more obscure compositions in Claude Barlow’s repertoire is “241 Marines in Beirut,” a variation on his “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.”
Typo? Or TimeMop resetting things again?
If Batiuk suddenly comes up with a Florence Nightingale joke, we may find that Crankshaft served in the Crimean War.
“Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die…”
So wrote Alfred, Lord Tennyson (a rhymester to Stephen Dedalus, who would no doubt be pleased that the Poet Laureate of England shares his birthday with the bombing of Hiroshima…only six more days to Bloomsday, SOSFers! Ashplants over here! Gorgonzola and Burgundy there!).
I would sooner have Harry Flashman at the Charge (as George MacDonald Fraser put him) than Ed Crankshaft.
“I’m stickin’ with it till somebody comes up with a better explanation”
(shrugs) He’s a hack now?
Doonesbury’s repeats last week had Joanie winning a MacArthur Grant, with Uncle Stupid Head wanting his unfair share. Most strips mentioned the grant up front, but they did it organically. Like that early strip of Montoni’s sponsorship. Tom doesn’t try anymore. I know I bring this up A LOT, but “Butter Brinkle” being said, in full, three times in what was supposed to be a single sentence, in the SAME STRIP? Does he think his readers are the guy from Memento?
(Yes, I do the Memento joke a lot too)
And yet, here’s another thing I whine about as much as my not winning a Pulitzer: I saw at least 2 arcs about Rictus Humunculus with NO IDEA who this apparition was. I thought he was some grandchild. I only found out here, long after the Bryce Canyon “Jeff Find Rock!” arc. He just did it again with last year’s two “Tom buys comics collections” arcs. Odds are, if that Leprechaun of Lunacy appears again, it won’t be ID’ed. Didn’t even Crank readers question who–WHAT–this thing was last year? And yet, unexplained and beyond the ken of mortal men, here the Horror Goblin was, walking around carrying slab-like books.
He’s like one of those Not Always Right stories you see, where some guy gets mad when no waitstaff knows what “THE USUAL!” means. Yeah, I see 100s of people a day, I don’t know your face, and you haven’t been here in a year.
My theory: Tom hasn’t left Ohio since Kilimanjaro. He has no real interactions with humans, beyond whoever lives in his house, and the guys who deliver his groceries. Probably doesn’t even recognize that Beloved USPS Carrier. (Splut half-smirks to indicate “LAST PANEL; UNFUNNY PUNCHLINE SENT”)
The winner of the grant in Doonesbury was actually J.J., Joanie’s daughter.
(I could further describe Doonesbury character relationships, but I assume readers here either aren’t really interested, or already know them.)
Also, let’s not compare this to repeats, the one format actually lazier than what TB and Davis are doing here. Literally zero effort from the Boomer Bard of Yale.
Doonesbury is still doing new strips on Sundays. Besides, I’ll take a repeat of a Doonesbury over any of whatever is happening now in Crankshaft.
“actually J.J., Joanie’s daughter”
Hey, c’mon, I got the first letter right!
I’d wonder what TB thinks of Trudeau, but I’m pretty sure he’s never thought of any other comic strips. Just comical books. If he did, he’d likely think that he’s just like Gary, writing character based comedy. When he has no characters. Just “published author” and “agreeing, ineffectual female.” Even Lillian has the Shining Twins!
Also, how damn many book signings have we had this year? It’s like a monthly event now.
You got the name right. J.J. stands for Joan Jr.
What he also used to be able to do was laugh at his characters when they did stupid things. He can no longer see that Boy Jeff looks like a PSA about the dangers of making a media franchise your identity.
Right, his act1 characters were much more relatable because of this. Then when Batty switched his strip to cancer and misery, he stopped laughing at his characters and hence the realism was lost.
His comic book arcs are a indeed a PSA about the dangers of becoming a comic book nut.
One of these days my path will cross with Batty and while I will be friendly with him, I will get in a dig about comic books being juvenile.
“Hey, Tom, remember that goofy 1962 comic when the Flash’s head got huge? So dopey! Like anyone could get that big of a swelled head! Oh, could you sign this book of yours? The delightfully rendered art of Lorain county houses is just the ginchiest!”
BTS:
Tom Batiuk would call you a FFF* if you said that, for it was in 1968, not 1962, that the Flash got a swelled head, as the cover of #177 shows.
The Flash felt himself turning into a puppet in 1962, though, and weighed 1000 pounds in 1960.
*
“False Flash Follower,” as opposed to “Fearless Front Facer” (the highest of Marvel’s six ranks, following P.M.M., or “Permanent Marvel Maximus”).
RE: Monday 6/10’s ‘Shaft:
Thank goodness Jfff is holding that book where he is in Panel Two, lest Mindy see the Brobdingnagian fanboy reaction to Mopey’s offer taking place in her father’s nether regions.
Also, this is basically a rehash of the July 12, 2023 strip, wherein Pete invited Jfff to go with him and the Atomik Komix Bullpen to the San Diego Comic-Con, to which Jfff’s Inner Homunculus began braying “Say yes! Say yes! Say yes!” Can’t wait to see how Batiuk repurposes the “joke” next year.
It’s going to be a very long week, isn’t it?
Oh boy! We’ll get to see Flash … Feldman? Fairfax? Furshlugginer? Whatever his name is! Ooooo, and maybe he’ll be with Phil Holt, The Living Ghost! And, oh, perhaps Ruby Lith will get to stand in the background and not have a line!
Batiuk’s rising to the challenge. You thought that without Les Moore, he couldn’t create a comic that truly sucked. Well, he’ll show you! He’ll show all of you!
We are also in for more infantile bleating about how cruel his mother was for….uh….well….wanting him to play outside and learn social skills.
“infantile bleating about how cruel his mother was for….uh….”
100% guaranteed that someone will say “I had that issue, but my mom THROWED IT AWAY!” with much rending of garments.
And when it’s not that, it’s standing around whining about how it’s Huge Faceless Corporation’s fault that comics artists have no business sense.
I think it’s more whining that Huge Faceless Corporation exists.
Tom Batiuk has a nine-year-old’s understanding of the how the world works. He thinks Huge Faceless Corporation shouldn’t be in the publishing business at all, and that comic book people should be left alone to make comic books “correctly.” While he somehow receives a gigantic salary, of course.
This is exactly Atomik Komix’s business model. And Montoni’s. And the Valentine Theater. All three depend on a rarely-seen character with a bottomless pit of money, a highly delegative management style, and a surprising lack of concern when these ventures hemmorhage money. They just love comic books, pizza, and movies so much, they’re happy to let small-town incompetents make all their decisions. That’s doing it “correctly”, you see.
This is where Hawkeye Pierce might say that nine year old children tend to be smarter than that. After all, most of them would be able to see that whining about how Giant Buyout Takeover And Squash Holding Corporation should let Ineptco Comics plagiarize Not Spiderman is a recipe for a bruising lawsuit.
Between this and Mary Worth it’s going to be a long, hot summer!
Wilbur is going out with Mary and Jeff on his boat for a burial at sea. Mary and Jeff have a chance to finish the job that should have been done on the cruise ship.
I have a great vision for this week’s Mary Worth, which I also wrote on Comics Curmudgeon. Wilbur doesn’t care about this dead goldfish; it’s the symbol of Wilbur’s failed relationship with Estelle. Mary knows this, so he’s calling his bluff. She’s going to make him have a viking funeral for this goldfish, which will make him face the real problem.
That’s probably not going to happen, but I hold out hope. Mary Worth is still capable of disappointing me. Funky Winkerbean would just frog-march Wilbur to the comic book store and say that solved all his problems.
And tomorrow will be a rehash of the July 13, 2023 strip, where Jeff has to ask his wife for permission to enjoy comic books. Because there’s no way Batiuk isn’t going to play THAT note.
Thing that baffles me about these two strips:
Why does Jfff need his Innr Chld to tell him to say yes? Would he otherwise be disinclined to do so? It’s not as if he hides his comic book geekery any other day. This is the dipshit who wore his Starbuck Jones decoder ring around like a wedding band before he was de-aged back to whatever age he is supposed to be now. It’s not as though he needs to be transported back to 1955 to feel these things again.
This is a classic Batty arc.
It’s about one of his interests. It’s told in the most boring way possible and focuses on trivial things, while at the same time screwing up important details. It uses recycled art and recycled gags.
Today’s Funky Crankerbean
I thought we were done with this Rictus Homulus bullshit
cs screams onto the void
The cringe levels are reaching over 9000…
There’s gonna be a fight in the writer’s block over who gets to tackle this week in Crankshaft, I can already tell…
I did the first two, so I’m willing to let someone else have a go. Besides, I already ripped up Inner Child.
But will the fight be “I want it!” “No, I want it!” or “You do it, I don’t want it!” “No, you do it!”?
It’s exactly this:
Today is a strip where Pete’s in-universe success rubs up a little uncomfortably against the story arc. Pete wrote two Starbuck Jones movies, in addition to his tremendous success at three different comic book publishers (and also possibly Atomik). I mean, it isn’t wholly unrealistic that Jeff would care more about Flash’s role in the SJ franchise than Pete’s, plenty of people become super fans of niche/less accomplished properties and people rather than more mainstream things in the same field…
But to a neutral observer well-versed in the Batiukverse’s comics scene this would be like Tom Brady offering to get you a meet-and-greet with Brian Sipe. If Tom Brady was also your son-in-law-to-be…
Also, Mindy knows Flash too from her time coloring Durwood’s chicken scratch at AK. At least I’m pretty sure she should, maybe Flash don’t talk to goils?
Who even came to SDCC for Atomik Komix’s behalf last year anyways? Pete says his trip was to promote his company but he and Mindy just wandered in costumes all the time we saw them.
I find it hard to believe that Jeff only just now is learning of how close his family is to comic legends.
Today’s Funky Crankerbean:
Ha ha its funny because Chester is getting richer ever since Mopey Pete The Saggy Eyed Bastard quit and isn’t giving a damn penny to either Phil Holt or Flash Freeman
I realized today that Phil Holt probably has the most distinctive personality of any character in introduced in late stage Funkyverse. In a sea of smirking benign toast squares, he’s the moldy cheese.
That’s pathetic.
Today’s Funky Crankerbean:
I think this is a dig towards Dan Davis being too fucking lazy to use his own artwork for Crankshaft, but what do I know about this? I only looked at the strip for a few moments
i don’t even know where to begin with this shit.
“This shit” being today’s strip, not CSRoberto’s post.
Has Batiuk become convinced that comic omnibuses are the 2nd coming of comic nostalgia? Like specifically the Bible/Harry-Potter tier thick volumes are worth special accolade because these “kids books” are now “properly” published in thick hardcover volumes that can look proud on an adult bookshelf? Certainly he seems to think they’re a worthy answer to ultimately replacing a sold-off comic collection. But the way his stand-ins keep having a happy day over getting one is worth noting. Are they doing the “milk and cookie” routine reading those too?
It sure feels that way. I think Batiuk recently discovered omnibuses, and he latched onto the concept because it appeals to one of his special interests. Which is: actually reading the comic books.
On Planet Batiuk, comic books are great works of literature to be thoroughly consumed. They are not to be merely regarded or thumbed through. This notion comes up all the time in the Funkyverse. When people are with comic books, they’re actually READING them. Notably, that “Flash 123” arc where Batton Thomas yammers on and on about doing this, and how much it influenced his art career. This is undoubetedly Batiuk himself speaking.
Of course, the idea that an adult artist could get tips from 40-year-old children’s comic books is pathetic. And the things you could learn from them, like pacing and stakes, are the very things Batiuk most needs to learn.
Mhm, promoting actually reading the book, and yet with his fictional comic book empires in Batom and Atomix, all we get is covers and the occasional snippets about the plot. Comic writing may be a lot of work and perhaps doesn’t translate well to the funny page format (as snarkers have made clear with the Spiderman strip for years) nut it could’ve been impressive if he actually dedicated a few weeks or Sunday comics to the actual comic panels or summarized stories. Only one I recall was the affair around the gritty Mr Sponge reboot story.
Heck do we even know what the plots of those Starbucks Jones movies were? All I recall was that Holtron was a character they could just wheel out a 70s computer to represent (and voice? He never was quite clear on how much it could speak for itself vs preprogrammed stuff)
The Starbuck Jones movies never had any indication of a plot. Hell, Batiuk never introduced an actor playing the antagonist in any of the voluminous strips featuring the film sets. In fact, a specific antagonist was never mentioned. It was always just a horde of some weird monster guys.
Cliff got third billing in all the events we were shown, for Christ’s sake: A cameo that was written in just so Cliff could appear in the film.
Well, either reading them, or preserving them in pristine condition to be sold for a small fortune. (Like Funky’s copy of Starbuck Jones #1, which he even admitted he didn’t actually like, but was holding on to for the resale value.)
Batiuk’s really all over the place on this one, which I suppose makes it about the same as everything else he writes about.
In today’s Crankshaft-Without-Crankshaft strip, Philled Hole kvetches about the quality of the images in the omnibus. Considering that the strips were originally drawn to be printed on pretty cheap presses, using cheaper inks, onto the cheapest off-white just-this-side-of-toilet-paper newsprint, and are now being reproduced on bright white, archival quality, acid free paper, using the finest presses and inks, and probably oversize to boot, I wonder if his real complaint is that the high-quality reproduction is showing off how shoddy and rushed his original art was. After all, he was knocking off a comic that would be sold to junior-high kids for a dime, probably passed around among a few friends (all of whom ended up with smudged fingers from the ink that never completely dried) and then discarded or used to start a clandestine fire down at the town dump (my memories of childhood are a bit too good, I’m afraid). This was not intended to be museum-quality art or Great Books-quality writing. It’s kinda funny the way people now seem to treat it that way.