Author: beckoningchasm

Link to today’s strip.

ACTUAL STRIP CONTENT UPDATE.   (Thanks to TFH for the scan!)  Nothing much to see here, just some lead-footed obviousness from The Most Hated Man in Comics.   Two things do stand out, however–one is the picture that appears on the phone when Summer calls.  I like to think that’s a photo of Les in the graveyard, just before the famous crying-in-the-rain scene.

The other is Les’ sheer manliness.  Remember how it took both Cory and Funky to manhandle the Christmas tree into the house?   Well, none of the wussy “help me” from Les Moore, folks–he can haul that tree down to the curb with one hand–and pulling the tree through the door in the wrong direction, too!  Which, eh, pretty much guarantees a shower of pine needles all over the floor, but what the heck, Cayla will clean that up, amirite?

ORIGINAL BCHASM “TL;DR” POST

Sunday episodes always have to wait until midnight, which means that I’m going to blather on endlessly about something or other.  Aren’t you lucky!

You might remember the “Darrin Finds His Birth Mother” collection of strips gathered right here at SoSF.  Right in the middle of that rather underwhelming arc, there’s a genuine left-field surprise when the “Seinfeld” gang makes a bizarre cameo (just to illustrate something Jessica bleated–what a humbling experience that must have been).

Comments on the arc were genuinely dumbfounded by this appearance, but I think Tom Batiuk was telling us something.

I think I’ve seen about two complete episodes of “Seinfeld,” and bits and pieces here and there, but through pop culture osmosis you couldn’t help but know pretty much everything about the show.   My main impression is that the characters were all fairly unlikeable and spent their time sniping at each other (verbally, I should add, not through small arms–now that I would have watched) and complaining about the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.   I think even big fans of the show would probably acknowledge that, say, George was pretty much an obnoxious jerk who caused most of his own problems…but that Jason Alexander made him funny, so that when he showed up, people said, “Hey, it’s George!  This’ll be great!”

Unlikeable?  Sniping?  Complaining?  Obnoxious jerk?  Causing their own problems?  Wow, those elements sure seem familiar, don’t they?

Yes…I think Tom Batiuk was saying “Funky Winkerbean is exactly like Seinfeld.  Funny people doing funny things.  You should laugh every time you read my work.”  Why else would the cast make that strange cameo, except to point out the similarities?  “Seinfeld” had ended its television run over ten years before the strips ran.  Granted, the show was popular enough that it’s probably still seen in reruns on a half dozen channels, so I’m sure Darrin and Blondo (already forgotten her name) probably knew about it–though for them the show is over twenty years old.

What’s really strange about the cameo, though, is that it doesn’t seem to be related to the characters at all.  Tom Batiuk’s comic book tributes at least try to illustrate something current about the cast members involved, and as comic-obsessed as Westview is, one can see them thinking of themselves in comic book terms (“This is just like when Superman had to make a million pancakes!”).   But the Seinfeld thing is just…there.  It would be different if Darrin was trying to write a teleplay (hm) or Blondo was trying to start a local TV station that showed old sitcoms, but neither is the case here.  There’s no reason for that panel not to contain Darrin and Blondo.   Unless Tom Batiuk is making a point–Funky Winkerbean and “Seinfeld” are the same.

Well, the parts are all there.  There’s a cast of characters who, purely on paper, are defined by only a couple of traits and are kind of unlikeable.  Look at it this way–

1. A depressive, cheap, fat, balding loser – is that George from “Seinfeld,” or Funky Winkerbean?

2 – A weird, unfathomable guy with strange obsessions – Kramer, or Crazy Harry?

Okay, let me say this before you kill me.  3 – The sane, grounded one, who looks out for his friends and has a generally broader, smarter outlook on life – Jerry, or Les Moore?

As I’ve said, I never watched the show enough to know who Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ character would be an analogue to.  Probably Summer, since there really aren’t any females in Funky who have any sort of character or personality other than her.

So, the parts are all there. The difference is in what is done with those parts.  You all remember, I’m sure, the Sunday strip where Les, on his book tour, is an obnoxious prick to a half-dozen service personnel at the airport.   Can’t you see that done on “Seinfeld,” but done in a way so that it’s actually kind of funny?

As another example, one of the “Seinfeld” episodes I saw had the gang at a hospital for some reason.  An inmate there got loose and threw himself off the building, landing on George’s car and totaling it.  George then tried to get the hospital to pay for the damages.  I can see Funky doing this exact same thing, except that in “Seinfeld” it was kind of amusing.

I recognize that there’s an enormous difference between twenty-odd minutes performed by skilled professionals, and three panels written and drawn by one man.   That’s certainly one reason for the difference in result between “Seinfeld”and Funky Winkerbean.   You can build a great deal of audience trust over the course of an episode, so that what are fairly obnoxious characters actually become somewhat charming.

Consider, though, that while the Seinfeld show had ten years to build these characters, Tom Batiuk has had over forty to do the same thing, and it just hasn’t worked.   Les Moore is probably the most loathed character in comics.   You might say that the formats are too different, that one shouldn’t take what works in one medium and apply it to another and expect the same result.  I don’t know–some things about entertainment tend to be universal across all kinds of different media, with similar results.  In newspaper comic strips, look at Charlie Brown (mopey depressed loser) and Calvin (obnoxious brat)–somehow, people came to love those characters, despite traits that would otherwise make them unlikeable.  So it is possible.  It’s just not possible with Les Moore.

Everything I’ve said above is sheer speculation, and is presented only as a means of entertainment, and no rights or ownership are implied.  I’m just trying to figure out why, in the midst of an arc that has nothing at all to do with them, the “Seinfeld” cast makes an appearance.  It in no way reflects any sources other than my own imagination, and the need to post something on Sunday.   And I thank you for allowing me to stretch your indulgence way past the point where it should have snapped, and smacked me in the face!  Holy crap, can I go on forever about nothing, or what?!