beckoningchasm

The Return of Jim

TFH of course solved the great “Jim Mystery” of last week, but here at least is proof that Tom Batiuk hasn’t forgotten how to draw Jim Kablichnik. He, er, hasn’t drawn him very well–in panel two, it looks like he’s about to vomit up his mashed potatoes (which is I suppose a natural reaction when meeting Les), but he’s nonetheless recognizable as the ol’ chair-stealer we’ve come to know and, uh, recognize.

I guess the rhetorical question Jim refers to is not the one he himself posed, but the implication from Les that everyone believes Les to be an amazing incompetent who cannot master any skills beyond usually putting his pants on with the top at the correct end. For the record, I’d hardly call that a rhetorical question, more like a casual observation, but it does allow Les to raise his ire. So, job well done, Jim. You can leave now. I hear they’re hiring at Sprawl-Mart.

He has many, many pairs of trick pants.

Miss All-Smart-Pad

Today’s strip

I’d hoped yesterday’s strip was a one-shot, but it looks as if this week we’re going to watch Cayla instruct Les in how to use his new tablet. I predict one of the days, Les will show us his weary-face and say, “With paper and pencil, I never had to wait while ‘important updates’ were installed.”

Other than that, I don’t know what else to say about this strip. Whenever Les appears, Tom Batiuk seems to have taken every effort to iron out any possible items of interest, so that criticism becomes meaningless. Good luck to the rest of you!

At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul

Today’s strip

Hello everyone, BChasm back for week two of my guest-hosting stint, on what we in the guest-hosting-stint business like to call “hump day.” And let me first offer an apology for the promisingly lurid title of this post, which seems to portend things of interest happening in the strip. Ha ha, this is Funky Winkerbean, interesting things need not apply!

This entry’s title comes from a 1964 movie starring “Coffin Joe” that, in the true spirit of Westview, I’ve never actually seen. But it contains the word “midnight” so it also becomes my ~~clever~~ way of saying that, once again, a preview of today’s episode was not available before press time.

I don’t like leaving everything to the last minute, so in order to “get started” on content I don’t yet have, I thought, well, I’d better “get started” anyway. Writing about something without having material at hand, or doing any research? Where have we seen that before?

Once the actual content is available, I may add what I laughingly call “insights” to this post. Or maybe not! Should I be lucky enough to fall over dead, however, I’m providing some generic comments that will work no matter what Monday’s strip might contain.

Oh, that wacky Owen! Thank you for your service, Harry Dinkle. Yes, Funky, the weight of the world is certainly keenly felt. DSH John, you sure make history come alive! Get your sad on, Wally. Becky and Bull, yes, students today can be quite the problem! Watch out for the Lord of the Late, Pete! You, uh, sure like old things a lot, Crazy. Jessica and Darrin, um, die in a fire? Les, I’d like to throttle you senseless and then beat your corpse bloodless.

UPDATE: Well, as a joke, today’s isn’t too bad. It sure looks like Les wants to take an actual bite out of his Apple in that last panel.

The Business End

Today’s strip

Naturally, anything called “Merchant’s Day” would have to feature the only two functioning businesses in Westview. What I don’t get is how cavalierly John runs his comic book shop. Here are a couple of potential customers who, yeah, might not read comics themselves, but might know people who do and thus might buy gifts, and John can’t even be bothered to look up. Isn’t he perpetually behind in his rent payments? Isn’t the entire town continually strapped for cash? Does he not want to even try to make money? Look at the expression on his face: it just screams “Get out of my shop. Get out of my shop. If I don’t look up maybe they’ll just go away.”

Besides, given the fact that John frequently proselytises everyone about the art and value of comic books, you would think in his world there wouldn’t be anyone who wasn’t a potential fan, just waiting to have him open up a whole new world for them. Yet here he doesn’t even try.

Yes, I do know that the words “try” and “attempt” and “strive” and so forth are considered curse words in Westview, but the continual avoidance of those activities is just so. Damned. Wearying.

…come to think of it, this particular episode seems to sum up Funky Winkerbean in a nutshell. “Look…here’s something.” Lady, if you only knew how wrong you are. “Never mind…this isn’t a store.” You know what else it isn’t? A joke. The joke is right here, and it’s on us.

A Matter of Perspective

Today’s strip

…or, “There Were Giants In The Earth.” The question I have is, why aren’t the band members playing on the football team? Look at the size of those creatures. Unless they’re all crammed on the scissors-lift, they must be around ten feet tall. No way some opposing team is going to get through a line of those guys! The dialogue above should read, “Please consider giving us all your money, or Band SMASH!” Unless what’s behind them is some prop goalpost, used in some wacky band skit. In which case…they don’t have money for classes, but they can buy props for band skits?

And I’m not buying the idea that this is some kind of “art mistake.” No way, Tom Batiuk was nominated for a Pulitzer, darn it, he wouldn’t make an error of that magnitude!

So, what did we learn this week? That bad things might happen in your life, and when they do, what you really need to do is pick yourself up, dust yourself off, then give up and walk away. Don’t even try to make a case for yourself or your viewpoint, because that’s just what they want you to do. Just don’t give ’em the satisfaction…you’ll find the smirks you can whip out generate plenty of satisfaction for you. And make certain to complain a lot as you go, because you always want to leave ’em wanting more, right? (Nota bene: that’s “more” and not “Moore.”)

I have heard rumors that there’s actually supposed to be a joke in the strip above. Fierce study by a squad of master detectives (plus some robots because they’re cool to have around) has failed to find any evidence of said “joke,” so I’m going to file that away under “Unlikely.”