beckoningchasm

Driving Me Backwards

Gad, the pacing in this damned strip…”glacial” isn’t the word for it, since glaciers manage to move a few inches per year. This is like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle, except you have to wake up a really old caretaker to hand you each piece, one at a time. And in the end, the resultant picture is not worth the effort.

Let’s recap: We have a date, Wally’s off with Adeela, I’m mad, Wally and Adeela are driving….

Tomorrow, I expect them to impart that Wally and Adeela are driving a car, and they’re not on the golf course starting wildfires.

Credit where it’s due: Rocky’s been drawn nicely, especially panel three.

Here’s what Brian Eno had to say, back in the day.

John Foxx had some thoughts as well.

Heads You Lose

Link to today’s strip.

Today’s content just repeats yesterday’s–imagine that–Rachel getting more and more miffed by unexplained behavior by Wally. As newagepalimpsest pointed out yesterday, this would be a typical scenario in an Archie comic.

But Archie’s creators never succumbed to the Pulitzer’s siren call. So, its stories could still be fun and somewhat relatable. Here? I’m surprised that Rachel’s expression isn’t one of sheer terror. Imagine, being abandoned by Wally.

She must have to hire a backhoe to find her self-esteem.

Me, on the other hand, what I’m struck by is Rachel’s head in panel three. What the heck? Is she auditioning to be part of the Peanuts gang? She wants to be the Little Red Haired Girl?

I’d be interested to know how this took place. Ayers drew her with her head sunk down, looking all irked, and Batiuk said “It looks like she doesn’t have a neck. Make her head bigger.”

“That’ll just make it worse.”

[A long pause] “…you like getting paid, don’t you?”

Where’s Wally?

Link to today’s strip.

Remember the “Where’s Waldo?” books? Those were fun, because in addition to searching for the titular striped-shirt guy, there were lots of amusing details scattered here and there in the crowds. Parallel series “Where’s Wally?” on the other hand, featured dull clods, blind alleys, unfunny non-sequiturs plus the added fear that if you touched the page, you just might have a finger wet with cat pee.

Today, I get that we’re supposed to find Wally’s behavior suspicious, but let’s be honest–Wally is a clod who can’t make a sandwich without getting his head caught in a jar. He’s never going to have to fight off the females. As I recall, Rachel basically threw herself at him, over and over, until she finally clung. As a manager, he can’t be bothered to tell his employees where he’s going for the afternoon. I get that this is the author manipulating things to create suspense, but…it ain’t working.

The most interesting aspect of this is the time of day. I gather it’s sometime in the afternoon, as Cory notes. What is Rachel doing there? I figured she had to rush out of class yesterday to go home, put on some makeup, get out the nice dress and so on for the “date night.” But I guess she just shows up and that’s when the “date” starts?

On the plus side, Rachel is drawn rather well in today’s episode. It makes a nice change from the weeks of deteriorating artwork we’ve witnessed lately.

Dull and Duller

Link to today’s strip.

So, after a few weeks of movie-making, doddering infernos, a visit to a sci-fi kingdom and a Lisa run, what does Tom Batiuk have in store for us now?

Rachel and Wally having a date night. Which of course will take place at Montoni’s…where they both work.

Good grief. I think I’d slit my wrists.

I guess married couples can still have “date nights” but I would think that would mean doing something different from what they always do. I mean, they not only work there, they also live above Montoni’s. They can probably eat all the pizza they want, until they stop wanting to eat pizza ever again. (With Montoni’s pizza? Couple of bites, tops.) It’s Montoni’s, Montoni’s, Montoni’s practically all the time for them.

And this is “special” to Rachel? Yikes. The relationship these two have reminds me of a scene from “Sleepless in Seattle,” when Meg Ryan’s fiance says “I don’t want to be someone that you’re settling for. I don’t want to be someone that anyone settles for. Marriage is hard enough without bringing such low expectations into it, isn’t it?”

It sure looks like they “settled for” each other.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that Tom Batiuk has forgotten that Wally and Rachel are married, and this is just a regular date…since “continuity” for him is like garlic to a vampire.

…that the Play is the Tragedy “Les,” and Its Hero–

Link to today’s strip.

…is the Enabler Cayla.

You know, Les and Lisa are horrible, horrible people. But today’s entry makes a strong case that their infection has spread beyond the immediate Moore family, and has made its way into the outer world. Soon, entire cities, entire nations will fall as the Lisa-Worship pandemic spreads to every corner of the globe.

Because here’s Cayla, Les’ current wife, asking Les to make sure that Lisa, Les’ dead wife–dead at least twenty years now, mind–is protected from the machinations of the cruel, uncaring world of entertainment–you know, the slugs who push awful contrived entertainments on the (shudder) masses so they can sell toilet paper and cheap auto loans.

And this is something Cayla cannot stand. Because Lisa’s reputation, Lisa’s legacy, is the only thought she has.

Not a thought for herself remains. Not a thought for herself, her own child, her marriage, her future. It’s all Lisa now. It will never be anything other than Lisa. Lisa.

I thought I was being clever the other day when I referenced “Colossus: The Forbin Project.” (And c’mon, I kinda was. And if you haven’t seen that film, then you should.) But the real reference film here is far more chilling. From 1956.

Well, it started, for me it started last Thursday. In response to an urgent message from my nurse I’d hurried home from a medical convention I’d been attending. At first glance, everything looked the same. It wasn’t. Something evil had taken possession of the town.

The “Colossus” movie ended with Dr. Forbin’s defiant “Never!” The book ended similarly, but included a final paragraph:

Never?

Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Thank you all for your indulgence, your creativity and your knowledge. It always makes hosting this place a treasure, when the actual strips make it a chore. I learn nothing from the strip, but learn a lot from you all. Kudos!

Tune in Monday, when your snarker extraordinaire Epicus Doomus takes the center seat in the Funkyverse’s most-watched game show, “How Bad Can It Get?”