beckoningchasm

Early dawning, Sunday morning

As usual, Sunday’s strip is not available for preview and I’ve got too much to do tomorrow to wait up for it.

I’m of two minds–on the one hand, it sure seems like we were building up to something starring Cliff Anger…but we haven’t really built anything enough. I mean, one mention of “Butter Brickle” hardly constitutes a leaping-off point for a Cliff Anger comic book tribute cover, but then this is Funky Winkerbean so absolutely anything is possible, as long as it isn’t even slightly interesting.

The second, and I think more likely possibility is that we’ll have something unrelated to the previous week. For example, it’s been a while since Funky and Les have gone running, and the fact that Les is in California shouldn’t be a barricade to this strip. Or we might get wacky Bernie Silver Chess Club antics, with all the wackiness scientifically removed. Who knows?

Ah well. We’ll all find out together, and our yawning will be such that it will wake the land!

That’s Not What I Smell

Link to today’s strip.

Well, Cindy’s discovering all kinds of new information about Cliff, isn’t she? But let’s stop and take a look at this for a moment, just so we can see how utterly stupid it is.

If you’re anyone other than Tom Batiuk, you might recall that Cindy did a documentary about Cliff, which was considered worthy of an Emmy nomination. In the interview, she and Cliff sat and talked about his life, his blacklisting, his rediscovery, all that stuff. The fact that it was shot with a single hand-held camera…well, the contents must have been pretty damn good to garner an award nomination.

And, apparently, she asked him nothing about his career. You know, the reason you would interview a performer. Apparently, this whole bit about Cliff working with some “movie-serial comedian” (a thing I doubt existed anyway–serials tended to be action-adventure stories) is completely new to her. I mean…*gasp* I need a moment here to process this.

She’s coming across as so dense, I would not be shocked to find her surprised that Cliff played Starbuck Jones. The entire reason for her interview. “Really? That was you? Wow!” But no, after the interview, she’s still unaware. Was she born stupid, or did she study?

I can easily imagine Cindy making a documentary about (grabbing random celebrity) Paul McCartney and asking about how he met Linda Eastman, that time he was arrested in Japan, Linda dying (from cancer!!) and his bitter divorce from Heather Mills. Then, she meets him at a party and says, “Say, I understood you knew John Lennon! How the heck did that come about? Also, someone told me you write songs! Any I would have heard?”*

Today’s episode is amazing. I suppose one could put this down to Batiuk’s general in-strip contempt for women, but wow, it’s pretty cold. It’s ice cold.

Now, it would make sense for Cayla to be asking these questions, because Cayla hasn’t met Cliff before. Cayla could have seen Cindy’s documentary and asked some follow-up questions. But Cayla married Les, so she can’t be shown as flawed. And Les would have told her all this stuff, and she would have listened intently. And Les would be in the scene, to correct Cayla (and Cliff) about how things actually happened.

Cindy, on the other hand is consistently a target in the Funkyverse; Tom Batiuk loves to lob potshots at her, so sure–she’s stupid and bad at her job. Ha ha ha, stupid! You’re a dumb gurl and everything! “Remember high school? I do!”

Wow.

Just…wow.

*Granted, Paul McCartney’s story is pretty well known, so an interviewer might try to go in another angle to get a different perspective on him. But the whole point of Cindy’s documentary was to re-introduce Cliff to a public that had largely forgotten him. One of the things you would do in a documentary like that is tell people what he had done, and why he should be remembered. And all of that would come from his career, not his personal life.

Yeah, I’m back to using italics like a madman.

Eating Their Turds and Whey

Link to today’s strip.

Whoops! Late to the party on this one, but I got involved in a project of my own and neglected the time.

Not much to say about this one. The artwork continues to slide into the abyss, the dialogue is idiotic, and Rich Burchett shows us something in that last panel (almost wrote “penal”; these hosting stints, lemme tells ya…)

I mean, look at Cliff’s face in that last panel. “Oh? Think I’m not planning on getting my cheese dip on? Really, Vera? Wow, are you in for a surprise!”

Overall, again, it’s people sitting around discussing things that we have not seen and we’ve not been given a reason to care about. Eating food that looks, honestly…well, it looks largely like bowel movements. Which, given the overall bent of this strip, makes perfect sense. It also makes those vaguely flesh-colored cubes that show up now and then in Mary Worth look edible.

It’s kind of silently nauseating in its own unique way. And it’s another step away from what people want in comic strips. And it makes me feel that the 50th anniversary will be something to see, though I can easily imagine Batiuk presenting something ultra dull. After all, it’s the Funky Winkerbean way.

Does this Language Have Swearing or is it All Yawns?

Link to today’s strip.

Well, Cliff, you want a new language? Wow–aren’t you the lucky one! Turns out that there’s a person right there who happens to be The Lord of Language! I’m sure he can help you turn your stifled yawns, underbreath mutterings and defeated scowls into a language you’ll be proud to speak. And at such reasonable prices!

Oh, um, (cough) but before you go off to meet him, Cliff, your fake beard is melting off in panel one. Better go adjust it so you can look great with your new frown-talk language. Keep fidgeting with your fake beard, Cliff, and it turns people off. Glue it on good, though, man, trust me, it drives the ladies crazy! Also, and think about this–Santa Claus gigs at the local mall. You’ll want to terrify those tots as your beard is pulled apart by those tiny sweaty palms. Then you can do a Bela Lugosi laugh and cause all kinds of childhood trauma, which, trust me, is big in certain comic strips.

Seriously, is Rick Burchett trolling Tom Batiuk to the same degree that Tom Batiuk is trolling his readers? The artwork lately has given off a huge “It’s due in five minutes and no one cares, so let me scratch something out and hit ‘Send’ vibe.”

Honestly, this stuff is just awful and I can’t imagine someone who cares signing off on this and saying, “Great work, man.” I’m sure the response is more in line with “Eh, it fits the space, so sure, it’s fine.”

Hollywood Heartworm

Boy, the artwork in today’s offering is really terrible. Those faces in panel one look like a set of sad balloons from an abandoned “melting-flesh” themed carnival. And I don’t know what’s going on with Cayla’s hand. That doesn’t look natural at all. Rick Burchette is becoming worse and worse all the time; he’s actually making Batiuk’s work look good by comparison. Whether this is due to influence from above (“Make it crappy, like me!”) or a growing disenchantment with his task (“This strip sucks, so who cares”), it’s hard to say. I would guess that the recent Atomik Komix (gah) covers are his way of saying “I am actually quite a competent artist; ’tis the subject that dictates the work and moves the artist’s hand.”

And as to today’s content, well, we’re back to the self-depreciation crap. I know Batiuk loves to have his characters wallow in misery, but seriously, give it a rest. It hasn’t been “edgy” for decades now, it’s just tiresome. It’s the sort of thing that teenagers grow out of. Sheesh. Cliff himself has had a 180 degree turnaround in his life, and he’s now revered and celebrated. But no, he has to be all “Woe is me.”

How can one be a “Hollywood Heartthrob” by starring in one forgotten (but beloved) serial before disappearing into bitter exile? How the Hell can these people be ambulatory and lucid, let alone alive, in their late 90’s? It’s easy, really. Because reality in this strip is whatever Batiuk wishes it to be, because reality in the real world refuses to cooperate.

If it weren’t so dull, it would be sad.