beckoningchasm

Take Another Little Piece of My Pulitzer, Baby

At first I thought Les was admonishing Naughty in his office, in a private conference so as to steer her away from Chullo’s former crime (I seem to remember “It says Wikipedia right at the top.” “So that’s what gave it away.”).

But then I note Nice sitting there, and I realize he’s actually berating her in front of the entire class. Apparently being a dick is nothing compared to being Les Moore. That’s quite a level of ass-hattery to deploy against a student who’s barely been in his class for a week. I guess when Les has to smug his superiority (“I am familiar with all the Pulitzer-award winners…as well as several deserving nominees…”) woe betide those who happen to be in his view-finder.

Which is what makes the third panel so…delicious. Naughty is full-on denying Les his ability to give a half-lidded-eye smirk! She is being a dick right back, almost effortlessly! And look how Les, denied his pun-portunity, takes it! Look how he is practically boiling with rage, barely able to contain his fury at being de-punned. If this strip was set 100 years in the future, his next line would be “Jetson! YooooOOOOOOOOOOOuu’rre FIRED!!” You might think the impact of panel three is lessened by not seeing his full squeeming visage, but I would offer instead that it allows us to imagine it. And what I imagine is glorious.

I think I have a new favorite character in the Funkyverse.

Say The Secret Word

Link to today’s strip.

For once, the wordplay isn’t terrible, though I imagine it’s awkward as hell to say out loud. But it doesn’t seem like a real problem here–if you can’t think of a rhyme for a word, choose a different word that says the same thing for which you can think of a rhyme. Unless…unless Les has given them a list of words that they have to use in their work? I can think of several he would choose–Lisa, cancer, smirk, no one can understand me, roses, December, endings, earned, and of course the word “pun” itself. Lists the students are fantasizing about–dickhead, douchebag, punchable, smug….

What makes this an exceptional episode is panel two. Aside from Nice, everyone looks stymied and miserable, even on the verge of panic as they craft poems destined to be punned over by Les. Les himself–now there is a man just beginning to climb the hill of self-loathing, and that look on his face is awesome. The dawn of self-awareness never looked so deserved.

Thursday’s Child Has Far to Go

Link to today’s strip.

Thursday’s strip was not available for preview, but one assumes that it will be more Nice-N-Naughty contrasts as they banter with a bemused Les. Smirks will be had, and all will have those hooded half-eyes that I really, really hate. So, fellow snarkers, in a short while, the game’s afoot!

Dedicated Shenanigans

Link to today’s strip.

So, it’s another Nice-Naughty contrast thing. It’s also boring beyond description but let that pass.

Nice’s idea does sound like the sort of thing that a high school-level journalism class would go ahead and produce. It’s positive, it boosts the school, it encourages participation, and shows the value of hard work. Yeah, she’ll probably blow all that by choosing Chullo as her subject but until that moment it’s golden.

Naughty, on the other hand…she’s been at the school for a week, maybe, and they’re already letting her into the administration offices to check the finances? Wow, she is a) either a really fast worker in the charm department, or b) more likely is just making it all up because it’s sensationalistic and will be the talk of the school. Likelihood of getting the green light? Yeah, sure, a project that attacks the staff. She’ll be lucky if she’s not deported back to Crankshaftberg. Say…maybe she should do a sensationalist piece on how some cartoonists are still getting paid the big bucks while barely phoning it in!

I assume that both of these projects are for the journalism class, and would likely be viewed only by members of that class. What little we’ve seen of “The Bleat” doesn’t really seem to cater to this sort of format–it’s school announcements, sports scores, cafeteria and probably lost and found. I know I’ve said that several times, but I really think it bears repeating. It’s not a news channel. So Naughty might get a good grade on technical aspects, but if she thinks she’s gonna bust this school wide open, she…will fit right in here at Westview High.

Another note on the artwork. Naughty and Nice are both dashed off haphazardly, while Les is delicately detailed. It is nice to see the word-balloons not stuffed with empty space, though.

Say, isn’t that Cindy’s old news desk in the back?

The Thinning Edge

Link to today’s strip.

Yeah, the Doublemint Twins are fitting right in, with Nice considering holding hands with Halfback Dimwit, and Naughty being pinioned by ex-football hotshot Jared. Jared’s really throwing himself into this, you can almost hear him asking if Naughty would like to see his forward pass.

Nice to see Jared back, but one really has to ask…what’s with the hairlines on these high school students? Jared has a wicked widow’s peak kind of hiding his balding nature, while Dimwit’s hair is clearly retreating back over his scalp.

Are there that many high school kids going bald these days? Is there some kind of drug I never heard about that makes your head swell, and your hair die? I only ask because when I was in high school, all the students had hair.

Of course, when I was in high school, Funky Winkerbean was funny.