beckoningchasm

In The Enclosure

So: another week of “Holly gets a valuable comic book for free, because Cory.” Unless we’re going to be treated to s Super-special two-week storyline! You can tell it’s going to be special, because Fred Flintstone has put on his space helmet in panel two!

Also in today’s episode, Holly finally yields to the voices in her head (otherwise known as Son of Stuck Funky Commentators) and decides to try her luck on eBay.

And I’m going to say, there’s really no way this is going to be interesting.

Those of you who remember Peanuts might recall that one of the ongoing bits was Charlie Brown’s eternal quest to get a Joe Shlabotnik baseball card. Despite spending lots of time and money in the pursuit, he never got one. Others, Lucy in particular, got them with ease, and then refused to trade them, leaving Charlie Brown depressed once again.

It might shock Tom Batiuk to hear this, but the baseball card was never the point. It was simply a prop used to illustrate Charlie Brown’s character; despite Fate’s eternal campaign against him, he never gave up his quest. Determination in the face of adversity was one of Chuck’s fine qualities.

Notice how this storyline suffers by comparison. It is all about the comic book. Despite this arc’s eternally ongoing length, Holly’s quest has changed her not a whit. (I’m sure she would protest otherwise–after all, she’d say, she now uses terms like “geek.” Well, woo-hoo.)

No, Holly is always Holly. She remains a non-entity to whom Fate hands things, with never a drop of blood or an honest day’s sweat on her part.

I See You

CONTENT BASED ON FUNKY WINKERBEAN
SoSAfDavidO here! Having some technical issues but I think they’re worked out.. another day, another pun title for you!
Actually, our previous host did such a good rant I’m going to let it stand and thank them for their hosting job and picking up Sunday’s strip!

It–it’s–there’s nothing there. There’s nothing there!
Link to today’s strip.
ORIGINAL TL, DR POST

Link to today’s strip.

As always, Sunday’s episode was not available for preview, so…time for one of my marathon blatherings? Well, probably not.*

I’d like to apologize to all the SoSF staff and readers for the rather uninspired posts I’ve done over the past couple of weeks. Being a guest host is usually fun, and I really enjoy thinking of odd theories and weird insights into the Funky Winkerbean world. Though I tend to go on (and on and on), still, it’s fun.

But facts must be faced. 2014 has been one of the worst Funky Winkerbean seasons in recent memory. It’s not that it isn’t bad–it is. And it’s not that it’s getting good–it isn’t. And that’s the problem in a nutshell: Funky Winkerbean isn’t.

I don’t know Tom Batiuk, but he seems remarkably thin-skinned, and it feels certain he scours the web for critical views of his work. It also seems certain he feels he doesn’t have to address the source of those criticisms. Someone saying “It’s a cesspool of misery and Les Moore is horrible,” would be met by the thought, No it isn’t, and he isn’t. How can I get this to stop?

And I think he’s found an answer: make the strip so bland and forgettable that it becomes a struggle (at least for me) to have anything at all to say about it. Funky exercising. Funky and Holly sitting around watching TV. People reading comic books. People sitting around.

There’s not a lot you can say about people sitting around. It’s like criticizing Andy Warhol’s movie Empire–a single, eight-hour shot of the Empire State Building–by saying it’s static. Well, duh!

Of course, you can go after the creator, but I’ve honestly tried to focus on the work and not the man. Everyone has the right to earn a living, after all, and as noted I have no idea what Tom Batiuk is really like (reports are he’s a nice guy in person). I really don’t like the ad hominem attack when it isn’t really merited (the guy’s not a criminal, he draws a comic strip).

The way I see it, this has to be a deliberate choice–make it so bland that it becomes critic-proof. And when all the critics have gone on to other targets, you can feature Les Moore all the time, and bask in your achievement.

What this ignores is that critics do have a function in the arts–no one, not even a Picasso, is born a genius sui generis, after all; valid criticism can help focus an artist to work toward his strengths and overcome his weaknesses. (And even invalid criticisms helped create Impressionism and Cubism.)

If, on the other hand, you already feel that you know it all, and those who say otherwise are beedy-eyed nitpickers, well, I guess you’re the ideal person to take over Funky Winkerbean when Tom Batiuk retires.

(Okay, that was a bit nasty, and I apologize.)

But guess what! There’s hope after all, a light at the end of the tunnel! No, no, silly, not for Funky Winkerbean, but for SonOfStuckFunky! For tomorrow, your humble host yields the guest chair to none other than David O, the best of the O clan!

*On the other hand, look at the mess I managed to cough up anyway!

The Mote In Funky’s Eye

Link to today’s strip.

Pretty weak word-play in panel three…yawn…what I’m curious about is Funky’s statement in panel two. Really? He…he–Funky– uh, gets emotional? “Pretty Emotional”? Really? I mean, honestly, no foolin’? Emotional–Funky Winkerbean? Tears in his eyes blurring his vision–as, um, opposed to the food court thing, where Funky was like, Dad, eat your Mall Food Court Sammich. Damn you. And now…How, exactly?

Talking to his dad about Dad’s diet of coffin nails, he seemed more–well, alarmed than sad. Like, Oh crap, I’ll probably have to , argh, you know, INTERACT with this “Dad” guy (shudder) way more than I wanna. Funky’s downright phlegmatic most of the time, showing it with his rarely-changing mask of a resigned, weary face. In the (cough) actual panels we saw with Pa Winkerbean, Funky didn’t look sad. He looked like someone had just told him he’d have to stay an extra half hour, as the staff was still cleaning Pa’s room. And they were really concerned about the toilet…

Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye

Link to today’s strip.

Not much to say about this one, although I thought Pa Winkerbean was already in a nursing home. Live and learn, I guess.

The visuals in panel three are pretty good, though it’s kind of an odd choice–Funky’s supposed to be thinking about what to do with his dad, and yet there are his own faces looking back at him. I suppose it represents his self-centered nature. To be more effective, in a character sense, I’d think lots of Pa’s faces looking back at him would be more thoughtful–of course, I’ve never been nominated for a Pulitzer, so what do I know?

And I Keep Hitting Repeat-Peat-Peat-Peat

Link to today’s strip. (Eventually)

Well, thanks to commentator Slager, we now know that Tom Batiuk has hit the end of the road. Not only is this story arc recycled from Crankshaft of nearly five years ago, but as commentator bad wolf pointed out the other day, Tom Batiuk is now mining his own blog posts to fill out Crankshaft. A-HREF notes that Family Circus and Blondie also recycle strips from years past (and I’ll add Archie), but there’s a difference–in those cases, it’s the artwork that’s reused, not the punchline.

Recycling artwork, while lazy, makes a certain amount of sense. If you’ve got a joke about Billy and Jeffy watching television, you’ve probably got a dozen variants of that already drawn, how exactly is it possible to make that fresh? Use one of the old ones–the Family Circus fans won’t mind.

Recycling punchlines, on the other hand seems lazy to a spectacular degree. It also smacks of a certain, shall we say, dismissal of the audience. “The damned rubes didn’t laugh the first time; I’ll just tell it again and maybe it’ll penetrate their skulls. If not, they say three is a lucky number.”

What’s next? What else can he recycle–John Darling stories, perhaps, since those seem lost to history and thus harder to detect, despite the beady-ness of one’s eyes. And after that?

I suspect it’s only a matter of time before comments posted here end up as punchlines. Ooo, I’m gonna keep an eye out for mine, maybe I can ask for royalties!

PS: You’ll note that I haven’t said anything about today’s offering. Once again, it was not available for preview. I may update once it goes live but kind of doubt it, it’s been a long tiring week and it’s only Wednesday. So have at it, folks!