Yes! My favorite Funky Winkerbean character ever, the Pouncing Darkness, makes his appearance brilliantly in the last panel–crawling toward Holly as the phone begins to ring.
In ordinary circumstances, I guess this storyline would resonate with folks who have loved ones overseas in combat zones. One would never know from moment to moment what might be. Every news story might contain heartbreak, every phone call might be the beginning of regret and mourning.
The thing is, though, this is Funky Winkerbean. The story will play out as lame, predictable and underwhelming. Three things that people in dire circumstances don’t really need.
I will give Tom Batiuk some slight credit here and say that his heart is probably in the right place. However, using Cory Winkerbean as an object of sympathy is never going to play. He was a rotten kid before he went into the army, and while the army may have changed him for the better, it would be good to, you know, actually show us this. Even though that–actually showing something–goes against the very nature of this strip, still, a leopard should at least try to change his spots, before deciding it can’t be done…
I guess the idea here is that Cindy was about to say “next of kin” but caught herself at the last moment. That seems obvious, very obvious, and I only bring it up because the ellipsis in panel two should really be followed by a double-dash in panel three.
Son of Stuck Funky 