ComicBookHarriet

Patronizing Pathos

Yesterday when I joked about Batiuk doing this as a serious storyline, I was kidding. I really genuinely thought that the glare from Pete was going to be the beginning and end of it. And as bland and easy as that would have been, it would have been better than this.

This is, without a doubt, the most deeply uncomfortable strip I’ve seen Batty put out in YEARS. I’m not usually one that trumpets the ‘Batty is a blatant misogynist’ line, but I am reassessing my opinions of it.

No wonder Burchett is half-assing this… I would half-ass this as a form of silent yet visual protest.

I am genuinely curious if the fallout of this will be Mindy being cowed then educated by the power of SRS BIDNESS comic books, or Pete being put back in his place with cheap heavy-handed feminist patronizing. I could see it go either way.

I am very eagerly awaiting all of you Stuckfunkians tearing this strip to pieces in the comments.

Woman-upmanship

Link to Today’s Comic.

Oooh, that is some next level pouting going on in panel two. I can’t wait for an in depth story examining Pete’s and Mindy’s characters, their relationship, and the universal conflict between ego and charitable love. I just know Batiuk will really dig into Pete’s psyche, his insecurities, and use the weakness he’s intentionally built into his character to display the uncomfortable truth to all of us that the joy we get from outshining our peers will always be at war with the joy we get from seeing our friends succeed.

I mean, this can’t just be a few strips of mild petty annoyance on Pete’s part, only to be blandly brushed aside with a weak platitude and immediately ignored to be followed up by something even more passive…right? RIGHT?!

Mindy in panel one looks uncomfortably like some kind of Japanese caricature. And let us never ever get an up-the-nostril shot of Chester ever again, okay?

Chimp Change

Link to Today’s Comic.

See this. This is really depressing in light of yesterday. Yesterday Burchett drew two really fun panels, and showed us that he can do better. Today he couldn’t even manage to phone it in. He had to drunk dial it. I imagine him splayed across his drafting desk, bottle of scotch in one hand, pen in the other, resting his head directly on the desk while scratching this out with one eye open. Or more likely, he doodled it with a stylus on his smart phone in fifteen minutes while on the can, and emailed it directly to the colorist.

Either way, a Charger Chimp sounds like some kind of stupid portable multi-port wireless device battery pack that would be advertised on TV very early in the morning. Use it in your car! Use it on a plane! Any place want, any device you want, your little charging pocket buddy is there for you. Buy the Charger Chimp today! Only $19.99 plus shipping and handling. But wait! There’s MORE!!!!

Simian Simulacrum

Link to Today’s Comic.

Comic Book Harriet back again for another ride on The Carousel of Death (and Comics) known as Funky Winkerbean. And like all carousels we’ve been on a trip up and down, around and around, only to come right back to where we were before.

Mopey Pete and Durren have quit their old jobs, moved halfway across the country, got a new boss, and started an entirely new comics venture, only to write “Starbuck Jones But This Time He’s a Monkey.”

At least Burchett got to draw two panels of exciting detailed comic book action. I especially like the face of the guy getting a haymaker in panel two, and the Abe Sapien/Murloc love child in panel three. For a brief moment, he actually got to be an artist producing art again. Like a rotting tree producing a single delicious apple even though it’s dead inside.

A Big Pick-Me-Up.

Link to Today’s Comic.

Once again stayed up late waiting for Sunday’s strip to drop. Les and Cayla are in LA, getting picked up by the world’s worst Uber. Mason has always been portrayed as a dingbat. I would not feel safe with him behind the wheel of a Hummer/Hearse Hybrid during LA rush hour.

It seems that ‘Comic-Con’ this year was completely summed up in one panel of nerdery last Sunday. The awards show might as well have been a poorly attended wedding reception for all the excitement and industry flavor we got.

I’m pretty flabbergasted by it, really. We did get plenty of tone deaf ‘nerdy’ humor last year, and the year of the great Holly Winkerbean Starbuck Hunt. But the idea that Batiuk would have nothing more to say during a Comic Con, that he’s both out of new ideas and not interested in recycling his old ones, it’s not like him. It’s almost worrying. Lack of interest in activities that you once enjoyed is a classic hallmark of depression. Can someone check on him?

Well it has certainly been an interesting couple weeks at the helm. I interpret this awards quickie as TommyBats realizing that while the IRL ‘Lisa’s Story’ was nominated for a Pulitzer, the ‘in-universe’ book has never been similarly rewarded. The Eisner nomination, but not win, is a way of giving his opus similar accolades both within his world and without.

Beckoning Chasm is up tomorrow, to see us through the sights of LA. If Cayla is impressed with Union Station, wait till she sees the Scientology Building.