Author: ComicBookHarriet

Farm work hasn’t so much been kicking my butt, as suplexing me into the ground. But we finally got the last of planting done on Tuesday! Yay!

I enjoyed catching up on all the comments on the current Roger Bollen saga. As BillyTheSkink pointed out in the comments, Bollen and Batiuk did have a history, and Batiuk not only was quoted for his obituary in the newspaper back in 2015, but also eulogized him in his blog, along with posting a bit of Bollen art a friend had commissioned for him.

“Roger Bollen was one of the true masters of the newspaper comics page. He was the creator of Animal Crackers, Catfish and Funny Business. Roger passed away this past Saturday. To me Roger was by turns an inspiration, a wise and sage counselor, and a friend who never failed to bring a smile. When I was a senior at Kent State, I badgered, cajoled and pleaded for the opportunity to meet with him so I could pour out all of the heartfelt questions I had about cartooning and how you negotiated the path to becoming a syndicated cartoonist. He graciously spent a wintry Saturday afternoon with me talking comics and opening my eyes to the ways of the comics world. Over time we became friends who would enjoy the occasional lunch together and the chance to talk shop which, given our hermit-like existences, was something to be treasured. The cartoon above was commissioned by my best friend from college and created by Rog for my thirtieth birthday. It has remained framed very staunchly on my studio wall these many years. When Roger left comic syndication to work in children’s books and television, some of the heart disappeared from the newspaper comics pages. I missed his work and I miss the man.”

Tom Batiuk

Looking at Bollen’s body of work, I was surprised to see he and his wife had written and illustrated some children’s books that I remembered from my own grade school days.

And about one of the last things he did was help develop the screen-based-babysitter love child of Dora the Explorer and Bob the Builder.

But, because it was what Batiuk admired, let’s look at some of Bollen’s best comics.

Okay. So. While I appreciate the character designs. I gotta be honest. I only found a few Rog Bollen strips that made me crack a smile. Maybe you just had to be there? Or maybe my brain is rotted? Either way. I’d say he was a good artist, but only a serviceable joke smith.

This was probably my favorite I found.

And this Lyle the Lion guy is basically Les Moore.

Saw some sweet and snarkless commenters on GoComics make an attempt to defend ‘Eugene Buys Wisteria’ as perfectly appropriate over Memorial Day.

While I agree that the bare bones heart of the trope is fine enough. Elderly Person Honors Deceased Love is a pretty universal emotion to ply, the arc sucked in execution.

First of all, the strips were boring as fuck. No tension. No conflict. No humor. And no new information or insight on any of the so-called characters.

We don’t learn anything new about Lucy or Eugene.

And Eugene is not a character.

Eugene’s only purpose when he appears is to pine for dead Lucy and reminisce over a summer’s worth of Summit Park dates from 80 years ago. He’s the dead girlfriend equivalent of the cabbages guy from Avatar the Last Airbender.

So I fixed it.

Enjoy.

(Also I laughed out loud at Batiuk keeping Lucy’s birth year 1920. It’s such an easy fix to turn things into amorphous-comic book time, ala Simpsons, by obscuring the year with the flowers. But Batiuk’s gotta Batiuk, and I guess Eugene and Lillian are canonically super spry centenarians.)

Boy, I am telling you I am glued to the edge of my seat watching ol’ Eugene buy flowers to decorate Lucy’s grave with. So absolutely glued that my ass has permanent crease, and my sciatic nerves have been half severed, leaving me as a six legged, part chair, abomination of wood, flesh, and agony hopping around the house on pins and needles.

If any of you notice the florist looks a little off, there’s a good reason. She’s copied from Burchett lines. Hence the tiny flat face on a big round head. Ah, the good old days of 2018.

In the Archive Dive, I’ve got a potential Chien I’d like to put to the jury.

She’s in pink. But that could be a colorist error.

Her hair is just like Chien’s.

But she’s not wearing a choker.

We don’t know of Chien ever taking acting classes, and it doesn’t seem to suit her personality or character.

Vote in the comments now! Chien or Naw.

Now…back to 1999

I am realizing that Act II was truly the high effort era of Funky Winkerbean. Where plot lines on arson mysteries, marital strife, cancer recoveries, and Star Wars could all interweave in the space of a single month.

And where Batiuk and Ayers weren’t afraid to confront their audience with the gruesome sight of a corpse burning for comedy.

Remember when Darin and Pete were originally pitching a serious sci-fi superhero strip to be run in the Scapegoatzette? Well now they’re just turning out gag-a-day three panel strips on whatever strikes their fancy. Kinda reminds you of the artistic trajectory of someone else.

The harm, Ally, is if a student hates the strips so much they’re driven by rage to do something drastic and destructive. Like start a fire.

Or start a blog.

But I would think that even the worst Star Wars adjacent media wouldn’t drive someone to go full Zodiac Killer. Then again, I haven’t watched The Acolyte yet.

Is it stupid that we’re given Pete and Darin as red herrings for this arson mystery? Yeah. Kinda. But, man, at least the Batiuk of 25 years ago trusted his readers enough to show-not tell-Ally’s suspicion. As an older sister myself, immediately suspecting your brother of arson with no evidence is the most real thing Ally has ever done.

But of course, it was Mooch.

I miss Mooch.

Okay, first things first.

Can I say that I am absolutely obsessed with Andy in panel 3 of Wednesday’s Crankshaft?

That is the nervous and determined look of someone trying to beam important information directly into someone else’s brain with the power of eyeline alone. The kind of look you give your best friend when you’re the only one on the crashing airplane who’s noticed there aren’t enough parachutes. Or maybe Andy’s just terrified of Cranky’s flesh colored hair.

Continue reading “A Thorough Dressing Down”

CBH here with a short midweek post! Today we close out the remaining strips of Chien’s freshman year. Starting with a moderately amusing and relatable Sunday strip that by modern Funkyverse standards is a frikken masterpiece.

As an insufferable nerd and recovering smug literary elitist, this strip brings back fond memories of my high school clique thinking we were top shelf quirky shittalkers for jokingly calling each other ‘strumpet’ and ‘wench’ rather than ‘bitch’ and ‘hoe’.

Also of note in this early strip is the tension between Chien and Mopey Pete. I get the feeling that Batiuk always had in the back of his mind hooking these two up eventually; but then overstuffed early Act III with too many other plotlines and decided to leave Chien in the memory hole. Despite having Byrnes draw an Act III character sheet for her.

One other minor note of praise for the Funkyverse. (Like praising the crust of stale bread in the garbage that most resembles a crouton.) Darin and Pete’s friendship.

Don’t get me wrong. I hate stupid Mopey Pete. And the only reason I don’t hate Darin is because he’s about as bland as two ply toilet tissue: inoffensive right up to the moment he touches something else truly ass.

But their friendship, from the moment it was introduced, has a remarkable consistency, longevity, and believability. They have shared interests, shared goals, and seem to be happier with each other than alone. We don’t get this from Les and Funky. Or any other so called ‘friends’ in the Funkyverse. (Save maybe Crankshaft and Ralph)

Did Batiuk just crack his inner schoolboy in two and slap a ‘neurotic’ sticker on one, then have both of them act out his fantasies for the next 20 plus years? Yes. But a consistent relationship gives the barest hint from which we can imagine a consistent inner world for these two.

Oh, wait, we were supposed to be talking about Chien, right?

So apparently Chien and Ally not only work on the yearbook but also the school paper. Sure. Why not.

If they can bear Les’ toxic presence, of course he’s going to wrangle them into everything he does.

Here’s the kind of brain melty you can get when you start asking those questions I posed at the beginning of this series.

Is Chien morally/intellectually/philosophically justified in the author’s eyes?

Here we get a ‘grey’ area. Obviously Batiuk loves comics so wouldn’t write them off as ‘testosterone fueled fantasties’. But at the same time, I feel like we’re supposed to understand that Darin and Pete’s comics are a substandard juvenile attempt. So Chien’s perspective here isn’t Batiuk’s, but I don’t think she’s meant to be a straw-woman in black lipstick.

And in January of 1999 we see Darin, Chien, and Ally all working together to gaslight Tony into charitable giving.

That’s it for Chien’s appearances until a new school year rolls around in September of 1999. So it feels like a decent pause point.

Sorry that I’ve been absent in the comments lately. We’re getting into the busiest part of spring, checking fence-lines, moving cows out to pasture, working on machinery, planting crops, and harvesting hay. So for those of you who enjoy the farm stuff, some snapshots from the past couple weeks.

Happy Spring you Beautiful Nitters!