Today’s strip could’ve been one of my favorites ever if the third panel had depicted the director acting the way a real human being would, by telling Dinkle to sit down and shut the *#@% up. I do find it extremely hilarious that the World’s Greatest Band Director Harry L. Dinkle isn’t directing this band. Especially considering that the guy who was chosen to lead it seems to be missing a chunk of his head, possibly in an accident suffered while marching in the rain.
Oh, and apparently Mike Sewell was a real band director that is being honored in the parade this year. I feel like 99% of the readers of this strip would just assume he was another character in this strip and not give it a second thought. I also think it would be nice if Batiuk had highlighted Sewell a little bit more rather than making this all about Dinkle.
Author: spacemanspiff85
Thanks for Making Us All March in the Rain
Thanks to BillytheSkink for guiding us through “Wild Mort’s Love Life, Chapter XVIII”. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but seeing Dinkle in a strip on a Monday is the worst thing to me, since you know you’re getting (at least) another week of him. At least with Les there’s more to make fun of, and something might actually happen. With Dinkle all you get now is “isn’t Dinkle awesome?”, basically. And know you have the horror of Mort and Lillian popping up at any moment.
One of the weirdest things with how Dinkle is written is how he’s simultaneously portrayed as a maniac and borderline-fascist band director that everyone hated but also a beloved figured who improved the lives of everyone he touched. It seems like the majority of the actual band directing we see him do involves making people walk in hurricanes and risk their lives, so I’m not really sure why there’s a box of envelopes that’s stacked so high there’s no way anyone could have carried it. (Speaking of carrying, I’m very confused about how exactly Becky was handling that box, based on the arrangement in the first panel).
Oh, and Becky was one of Dinkle’s students and then became a band director. That’s the punchline for today’s strip.
Winkerbean’s Wieners
It really does amaze me how much mileage Batiuk has gotten out of a man cooking peas and hot dogs. It made no sense at all with Les (did he serve Summer nothing but peas, hot dogs, and Montoni’s pizza the entire fifteen or so years before he married Cayla?) and even less sense with a literal restaurant owner. And it is fun that Batiuk is able to get yet more “humor” out of Funky being in AA.
That fourth panel is going to haunt my nightmares. That is an absolutely horrible expression for Funky to be making when he’s talking about wieners. I’m sure people who are more skilled with Photoshop than I am would have absolute field day with it.
Comic Book Harriet will be taking over tomorrow! Hopefully she won’t have to deal with an entire week about wieners and legumes, but you never know.
Pea-Brained
So, do you think it’s just Melinda that forgets what Funky does for a living, or Batiuk himself? I know Funky currently owns and manages Montoni’s, but I guarantee he’s done more than his share of cooking, and I don’t get at all why Melinda is so shocked she’s literally covering her mouth. But I guess it’s worth scrapping years of character development for the bad sitcom level hilariousness of “men don’t know how to cook”.
Not a Kneeslapper
I’m not sure how great it is of Funky to be getting Holly something for her knees, if he’s known about this for a while and it literally took her breaking her leg for him to do something to help her. Also, iff her knees have been bothering her, I’m not sure why her doctor didn’t recommend something..
I really don’t get why Holly cares that the pills are made from pigs’ feet (other than to set up the weak punchline). Given that the majority of her diet is probably Montoni’s pizza, I don’t think she’s too picky about what she puts in her body. Unless the majority of pepperoni and sausage Montoni’s buys is made from pigs’ feet and she’s concerned about there being a scarcity.
Oh, and we finally learn what the actual injury was. A broken leg. Not that it matters, but it sure seemed like the cracking sound game from her foot, and it sure looked like an ankle injury.
And it also makes Funky’s “break a leg” joke even less funny, since she actually did break a leg.
Son of Stuck Funky 