TFHackett

Just My Type

Meanwhile, back on Earth…

I imagine Cayla looks at her husband at least once a day and mutters “Amazing…” Today she finds herself in awe of Les’ typing skill. Les explains that he enrolled in typing class in high school as a way to get close to Mary Sue Sweetwater. His scheme to impress Mary Sue by becoming an awesome typist backfired when he got himself promoted to “the advanced class”. Even Les’ failures are a result of him being just so good at everything! All’s well that ends well, though, as his keyboarding chops impress Cayla (chicks dig men who can type fast). Mary Sue, meanwhile, would later find herself on the receiving end of some classic Westview karma.

The More You "NO!!"

(Long post! Click here to jump directly to comments!)

Before we announce the winner…here are the runners-up!

BeckoningChasm
March 22, 2013 at 2:20 am
Let’s have a contest. Who would be the lamest person unmasked as The Lord of The Late? This being Funky Winkerbean, the possibilities are endless. Funky? Frankie? Fred? Montoni? Pizza? Hatred? Chien? Doctor Octopus?

Rusty
March 22, 2013 at 12:25 am
Dead Lisa is everywhere.

Epicus Doomus
March 22, 2013 at 12:41 am
It’d be equally hilarious if LOTL was Batom himself and it’d probably make more sense than whoever it’ll actually be…

O.B. Dan
March 22, 2013 at 2:16 am
Pizza Twat!

Helskor
March 22, 2013 at 6:54 am
It’s the sentient computer from Act I.

Beanie Wanker
March 22, 2013 at 7:22 am
…consider this: LOTL wears a hoodie. Summer wears a hoodie. Anyone seen Summer since she went off to K*nt state?.

saturnino
March 22, 2013 at 7:42 am
Ed Crankshaft.

bad wolf
March 22, 2013 at 10:13 am
I’ll take…Durwood at 1:1. “That’s weird, why am I dreaming about holding down my high school friend in such a homoerotic manner?”

jackson53d
March 22, 2013 at 10:16 am
Come On Guys – It has to be “Evil” “Obama” from the “Bible“

Jimmy
March 22, 2013 at 10:20 am
You’re all wrong. It’s Stan Lee, defending quality comics everywhere from the likes of Pete and Tommy.

Bill A
March 22, 2013 at 7:43 am
It’s Colonel Mustard in the library with a hammer…

BeckoningChasm
March 22, 2013 at 10:27 am
I think I’ll go with Dead Comic Book John…

Señor Tortilla
March 22, 2013 at 10:59 am
I’m going with Aquaman.

$$$Westview Oncologist$$$
March 22, 2013 at 2:28 pm
Surprised nobody has brought up Ming the Merciless as a possibility.

As always, your suggestions are more entertaining…and no less plausible…than the actual denouement, which most of you had to have seen coming, even as you suggested/hoped for other scenarios:

TheDiva
March 22, 2013 at 12:04 am
It’s Pete himself–oops! Didn’t mean to spoil this shocking twist to anybody who hasn’t seen The Empire Strikes Back or a single episode of The Twilight Zone.

sourbelly
March 22, 2013 at 1:09 am
Wait, LOTL is basically just wearing a blue hoodie. Can’t Pete already see his face? And yeah, The Diva, it’s probably Pete staring back at himself. If not, well, whatever.

Señor Tortilla
March 22, 2013 at 8:39 am
It would probably be Pete, which makes no sense but it’s a lame way out (“it was me all along!”). Then again, it only makes sense at this point.

The good news in all of this is that this concludes this arc (I hope!), and that we’ve seen the last of the Lord of the Late. The bad news, of course, is that Pete just killed off the source of his “best” story ideas, and the ensuing creative drought will force him to move back to Westview, where he’ll spend the rest of his days playing video games with Owen and Alex at Komix Korner.

How Now, Blue Cowl?

We spent five days following Flash, Dale, and Pete “across the boundless depths of space” to the Lord of the Late’s lair, only to have the actual confrontation take place sight unseen: when we rejoin the “action” today, Pete’s already got LotL flat on his back, and the dragons “Tempus” and “Fugit” offer no resistance whatsoever. Great pacing.

Who Cares!?

Let’s start with the assumption that anyone, anywhere even gives a shit about “the nightmares of comic strip artists and writers everywhere.” And Pete: aren’t you a comic book writer? At least in his goofy dreams, the Pro-Crasturbator has found a woman who doesn’t despise him: in fact, she lunges horizontally at Pete and appears to flutter from his neck like a scarf. So pleased with this attention is Pete that the trademark bags under his eye momentarily disappear.

Tempus Fuggit

The most fortunate thing is that I’ve been able to do something that I really really love and again it has just worked out perfectly for me. I fell into the right type of strip, the kind of strip that could endure over the years like we’ve been talking about. I didn’t get the job at Marvel because I’d be out of work right now. [Laughs] I would have been pushed aside years ago.

Tom Batiuk
Interview at comicbookresources.com

When TB’s right, boy, is he right. No comic book publisher would pay for such silly, self-indulgent, retro crap as this. I guess comic strip syndicates are not as choosy, or at least are willing to let “beloved” strips hang on for years, which is how long this arc seems to be dragging on.