TFHackett

Goodbye, Mrs. Chips

Now it’s Cory’s turn to express his outrage at the school’s decision to remove the “vendos”, and Linda gleefully directs him to the “healthy” alternative to potato chips. She’s having a little too much fun with this whole thing.

Fountain of Stupid

Yep, nothin’ like a cold bottle of “pop” from the “vendo”! The boys are having a hard time coming to grips with the loss of the vending machines. I would take Linda to task for condescending to Owen and Cody (“It’s called a drinking fountain”), but Owen is so dense, chances are that he actually needed this explained to him.

Vendo, Vidi, Vici

120110

Life has just commenced to suck even worse for the students of Westview High. Gone are the snack vending machines, leaving only faint shadows on the wall to mark their former location. Apparently Linda has been stationed there to serve as a grief counselor for the traumatized students.

(Aside to our Ohio friends: do they really call vending machines “vendos”? Sounds like some Nadsat slang from A Clockwork Orange.)

One for the Books

Lots to be said about today’s strip, gang!

The red title text in panel one really stands out against the muddy, muted greens and pinkish browns of today’s panels.
TB casually drops into this otherwise run-of-the-mill, throwaway Sunday setpiece the fact that Pete is moving back to the big city, nearly four years after he inexplicably moved back to Westview.
The name of this secondhand bookstore is sorta clever (certainly more clever than The Village Booksmith). Reminds me of a bar in Bayonne where I used to live that was called He’s Not Here.
TB sure has a thing for bookstores and their uncertain fate. In addition to the now-shuttered Booksmith, earlier this year Les recalled a now-demolished bookstore in Kent, Ohio (Les also shares Pete’s proclivity for “haunting” secondhand bookstores).
With his balloon head and scrawny neck, Bookstore Guy in the last panel really resembles South Park‘s Mr. Mackey, mmkay?

Coach Bushka Comes a-Crawlin'

“I know who you are, dummy. You and I and our spouses were at Les’ New Year’s Eve party a year ago. I may be old but I can remember that far back. What the hell is going on with your hair color?”