The “marriage deal” “didn’t take”? She “wishes she knew” why she got married? What strange, strange dialogue. And the “punchline”, meant to sound profound, means what exactly? And you just know that this is all the backstory we will get about Rachel, a third-string character whom The Creator Batiuk has plucked from the background and put into play. We probably won’t even get to meet her “little boy”.
Rest assured that when one finds oneself appreciating a Funky strip, the next day’s installment is sure to send one crashing back to Planet Snark. The two lovebirds-to-be are still a-courtin’, making small talk to fill in the awkward silences. Nothing wrong with Wally’s question, but Rachel has to go and smirkingly respond in typical, resigned, weary Westvuvian fashion.
If. If this comic did not frustrate me daily with its negativity, its stilted, tin-eared dialogue, its unappealing characters, its complete lack of real humor…if this comic did not suck so bad so frequently…I might allow that today’s strip is kind of cute. Of course, no real-life human being would make a Freudian slip like substituting “lonely” for “hungry”. However, something about the staging…the way the two characters are obviously attracted to each other and trying not to show it…Rachel’s dainty posture in panel one, and the unusual perspective in panel 2…yeah. Today’s strip is…O.K. Sigh.
With the Funky-thon officially concluded, our narrative turns not to Summer sports, nor to band camp; neither to the Les-Cayla-Susan triangle. As “Crazy” Harry sits at Montoni’s counter abusing the free coffee, in the back of the pizza joint two co-workers pass like ships in the afternoon. Wally has traded in his ballcap for an olive drab schmatte, and carries a teetering stack of plates (a “lazy man’s load”, my Mom would say). Rachel, apparently desperately lonely and/or hot for Wally, responds to his offhand greeting as if it were a marriage proposal: “Yes? YES? SAY IT, Walter! Say the word, my soldier boy!” She is mortified when Wally orders her to stand down.
Son of Stuck Funky 