Silverware Down the Stairs

Friday night. All my lovely nerdy normie lady friends were logging into our group chat, ready for funny, scary, co-op vidya game shenanigans.

“What are you doing, [ComicBookHarriet]?” they asked.

“I’m looking for CHONGS.”

Stunned confusion followed.

“It’s for a Funky Winkerbean thing.”

And then, well they still didn’t understand, but at least they understood the location of the field of nonsense that held the specific rabbit hole I was furiously scrambling down.

Crack commenter, Andrew, pointed out a couple days ago that Tom had a new blog post up. A blogpost specifically about the I Chong gimmick that ran through nearly all of Act I. The first one I found in my records goes all the way back in 1973.

Continue reading “Silverware Down the Stairs”

I Understood That Reference!

Boy, the last couple Cranky strips have sure been botched. Like, there’s an anemic attempt at humor, but the punchline boils down to ‘Pop Culture Reference + Mundane School Bus x Unnecessary Cruelty = Humor’

As soon as I read Wednesday’s strip, I knew where the punchline should have been located. But it seems Batty and his editor misread the schematic. Like Lucy pulling the football away at the last moment, the line in the second panel sets up a joke that the third panel completely botches.

Here’s my attempt. Continue reading “I Understood That Reference!”

Bad Parenting From Beyond The Grave

So Tom Batiuk’s recent email newsletter started off with this December 2008 strip:

Comic Book Harriet wondered why Batiuk chose to highlight this seemingly random strip in his email newsletter. I have a different questrion:

Why did Tom Batiuk choose to include this absolutely disgusting strip in his email newsletter? Continue reading “Bad Parenting From Beyond The Grave”

Here’s to the Death of Hope!

Happy Birthday Tom Batiuk!

I went back in my archives to see if ol Tom ever saddled one of his characters with his own birthday to celebrate. But I couldn’t find anyone with Pi Day, as their Cake Day. Really, I couldn’t find many places where he acknowledged the date even obliquely. Unless this Crankshaft strip from 2018 counts.

Look! An actually amusing Crankshaft strip! Happy Birthday, indeed!
Continue reading “Here’s to the Death of Hope!”

And we’re back… hello?

I got a lovely little newsletter last week from our favorite septuagenarian strip writer. One of the singular perks of being on the official mailing list. I thought I’d pass on the highlights, with CBH commentary.

[I have no idea why he starts off with this strip. But if I had to suffer through reading a random strip where Les is talking to an imaginary Dead St. Lisa, and smirking while fantasizing her criticizing his parenting, then I am definitely going to share the pain.]
Continue reading “And we’re back… hello?”