Again with the friggin’ cartoon cavemen! I’ve tried to use restraint when it comes to judging Wally’s behavior on the chance that this might be a true-to-life depiction of life for an afflicted vet. But folks, Wally’s been back Stateside over seven years now. And sure, his wife and everyone in his hometown mostly left him to fend for himself. But seven years. This fish-out-of-water act is really getting old. Fortunately, the day is saved by a young lady so unconcerned about campus security that she cheerfully unlocks the door for a gaunt, older stranger in military fatigues.
Look at that Caveman Go
Okay, there seems to be a motif at work here…I mean aside from the fact that today’s strip is a rehash of the day before, with Wally as a cartoon caveman in the last panel instead of the first. It’s a pretty safe bet that everyone recognized Fred Flintstone in Monday’s strip; no doubt some of you recognized Alley Oop, but I had to shake my head at this Tip of the Funky Felt Tip to a character I thought obscure even by Tom Batiuk’s standards.
According to Wikipedia, the Alley Oop comic strip was created by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin in 1932. This surprised me, as I’d had Oop pegged as a prewar contemporary of Little Nemo and The Yellow Kid. I was even more surprised to learn that the strip survives over 80 years later and today appears in more than 600 newspapers. That’s roughly half again as many papers that carry Funky Winkerbean.
Yabba Dabba Duh
Instead of allowing the “Bullzheimer’s” prestige arc to gain momentum, Batiuk has us check in on another of Westview’s lost souls. Not only does Wally find the campus environment daunting: the mere act of online registration makes him feel hopelessly ancient. Perhaps he’d have an easier time had he not waited until the semester had already begun. I don’t know if Fred Flintstone’s what you call a “real” Neanderathal, but Rachel does kind of resemble Wilma, now that Batiuk’s remembered to make her a redhead.
Goat Cheese
For two whole weeks BanTom teased the possibility of Bull being stricken with a serious medical malady but, as usual, it turned out to be less than nothing. Today he’s back on the sidelines, cracking wise about how shitty his football team is. I guess the Scapegoats recent run of (relative) success never happened either. FW has reached a point where you don’t even need to read it to know what’s “going on”, so to speak. Same old, same old. Plus Les is still around for some reason, apparently just to annoy everyone for no real reason. Again, same old, same old.
And that’s it for me, stay tuned for the legendary founder of SoSF, TF Hackett, as he takes the wheel for what promises to be a whole lot of glacially-paced nothingness!
What, Les Worry?
Way to spin a yarn there, BanTom. I mean what a pitiful effort, all that sound and fury and in the end it’s all a big fat zero. Just Dick Facey pretending to give a crap and Linda “worrying” about Bull’s inability to reminisce about things that happened thirty years ago. This “story” literally went nowhere. Is Bull going to seek medical attention? Are they going to discuss it with him? Will it ever be mentioned again? Who the hell knows? My guess is no, of course, as that might involve actually telling a story in some sort of linear coherent manner and we all know THAT just isn’t going to f*cking happen. I mean I knew he’d find some way to weasel his way out of his premise like he always does but, as usual, he found a way even weaker and more pathetic than I ever even imagined he would. So Linda got home from work safely…big f*cking deal. What a sorry display, why even create these premises if he finds them so boring he can’t even bring himself to resolve them?
