‘th hell happened to Cory? Early in Act III, he really had the potential to be an interesting character: son of an alcoholic/workaholic father who had no time for him, Cory was by turns a thief, a vandal, and a test cheat. Readers still wonder what went on at the New Year’s Eve party he threw while his parents treated themselves to a Caribbean vacation. Nowadays, his sole purpose is to serve as a wisecracking foil to his hapless teachers. Maybe that experience wearing the pizza costume succeeded in finally breaking his rebellious spirit.
Befuddled, Fatuous Fools
Owen sure loves to talk about “fantasy”. This time, though, he’s not referring to his own overheated imagination: Amazing Fantasy #15 is the 1962 comic book that introduced the Amazing Spider-Man, who I hear has a new movie coming out.
So Blondie in the background there, I’m guessing that’s “the world’s perfect genome” Mallory Brooks, Cody’s “imaginary marriage partner” from Ms. Bushka’s class last spring. She despised Cody so much that she dropped the class just to get away from him; a year later she thinks he’s “really special”. Is it the arrival of spring causing all these Westview teens to fall inexplicably in love with each other, or is someone pumping Ecstacy into the water supply?
Proving once again that SoSF is your #1 source on the web for all things Batiuk: this breathless local news piece on the artist at work:
Yadda Yadda Yadda
In the Funkiverse, proper etiquette dictates that one prefaces his or her text messages with a proper salutation, just like a letter; hence, “Dear Cody”.
Beleaguerment
At least they still have each other. Owen and Cody commiserate in the commissary, arriving at acceptance not only of their ineptitude with the opposite sex, but with sports jargon as well. So engrossed are they in discussion that they are oblivious to the presence of several girls who are not Summer Moore. Plenty of fish in the sea, nerds.
Denyin' Ryan
$$$Westville Oncologist$$$$$
April 24, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Raise your hand if you think this new hunky guy will actually be the first half of Tom Batiuk’s “unambigously gay duo”?
Yes, this is the same guy
From time to time, consensuses seem to arise within this community regarding the plot direction of this strip. For example, during the Wally Gets a Therapy Dog arc, some of you suggested that Batiuk would cruelly kill off Buddy the Dog, sending Wally around the bend for good. I never subscribed to that theory.
More recently, some have suggested that another Time Jump was in the offing. That one sounds more plausible, if for no other reason than TB’s made such a hash of the current cast of characters that he’s got nowhere to go from here. Given his complete disregard for continuity, Batiuk’s got nothing to lose by shaking the Etch-a-Sketch for a third time.
But where are some of y’all getting the vibe that Ryan is one half of the Coming Gay Prom Date? Is it because he likes Summer? That would make Cody ‘n’ Owen gay too. Is it because the way he’s clumsily pawing Summer in yesterday’s strip implies he doesn’t like touching girls? Because he talks with his hands a lot? Is it because Summer says asking her to a movie is “sweet”? I’m curious, that’s all. The only preview we’ve had of the Gay Prom arc (starts next week!) is the panel shown here. Sure, that could be Ryan on the right, but it could be any anon-o-teen. It would be weird, even by Batiuk’s storytelling standards, to introduce this guy hitting on Summer, and then buying prom tix with Cody another guy just a few days later.
Son of Stuck Funky 
