Les Not Go There

That’s some pretty tortured perspective in today’s panel 1: is Bull walking on stilts? His knees are nearly on a plane with Les’ waist. Maybe that’s why he looks like he’s ducking to get through the door. To the literal-minded Bull, “no sweat” isn’t a mere figure of speech: he has to show us his armpit to prove that there is, in fact, no sweat. Cayla persists in emasculating Les (admittedly not that hard to do) by once again bringing up the Bull-ying that (she thinks) he endured in high school.

FW’s 40th anniversary celebration kicks off next week.

St. Louis Blues

The only surprise today (probably the only surprise in this strip all month) is that Bull’s NFL suitor was “the then St. Louis Cardinals” and not the Cleveland Browns, given Batiuk’s Ohiophilia. Alas, a blown knee ended his gridiron career, but being a natural physical therapist,  Bull was able to rehab himself.

Me and You and EMU

Epicus Doomus
March 20, 2012 at 2:03 am
For anyone who’s ever wondered if TB becomes enamored with some bit of idiotic wordplay and then builds some sort of half-assed arc around it, I present this week, which exists solely for the sake of doing a gag based on EMU.

billytheskink
March 20, 2012 at 11:48 am
…[Eastern Michigan University] are a Mid-American Conference Opponent of TB and Les’ Kent State Golden Flashes and Cayla’s Akron Zips. The EMU in this strip is probably a placeholder for them or any other MAC school that isn’t Kent State or Akron plus… flightless bird joke!

Make that a flightless bird joke right between the eyes, for the benefit of the handful of readers who didn’t see it coming. No one will accuse EMU’s recruiter of lavishing their prospect with expensive gifts, that’s for sure. A ringer tee? You shouldn’t have! No, seriously. You shouldn’t have.

Bullrush

bobanero
March 19, 2012 at 11:40 am
It’s remarkable how any player on a team that’s NEVER WON A SINGLE GAME can attract the attention of any college recruiter.

After 40 years of FW, Batiuk feels entitled to cast off any remnants of plausibility or continuity, and if the readers don’t like it they can suck it. Case in point: back when he was fake-beating Les, Bull was depicted with a rather flattering moptop. In his latest reincarnation, Bull’s teenage self sports a baffling split-level buzzcut that suggests a pineapple. As the only standout on Westview’s hapless football squad, Bull is allowed to have his own last name, not the school’s, across the back of his varsity jacket.

Don't Stropp Believin'

Once again,
Les’ upper lip has retracted under
his mustache

Sunday’s strip got my hopes up that we would at last be done with BasketBull. However, today Les’ mention of that damn highlight reel triggers in Bull a sepia-toned flashback. Well, not a flashback, because Bull wasn’t there. The coach (he’s the one in panel three wearing the t-shirt that says coach) is the late Jack Stropp, who not only fostered Bull’s athletic development but also passed along his gift for malapropism.