bayoustu
June 9, 2011 at 1:32 am…TB is just rusty at depicting anything other than despair, dejection, fear (and/or loathing), grief, pain, consternation, anguish, hopelessness, and — of course — cancer.
True, Stu! But on the other hand: what other cartoonist renders middle-to-late-middle-age-male ass better than our Tom Batiuk? Just look at the back porches on Bull, Tony, and, in today’s strip, Funky:
Crazy Harry and Funky are laughing way too hard about Les’ “problems”, but Les’ bizarre reference to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 instantly turns their mirth to bafflement. Sure, it’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye walks out in a huff.
Better call the “Wahhhh-mbulance”…Les has got hurt feelings!
Today’s strip repeats the formula from yesterday’s: flashback vignette from the “Classic Era” followed by a friend of Les saying something that nobody in the real world would ever say. “Rethink my entire world view”? “Game-changer on a galactic scale”? The hyperbole-as-punchline is irritating enough, but made even moreso by the fact that Les’ lifelong friends are completely uninformed about his relationship status.
I actually laughed at today’s strip as teenage Les gets “owned” by Mary Sue. Of course, years later Les would enjoy the last laugh at Mary Sue’s expense.
Listen: Les Moore has come unstuck in time (to paraphrase a line from Slaughterhouse-Five). The widower Moore flashes back to his nerdy high school days, where once again he’s striking out, even worse than yesterday, with “Kelly”. Back in the present day, Funky still can’t believe his best friend’s predicament. Maybe since Les hasn’t named the “two women” he’s talking about, Funky thinks there are two more women besides Susan and Cayla who are attracted to Les?
Never mind that: Les’s blue shirt from yesterday has morphed into its customary yellow!
Son of Stuck Funky 
