How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away?

O.B. Dan
June 24, 2011 at 6:33 am

Station Wagon Susie is not gone, not by any stretch of the imagination.

Nope, first she needs to pack up her belongings. Les pops in to share a little chuckle over the whole “being forced to resign in disgrace” thing. What should be an awkward, regretful farewell turns into another smirkfest. Les looks more than a little creepy in panel 3; he’s smirking so hard he resembles a bespectacled Jack Nicholson. Les looks like he’s about to bend Susan over a desk.

Anniversary Schmaltz

Finally: a respite from Les!

The titular character and his missus are celebrating their anniversary, at…where else? Montoni’s! And according to this news item, “Tom Batiuk, the cartoonist, specifically requested the use of the song as a loving tribute to his wife for their 40th wedding anniversary.” Awww! Happy anniversary, Tom and Cathy.

I have to give Funky (and TB) credit for musical taste: “Til I Gain Control Again” by Rodney Crowell is a pretty sweet tune (though it was never the “B” side of “The Rock of My Soul“, which was recorded 26 years later…

Career Sue-icide

TheDiva
June 19, 2011 at 2:01 pm

…[Batiuk] can indulge in Les heroically facing his strawman accusers, while Cayla stands by her man and Susan ultimately takes the blame and willingly sacrifices her career so Les’ will survive.

Not sure if TheDiva peeked ahead to today’s strip, but I don’t imagine there could be any other outcome, since Batiuk can’t allow our “Absen-teecher of the Year” to become embroiled in such scandal. I really want to interpret Susan’s dispassionate demeanor as a prelude to a psychotic episode where, realizing at last that Mr. Moore can never be hers, she takes out half of Westview before offing herself. But that would be too entertaining, not to mention it would also fullfill O.B. Dan’s TGF prophecy. Most likely, Susan Smith Westbrook will vanish from this strip just as abruptly as she reappeared.

Subordi-Nate

So Susan has also been summoned to Principal Nate’s office, and Nate’s waving a blank piece of paper and giving them hell, throwing in a completely random climate-change reference just to keep it 1/4″ from reality. Before Les can give his side, which I’d really be interested in hearing, Susan goes into her dead-eyed zombie mode and takes the fall.