Check out the sign: “NO shirt, NO shoes.” Period.
Remarkably, Harry’s comics, despite not having been bagged and boarded, are judged to be “in pristine condition“. Sure, he neglects his doting wife, spent his working hours hanging out at Montoni’s and the Komix Korner, and apparently misplaced his two younger children, but by God, Crazy Harry has made taking care of his books “a priority”. Now he expects his books to take care of him.
Son of Stuck Funky 
Pristine? *Prinstine?!?*
I can’t take Dead Skunk Head seriously as a comic nerd if he’s going to throw around incorrect comic grading jargon.
That would be like a coin nerd saying his trade dollar is in “really cool” condition.
Maybe DSH isn’t a fool. Start throwing around terms like M9.5 and Crazy is going to start consulting comic price guides.
Seriously, why is CH even thinking about selling comics in his poverty-stricken hamlet? How about letting 60 comic nerds from across the country get into a bidding war on eBay instead, Einstein!?
I think Crazy’s going to wish he’d had a 401(k) plan instead. All those comics dropped onto the market will actually depress prices.
What Books?
Those are comics…..20 freakin’ crates of comics!!
Take them out to the Alley for another Komic Kon like Petey did.
Sheesh ,comics books are the currency of the land in Westview.
TB lives in the attic ’cause the downstairs is filled with comics I’ll bet.
BUT…. I still do not miss Less
In the last panel of yesterday’s strip it certainly appeared that DSH John was going to say something that might cause Harry to reconsider selling his books. But it doesn’t happen today, as instead we’re treated to a comic book store owner expressing mild surprise that a noted local collector (and regular customer) would take good care of his comic books. I know, stunning, right?
Today’s last panel is pretty goddamned surreal. Out of nowhere a large hound-type dog appears and begins to complain about the USPS and…oh, wait. It’s just Harry, never mind. I guess this is the one where we’re supposed to feel a pang of something for ol’ Crazy, but the only pangs I’m feeling are pangs of regret as I ponder the seven seconds I wasted reading this thing today. Wish I could have those back, you know?
The tag, and a post referencing John as “Dead Skunk Head.”
Looks like some bully jocks never go away, especially when they learn to use the internet.
I’m surprised the pages aren’t stuck together if you know what I mean.
@Reflex76 – Hi, Tom Batiuk.
this story going on 3 weeks ,i guess tommy b had comic lost by post office
Anybody else think the douche in the first panel looks like Where’s Waldo after trading in his silly hat for a bad haircut?
You know which books are usually in pristine condition? Those books you’ve never actually read.
Looks like some bully jocks never go away
And it also looks as if some people can never get over who they were in high school. It became so much a part of their lives that they can’t see the world through any other prism.
Ouch. Batiuk is being a real bully jock on the ol’ U.S. Postal Service in Panel 3. Probably just mad that they traded in all the horses for those funny-looking trucks.
“Looks like some children were left behind!”
Our troll has a definite Batuikian rhetorical style.
Yuh, and Penn State “rethought” Jerry Sandusky’s priorities. Is Batboy trying to milk more sympathy for Beardo out of us? Ain’t workin’, pal. “These books are in pristine condition! This box might be worth as much as 50 cents!!”
Reflux76, you forgot to tell us “some children were left behind.” Someone’s pulling our chain. “Bully jocks” – hilarious! I know I’ll be using that, along with “beady eyed nitpickers,” another solid gold nugget. Please give me permission to do so, Reflux, or I’ll find you and give you a wedgie while stuffing you, upside down, in your locker.
Reflux76, his hair DOES look like a dead skunk! If you don’t like it, quit drawing him that way.,
Dear ReFlex76/ Batom Inc.:
Surely you understand that any art made viewable to the public is subject to commentary by the reading public. Here are just some of the problems with this arc:
*Someone who has worked for the USPS for 30 years getting fired with no severance pay or pension.
*A union member affiliated with the Tea Party.
*Confusion between fiction books, non-fiction books, and comic books.
*The delusion that selling any of the above category, even in great quantities, would provide a large influx of cash.
*The Comix Corner buying so many comics, when just months ago the owner told another character to just sell a similarly sized collection in the alley.
*Crazy Harry waxing rhapsodic over how much he loves his books – so much that according to today’s strip, he never reads them at all.
I am hopeful that you get the point: there are serious problems with the story-telling here. A writer can’t just bounce from plot point to plot point without doing research or following the established characters’ backgrounds and personalities. To borrow a phrase, it’s called “literary criticism,” just sit back and try to learn something about the craft.
@TFH: Sadly there is a last line to DSH’s sign; NO Shirts, NO Shoes, NO Telling.
@ReFlex76: If you’re not BatHack, you did an excellent job channeling his repressed high school memories. Well done. Now end this ridiculous arc.
ReFlex76: …Looks like some bully jocks never go away, especially when they learn to use the internet.
“Bully jock?” I was a band fag in high school, pal, and I got along with the jocks just fine…sorry if you didn’t.
I’m pretty sure “bully jocks” was what Theodore Roosevelt exclaimed when he captured San Juan Hill.
No jokes about a mailman keeping a box of anything in pristine condition? C’mon, even Bruce Tinsley would capitalize on this set up.
Wow, I was a bully jock in high school? Wish I’d known that sooner; I wouldn’t have been spending all my time in the choir and drama club…
And yeah, Charles has hit the nail on the head: you can be someone who loves revisiting his favorite books over and over again, or you can be a collector who keeps his prize possessions in mint condition, but you can’t be both at once.
Hey, it’s Tom Batiuk, everybody! Everyone wave!
Too bad he’s one of those McEldowney/guy who draws “Ctrl-Alt-Delete” prima donnas who can’t stand criticism.
Dear Reflex76: I have a number of “serious issues” storylines you could use. It might win you an award. Please give one a spin.
Signed,
Your “Fan”
Señor Tortilla
I go to the comic store every week and I still call this character “Pedobear.”
Sorry, but ReFlex69 is a ‘regular’ on the Comics Curmudgeon website, in the sense that he regularly shows up to throw fits whenever people criticize “Luann” (which, while brain-meltingly terrible, isn’t one of Batiuk’s strips).
So he’s just a normal guy who’s really belligerent about his poor taste in comics.
But ReFlex76? That’s different. I still think it’s Tom Batiuk.
“Bully Jock”? I think they meant to type “Billy Jack”. Go ahead and hate your neighbor, my friend. Go ahead.
Wow @Reflex76, I’m a “bully jock” now? Huh, like others, let me express my astonishment at this revelation, because it doesn’t match my recollection. Oh wait, that’s right: I was a science/science-fiction nerd and an actual fag who hung out with the drama people. None of that stopped the jocks begging to be my science-lab partner, though.
I read real books, though—the kind Alice didn’t like (words alone, no pictures). The only superhero-related comic book I’ve ever read has been Red Son, and that was, of course, long after high school. (I don’t have the “luxury” of an erratic time line.)
Nowadays I’m the kind of guy who has, within the past 2 weeks, said, “I still need a general-purpose computer.” But calling out this execrable strip for its many lamenesses? That makes me a “bully jock.”
And that makes @Reflex76 an ultra-maroon.
OK so I go to my local Publix today to buy a quart of milk anda lottery ticket.
Why what do you know there is a used book rack right there–where you can donate your books and Publix sells them for a $1.
Didn’t see a single mailman, uh postal worker, er, letter carrier.
Crazy is behaving like, well, crazy.
Flummox hit most of my points. But I’ll add aa few more.
*Does Mrs. Crazy have a job?
*If Harry doesn’t have a pension, shouldn’t he receive unemployment?
*Wouldn’t a guy who seems to spend much of his time at a comics shop have at least a rudimentary knowledge of comic book collecting? Or at least tbe common sense to check to see how much his comics are worth before he brings then en masse to a store?
It’s days like this that keep me coming back to the blog. Thanks, BatFlex76!
Here’s a video of me and my friends in college.
I got to thinking about it, and it actually seems pretty realistic that DSH John would purchase Crazy Harry’s collection while turning down Mopey Pete’s for cost reasons. I imagine a comic book artist would fill his collection with rarities and “pristine” high-priced comics, whereas someone like Crazy Harry would just collect comics reflecting his own personal interest (Tarzan and, I don’t know, Top Dog).
DSH John would only spend dimes on dollars for this collection vs. Mopey Pete’s. Of course, the resale value would be incredibly depressed as well.
Uh, not sure what this “bully jock” bullshit is supposed to mean, but I can assure everyone that I am definitely no “jock” and I’ve never been a “bully” either. I’m simply a guy who’s been baffled by FW’s “direction” for decades and continues to be to this date. If you dislike our take on FW, go start your own fan blog and enjoy weeding through the two or three posts a day you’ll get (on a good day).
Meanwhile Cindy is still embedded.
One – I hope this isn’t his Christmas Story arc.
Two – again making my point from yesterday – Comics loved and cared for – the people in his life not so much. Crazy i’m sorry the post office is making you look at the emptiness inside your soul but really it’s for your own good.
I know it’s already been beaten to death, but how is hating on fiction remotely similar to bullying?? The comic character isn’t going to go into depression or kill himself over our statements.
Unless you are Tom Batuik, in which case, get writing.
Meanwhile Cindy is still embedded
There’s a joke in there somewhere
TFH… help ol’ Duane out here.
Cindy (Winkerbean) is a CNN reported who at last look was embedded with a young Army Lt. in Iraq during the prisoner exchange that brought Wally out of 10 years of captivity.
Like so many other (main) characters… she has not been seen in years.
Talking about Luann, i have been wondering for a while why it doesn’t have a snark page of its own. It looks like it has most of the ingredients: haphazardly written melodrama, tell-don’t-show characters acting in direct contradiction to their supposed “good” qualities, an author well into his 60’s writing about high-school experience, youtube videos of character songs, and an author blog filled with self-important pronouncements (his half-assing the comic to work on his musical production). Is it just that no one has bothered to make one? Is it just too lame to provoke this level of consistent snark?
Cindy “Cynthia” Summers pretty much singlehandedly engineered Wally’s release from captivity back in July of ’09. Here she is seen using her feminine wiles on Gen. David Petraeus to gain some inside scuttlebutt:
(j/k, that’s not Petraeus) The whole Wally Comes Home arc was so riddled with implausibilities that it makes the current Crazy Harry arc play like a documentary.
Oh, and Reflex76–don’t worry about it, TFH and Batiuk just hide in the closet and pour pee out the bottom of the door to fool everyone into thinking that. But really, TFH is looking out for him.
bad wolf: Comment of the month, hands down.
Seconded. I stand in line. (Or something.)
Cindy Summers – Another butt ugly BatYuck chick who looks like a dood.
I’ve seen the commentary on this site range from gentle, good-natured ribbing, to insightful analysis, to vitriolic rants…and with all that, I’m amazed that ReFlex76 chooses to focus his indignation on the use of a silly nickname for a secondary character.
John: “These books are in pristine condition, Harry! However did you keep issues that are a whopping FOURTEEN MONTHS OLD in such great condition?!?”
Harry: “Well, taking care of my books has always been a pri-”
John: “That was sarcasm, you idiot! You can’t sell me this slop!!! These floppies are so fresh they’re still steaming! You could get more money for the longboxes you brought them in than this crap! I’m still trying to SELL a ton of this junk! OUT! Get OUT of my store!”
Harry: “Before…um…before…evil pos-…HUH?!?”
NO Shirt
NO Shoes
NO Pants
NO PROBLEM!
Ready for another Conspiracy Theory? Great! First, remember that
comixproReflux76BatButt writes most of his dreck a year in advance. I had suggested previously that Batom cut abruptly from the Les/Cayla wedding/trainwreck to mindless filler because there was originally a Dead Lisa visitation during or after the wedding, and since EVERYONE predicted that would happen, and EVERYONE was already having their fun with that idea, Batty called an “audible” (football term!) and scrapped it for filler.I’d like to suggest now that His Royal Smugness had written episodes featuring Slumber (and MAYBE Kaleesha) just kicking large quantities of ass along with the K*nt State Girls Basketball team. But now we see that K*nt State can’t seem to beat anyone this year. Wouldn’t it make sense that he’d scrap all that in favor of this Story Line From Out In Left Field about Crazy getting canned by the USPS and selling his goddam comic books? Just an idea. You’d think by now he’d show Slumber and Special K dominating the college basketball scene by now. They’ve all but disappeared, especially Kareeshia.
By now, by now.
@Beanie, What, TB actually putting effort and making new strips to sub for old ones? I find that about as hard to believe as this storyline.
I dunno. I think he would do that when he is AWARE that he looked silly. True, usually he has no idea something is totally stupid. But in a rare moment of clarity, I could see him burying something embarrassing. Could happen!