Wow, this is shocking. I mean, what’s shocking is that Wally actually remembers Rana’s name. This is one of the many, many reasons why Batiuk is a terrible writer. If he’s trying to create relatable characters, having a father and daughter who apparently still live in the same town not have any clue at all what’s going on in each other’s lives to this point is not the way to do it. I kind of think this is the result of Batiuk explaining this plot to the artist, who, halfway through, reminded him “Wait, doesn’t Wally have a Muslim daughter?”. Batiuk probably laughed it off, of course Wally doesn’t, I’m the writer, shut up and draw. Then the artist pulled up a strip showing Rana, and Batiuk decided to just cram her in at the last minute like this, who cares if it makes both characters look like uncaring morons and realistically should render this whole arc pointless. It’s a whole lot weirder for Wally to react to one Muslim woman wearing a hijab when his own daughter is a Muslim woman wearing a hijab.
Tag: Adeela
Plugging Away
Putting aside how it’s at least a little presumptuous for Wally to just decree what he’s going to do all by himself about the “group” project while Adeela sits there silently, I do think it’s kind of funny how Wally says he’s going to just send her the outline, rather than e-mail or use Google Docs. Which, as backwards technologically as this strip is, it would not shock me if he just photocopied her notes, cut them out, pasted them together with his, and then mailed her the results. Because when I was in grad school ten years ago people were using Google Docs for this exact situation, so all group members can collaborate on one single project, without one having to swipe the notebooks of the rest of the group. Which is going to make it pretty hard for her to do any additional work.
This latest entry in “Batiuk Really Doesn’t Understand the Students Today” still make more sense than Rana creeping up on Wally like she’s stumbled upon Elvis or Jimmy Hoffa. Which Wally is basically the FW equivalent of, I guess.
You Never Know, But They’re Sure to Be Boring and Badly Drawn
I’m excited to be getting a chance to contribute my bit here. I was honestly dreading that my first strip would be a Les strip, or Dinkle writing a book, and I’d have to come up with something halfway interesting about that.
I do like how this strip somehow managed to shoehorn in bricks. Precious, precious bricks. And “breaking down the barriers between people” translates to two people each saying one sentence and then staring robotically at each other. I mean, look at Adeela in the third panel. She looks like Wally just gave her a diagnosis of Total Body Cancer and she has seconds to live, and her memorial service is going to be at Montoni’s.
I think Wally’s in trouble though. He had enough difficulty with one Muslim in a hijab. When he turns around and sees they have him surrounded, even Buddy might not be enough to keep him on the Montoni’s Manager track.
Café Oy Vey
The folks who bring you SoSF rely on Grandpa Google too: mainly to confirm a suspicion that ol’ TB has once again drawn inspiration from his tiny Ohio Universe. The black squirrel on the poster in panel 5 is another tipoff that we’re at Kent State. But KSU’s “Cultural Café” IRL isn’t a permanent dining facility: it’s a monthly series of events “that seeks to educate and familiarize [students, faculty and staff] about the home countries of our international students.” There’s one this Tuesday. With the exception of Adeela and possibly that swarthy guy with the glasses in panel 1, this “café” doesn’t seem any more or less “cultural” than any other spot on campus. But wait! Who’s the gal with the light blue hijab wrapped around her elongated head? Well, since TB teased it in his blog (and Gerald Plourde reminded us in a comment yesterday) it’s not really spoiling the surprise to tell you it’s Wally and Becky’s adopted daughter Rana, who, like Wally, has been missing in action for years.
Veterans’ Day greetings to our readers, and respect and gratitude to our vets. Tune in tomorrow when newly minted guest author SpacemanSpiff85 takes over the helm!
Shakin’ All Over
I liked this arc much better when these two were wary of each other to the point of antipathy. Their initial awkwardness and mistrust of one another has, almost in an instant, been replaced with gentle scatological humor and hijab hijinks. Of course, Wally has to take it too far and bring up the handshaking thing.
Programming notes: Saturday’s strip was not available for preview; look for a placeholder post after midnight EST. Also! On Monday we welcome our newest guest author!
Son of Stuck Funky 
