Tag: Alex

Fast (schaden) Freude

The traveling green shirt lives up to its name in today’s strip, moving from a now unseen black student yesterday to Shermy and his crew cuttiest crew cut today. As an extra bonus, Cayla’s original actress cameos in the front row in panel 3.

So, 4 days into this story and the EMU reps finally get to do what they came to do, talk to students about college… and they open by insulting a good percentage of the class. No only that, they do so with an insult usually used by college grads against grads of a rival school.

Don’t forget about Saturday’s Winter Concert. You could try to, but TB isn’t going to make it easy.

And now for the recurring use of a somewhat related Emo Philips joke:

“I left for college that September.
My dad said ‘I’m going to miss you.’
I said, ‘Well now that I broke that sight off of your rifle…’
Yeah, my parents threw quite a going-away party for me, according to the letter.”
– Emo Philips

Atten-shun

Today’s strip is a triumph in forced perspective. See how the spindly tip of Owen’s chullo appears to be scratching the temple of a young Spike Jones in panel 2. Remarkable.

And don’t forget to pick up your tickets for Saturday’s 8:00 PM Winter Concert. That is a thing that is going to be happening, a stark contrast to this strip, which is the very opposite of the definition of “happening”.

Not-quite Emu quote of the day:
“I ran three miles today… finally I said, ‘Lady, keep your purse.'”
– Emo Philips

The Nitwit’s Guide To The Funkyverse

Link To Today’s Strip

Owen: the dirty-looking one with the goofy hat.

Cody: Owen’s pathetic sidekick who rarely gets dialog these days.

Alex: the girl!

John: Becky’s husband, owner of Komix Korner, all-around putz. Known as Skunk Head due to the hair.

Komix Korner: Westview’s premier creepy comic book shop and main loitering spot for local losers.

Holly: Funky’s wife, slow on the uptake, needs a real hobby.

The answer to the ultimate FW question? Zero times zero equals zero.

Hmmm, when did they legalize weed in Ohio? I can’t bash this one too much as it’s an upgrade over the last two week’s worth of aimless pointless meandering. At least there’s sort of a point, kinda. Although if you’re not familiar with Douglas Adams, you’re obviously going to be lost here. But hey, they’re discussing a NON-comic NON-Les book here, so let’s just enjoy it for variety’s sake, OK? This might not happen again for years, if not decades.

Hero and Goat

Whoa! Tread lightly, sporto! Today’s punchline is kinda funny, IMHO, but also problematic, given Batiuk’s well-intentioned, if incredibly hamfisted, treatment of Wally’s PTSD earlier in this strip. But it’s consistent with TB’s inconsistent, have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too ethos: bullying’s funny (until it isn’t), and PTSD is a serious topic (until it can be worked into a punchline). Can cancer jokes be far behind?

Lord of the Fries

Turns out credit for the ‘Goats’ run at the conference championship does not belong to Coach Bushka (and really, could it ever?). Rather, it was Owen’s unlikely heroics (which will be go down in Scapegoat football lore as the “Hail Nanny” play) that sparked the winning streak. In any event, Batiuk actually manages a pretty good punchline today. I’m even prepared to overlook the fact that Tater Tots®, not fries, were the bully jocks’ projectile of choice (probably for their longer range). These three had better hope “our team” goes all the way to the championship, or the bullies will be throwing more than just spuds!