Tag Archives: Amazon smirk

by billytheskink | November 18, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Ruby the Grate

In case you missed it, we are in the final weeks of Funky Winkerbean. Tom Batiuk appears to be reluctantly retiring the strip much in the same way he’s written Ruby as reluctantly retiring from Atomik Komix this week and in today’s strip. The timing of this thin gruel of a story arc and TB’s fairly muted announcement is certainly no coincidence. Most all of us here at SOSF, despite speculating for over a decade on when and how this thing would end, are probably still processing the suddenness of the announcement, how soon it will become reality, and what that means for this wonderful community going forward.

But enough wallowing about, let’s leave that to the strip and try to get back to business as usual. I guess today’s strip is aiming for bittersweet, but it largely is coming across as just bitter. You can’t mask your true feelings in a wall of smirks, TB… And even if the strip wasn’t ending at the close of this year, I’m guessing we were never going to see Chester meet with the building manager by looking in a mirror anyways. I’d say “a pity”, but, you know, it’s not. It’s really not.

139 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, arcs that go on too long, Atomic Comics, Atomic Komix, Atomik, Atomik Komix, author avatar, awful wordplay, bad wordplay, Batom's bizarre comic book fantasy world, Batton, Batton Thomas, buildings, cavalcade of characters, Chester, Chester's intrigued face, Cleveland, comic books, comics, Darin, depression, eighteen different characters, extremely high character-to-panel density, Flash, Flash Fairfield, Flash Freeman, glasses, gradient voids, jaunty scarves, knowing smirks, lame wordplay, malapropism, many tags, Mindy, Minty Pete, misappropriated wordplay, Mopey Pete, multiple characters neccesitating many tags, one of those arcs that just never seems to end, Pete, Pete's Plaid Shirt, Phil, Phil Holt, poor female characters, retirement, Ruby, Ruby Lith, sad-sackery, scarf, seldom-seen characters wearing hats, smirk, smirking, smirks, smirks exchanged, sub-moronic wordplay, terrible wordplay, the untimely death of Phil Holt, word zeppelins, wordplay

by billytheskink | November 12, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Scorched Earth

Well, at least today’s strip made it easy to choose a post title. I don’t feel like I had any other choice.

As far as the strip goes, is this really more feminine and more hopeful than Atomik Komix’s previous climage damate covers? (Eh and Eh are my answers) More importantly, is this the kind of cover Chester can be deadly serious about? Yeah, probably. Chester, introduced as an unscrupulous and unpleasant wheeler-dealer, is pretty much the most laid back boss ever these days.

Pete should leave the snark to us. For one thing, baked potatoes are delicious and this strip suffers greatly in comparison to them. For another, all this damate climage comic business was Pete’s idea in the first place. And above all, Ruby’s given him some prime snark ammunition by drawing some planet that does not appear in almost any way to be earth and he just completely misses it. Leave the wisecracks to the professionals in our comment section next time, Pete.

98 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, Atomik Komix, baked potato, bullpen, climate change, climate damage, comic book art, comic book cover, comic books, comics, Comics Code Authority, curmudgeonly oldsters, deep space objects, drafting table, Fire, jaunty scarves, knowing smirks, melting faces, Mopey Pete, Old dying people, optimism, Pete, Pete's Plaid Shirt, Ruby, Ruby Lith, scarf, Scorch, smirk, smirking, smirks exchanged, space hate, Sunday comic book covers, The Scorch, tiny hands, Tom doesn't get women, traveling green shirt, unwarranted wry sarcasm, weird noses, Winkerbe-, women in comics, Women's Lib, wry banter, wry weary snideness, wryness

by billytheskink | November 11, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Nix Chix Fix Comix

Ruby has got to be regretting speaking up a few days ago because, as we see in today’s strip, she’s being told to… do her job?!

EGADS!

I know, I’m as shocked as any of you that someone at Atomik Komix is even suggesting the idea of doing work. Granted, Phil is suggesting that someone other than himself work, but still… This will probably work better for the deadline anyways, Phil is not known for his speed. Flash being kind of a jerk and everyone else standing around like this place has no editor in chief, or leadership of any kind – now that is the Atomik Komix we all know ~~and love~~.

Anyways, we’re back from “the climage damate comics aren’t optimistic enough” to “the damate climage comics aren’t, uh, something about women I think”. Are we supposed to see these two complaints as the same thing?

63 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, arcs where nothing happens, Atomik Komix, Batom's bizarre comic book fantasy world, Batton, Batton Thomas, bullpen, bullying, climate change, climate damage, comic book art, comic book cover, comic books, comics, crappy ploddinng stories that never get anywhere, curmudgeonly oldsters, drafting table, enraging hair strands, Flash, Flash Fairfield, Flash Freeman, glasses, gray ashen landscape, jaunty scarves, melting faces, Mindy, Old dying people, people not doing their job, Phil, Phil Holt, Ruby, Ruby Lith, scarf, seldom-seen characters wearing hats, smirk, smirking, smirks, the comic book industry, this is all a horrible mistake, Tom doesn't get women, unnatural hand gestures, weird noses, who asked you?!, why?, women in comics, Women's Lib

by billytheskink | May 23, 2022 · 10:30 pm

0-2-1-3-4

Today’s strip is all about the numbers for me… and not just the zip code of “Boston, Mass”. We’ve got 3 faculty on stage here, which is what… half of WHS’ known paid staff these days (along with Les, Cayla, and Lefty)? Of course, maybe you only need 4 teachers, 2 administrators, and a Dinkle when you only have 16 students in your senior class. To be fair, only nerds would show up for a school assembly during the last weeks of their senior year, so maybe these are just all the nerds (that would explain why Maris Rogers is having to plan on crashing graduation parties instead of hosting them).

Wait a second, this is the Senior Honors assembly. That explains it…

^{With credit and apologies to the Scotts, Smith and Hepting.}

59 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, Amelia, anon-o-students, bad internet connections, Bernie, Bernie Silver, Chien?, Conner, Connor, COVID, COVID-19, crowd, crowds, Emily, extremely high character-to-panel density, failed gags, hatchet face, high school, ill-timed disaster-themed gags, Jim Kablichnick, Jim Kablichnik, knowing smirks, Linda, Linda Bushka, Logan, Logan Church, Maris Rogers, Nate, pandemic, smirk, smirking, smirks, smirks exchanged, Thatsnought Hewmore, things to do in Westview when you're dead, those annoying Crankshaft twins, those stupid Crankshaft twins, traveling green shirt, truly terrible gags, Westview H.S., Westview High School, WHS, Zoom

by billytheskink | May 21, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Silverfiche

OK, which one of you yutzes bet Tom Batiuk that he couldn’t put together another strip about Bernie Silver’s senior pictures? I suppose we have you to thank for today’s strip…

The good news is we can all boot up our Packard Bells and our MS Paints and join Bernie out in Tinseltown, where we’ll be paid handsomely for our rudimentary green screen skills (citation needed). Here’s a blank Bernie to start with:

Now go forth… The possibilities are endless!

History!

Sports!

Economics!

The deaths that built Gordon Lightfoot’s house!

40 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, Bernie, Bernie Silver, Bernie's Parents, book, books no one will ever read, comic books, Falling leaves, Hollywood, knowing smirks, leaves, senior year, smirk, smirking, smirks, Superman, technology, these kids today, WHS

by billytheskink | December 21, 2021 · 10:30 pm

Take off, eh?

Hey, do you remember that sketch on The Muppet Show where Florence Henderson played the teenage son of a Ronald Reagan Muppet? I sure don’t, and I’ve seen The Muppet Show episode with Florence Henderson, but apparently Funky does, if today’s strip is to be believed.

I certainly can’t blame Morton for wanting to avoid these two bores the way a teenage avoids his parents. Given that Funky and Holly are back in the car driving who knows where instead of talking with the authorities about locating Morton and about Bedside Manor’s gross negligence, I guess the feeling is mutual.

34 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, An idiocy of Winkerbeans, Batiukmobile®, Classic Funky, crippling snowfall, enraging hair strands, flashback, flashback thought bubbles, Funky, Funky Winkerbean, Funky's dad, Funkys, hatchet face, heavy snow, Holly, huge hands, idiocy, knowing smirks, Morton, Morton Winkerbean, Now Funky, sheer idiocy, smirk, smirks, smirks exchanged, snow, squiggly "L"s, the raptor claw in Holly's hair, weird noses

by billytheskink | December 19, 2021 · 10:30 pm

The Gig Haiku-nomy

Over the river
And through the woods, to Morton's
Nursing home we go

Funky knows the way
As he skids on through Copley
In the driving snow

…..

But wait, he's not there?!
As we learn in today's strip
No, he's got a gig

Kinda surprising
That blonde has not mistaken
Funky for Morton

A front desk message?
Who communicates like this?
They're father and son!

OK, to be fair
This weirdness is typical
For this comic strip

If he has a gig
Does that mean we won't have to
Endure skeezy Mort?

Morton the creepster
Has become a Batiukverse
Christmas tradition

36 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, Anon-O-Character, anon-o-nurses, Batiukmobile®, Bedside Manor, Christmas, comma eyes, crippling snowfall, enraging hair strands, Funky, Funky Winkerbean, Funky's dad, Funkys, hatchet face, heavy snow, helmet hair, Holly, knowing smirks, Merry Christmas, Mort, Morton, Morton Winkerbean, Now Funky, oddly muted squiggly lines, smirk, smirks, smirks exchanged, snow, squiggly "L"s, squiggly lines, squiggly lines used to denote texture, The Bedside Manorisms, the raptor claw in Holly's hair

by billytheskink | December 16, 2021 · 10:30 pm

On the house… of (rare, gem mint, limited edition foil pack, holographic) cards

The great Christmas gift-giver strikes again in today’s strip. No, I’m not talking about Santa Claus or Crazy Claus (or Pete… I would never talk about Pete in this way), I’m talking about the nerd with the polecat on his scalp.

Dead Skunk Head John has a long long history of giving his wares away for free, and not just at Free Comic Book Day (which allegedly put him near bankruptcy). DSH pulled this exact same bit back during the yuletide of 2013 too, and that time his crazy skunk head did it in front of other customers! And that wasn’t the only time he gave Holly a break during her Starbuck Jones quest. Heck, he even murdered Tony Isabella for her. Seemed a little much to me, but he’s a generous guy.

Generous to a fault, it would seem, as Komix Korner has been depicted in financial peril many times, going as far back as the Clinton administration. DSH’s inability to pay his rent once almost sunk Montoni’s and the Winkerbean family as well… only the sale of a mint condition copy of Starbuck Jones #1 saved both businesses (even if DSH’s greasy hands devalued the issue).

48 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, Baby Yoda, bad business practices, Batman, Batman logo, Batman shirt, boredom personified, Captain America, Christmas, Crazy, Crazy Harry, crippling snowfall, Dead Skunk Head, DSH John, fallout shelter sign, Grogu, heavy snow, huge hands, John, knowing smirks, Komix Korner, Merry Christmas, Mindy, Minty Pete, Mopey Pete, Now Crazy Harry, Pete, Santa Claus, Santa hats, smirk, smirks, smirks exchanged, smug inept bearded jerks, snow, Spider-Man, Star Wars, that stupid Batman shirt, The Child, unnatural hand gestures

by billytheskink | September 25, 2021 · 10:30 pm

Boredstrom

The department store nostalgia in today’s strip is pretty innocuous as Funky Winkerbean goes. I am enough of a retail enthusiast to know that department store nostalgia is totally a thing, by the way… but I’m not sure it manifests itself in wistful disappointment when receiving an Amazon package.

But since Amazon’s logo is clearly visible on present day Holly’s package, let’s talk about THIS:

There are several, actual historic and defunct department stores in the greater Cleveland-Akron area that TB could have pulled up: O’Neil’s, Polskys, May Co., the one that Dinkle named his daughter after, the particularly famous one that had the previously-referenced-in-this-very-comic-strip Silver Grill [sic] in it.

Nope, we get Holly’s memory of shopping at DS, which by all indications stands for… Department Store. DS. Department. Store. This is Herb & Jamaal-level non-specificity. Look TB, if you can reference Amazon specifically, you can reference an actual department store specifically. The strip loses nothing if you get Ayers to write “Higbee’s” on a couple of shopping bags instead of DS.

34 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, anon-o-customer, crappy ploddinng stories that never get anywhere, Falling leaves, flashback, Holly, Holly's mom, Holly's mother whose name escapes me at the moment, leaves, Melinda, misplaced nostalgia for things that weren't all that great to begin with, nostalgia, old crap, old useless junk, substitute names for popular retail chains, the raptor claw in Holly's hair, useless old junk

by TFHackett | September 10, 2021 · 10:30 pm

Tell, Don’t Show

Mr. A
September 10, 2021 at 9:37 am
It’s never been more obvious that Batiuk came up with an idea for a cool comic-book cover first, and worked backwards from there. On Saturday they’ll name the water character, and then we’ll see the cover art on Sunday, and then we’ll be done.

Two outta three ain’t bad, Mr. A! I didn’t even get today’s gag until the third or fourth read through. Why was the writer teasing the artist about an “obsession with writing things down”? I suppose that Phil is implying that he did the real work of drawing, while all Flash had to do was spin a “story” without even having to set it down in written form.

So we won’t know yet how the fourth character, representing the water element, will be (the Inedible Pulp, perchance?) But yes, tomorrow we’ll see a Comix kover (desktop users, get ready to rotate those monitors). And then we’ll be done. And, speaking of teasing, we’ll reconnect with yet another octogenarian FW character, one whom we’ve only seen in a single cameo in all of 2021!

Addendum

The Batty blog is running the FW strips from the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The strips are really…not so bad (this was still Act II), and, to TB’s credit, they ran less than one month after the attacks (not a year later, as is the case with his Covid content). Anyway, I’m bringing this up as an excuse to post the most savagely funny sendup of a certain self important cartoonist from Ohio. Never forget.

38 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Amazon smirk, Atomik Komix, Doctor Atmos, Flash Freeman, knowing smirks, Mopey Pete, Pete, Phil Holt, Ruby, Ruby Lith, smirk, smirks, smirks exchanged, storyteller

Tag Archives: Amazon smirk

Ruby the Grate

Scorched Earth

Nix Chix Fix Comix

0-2-1-3-4

Silverfiche

Take off, eh?

The Gig Haiku-nomy

On the house… of (rare, gem mint, limited edition foil pack, holographic) cards

Boredstrom

Tell, Don’t Show

Addendum

Funky Links

Other Links

SoSF on Twitter

Search SoSF

Archives

Tags