Tag: Amelia

The Thinning Edge

Link to today’s strip.

Yeah, the Doublemint Twins are fitting right in, with Nice considering holding hands with Halfback Dimwit, and Naughty being pinioned by ex-football hotshot Jared.   Jared’s really throwing himself into this, you can almost hear him asking if Naughty would like to see his forward pass.

Nice to see Jared back, but one really has to ask…what’s with the hairlines on these high school students?  Jared has a wicked widow’s peak kind of hiding his balding nature, while Dimwit’s hair is clearly retreating back over his scalp.

Are there that many high school kids going bald these days?  Is there some kind of drug I never heard about that makes your head swell, and your hair die?  I only ask because when I was in high school, all the students had hair.

Of course, when I was in high school, Funky Winkerbean was funny.

A View with A Room

Link to today’s strip.

As Old Dexter once said, “Ah, thank you Billy!” and I thank BillyTheSkink for as always leaving the chair of Funky Winkerbean snark…just a little bit out of my reach!  Yes, it’s BChasm, your least favorite uncle, back in the chair of the unhallowed study group!

Like pretty much all of Funky Winkerbean, I don’t get this one.  The Doublemint Twins are looking for a particular room.  Given that numbered rooms follow a pattern in every universe, it would seem as if Room 107 would be somewhere in the 100’s, and thus, not that difficult to find.  Westview High can’t be that massive, can it?  It’s not a colony ship destined for Alpha Centauri, is it?  Is Cordwainer Bird around?

I should think that it’s odd, too, that the Twins just spent a week with Principal Nate, and he apparently told them nothing of value, such as where their classrooms would be located.  “Here’s Becky, and here’s Les.  Good luck!”

Knowing this (–one supposes), Redshirt McMeltface decided he’d have a spot of fun with the Twins, and thus directed them to a featureless door which he assured them used to be yclept “107.”  Why?  I can see no reason for McMeltface to be this mean, except…well, it’s an excuse to detail some kind of maintenance room.

And to be fair, the detail in this room is really impressive.  And I mean that sincerely; one can almost identify the make and model of the equipment presented herein.  Kudos to Mr. Batiuk for some nice artwork here.  This is the sort of stuff that makes me pause my snark, in that it shows Tom Batiuk can really draw when he wants to.  Really, I’m not hot-dogging you, this is good artwork–it’s nicely detailed and has all the bits and touches that make the scene work.  I’ve always wanted to praise this strip when the opportunity arose, and here’s an opportunity.

Tom Batiuk’s obsession over certain details–the lovingly rendered bricks, for example–have long a source of amusement, but to me, it does show a certain dedication to craft.  The details have to be there.

I just wish his craft had been put to better purpose.  Does “Room 107” have any kind of significance?  Because I can think of better numbers just off the top of my head–

Room 100, Hotel Chelsea.  Nancy’s dead, Sid’s out of his head.  Punk rock fell over dead.  Now it’s Miley Cyrus instead!  Wake me–going back to bed.

Room 101, from George Orwell’s 1984.  The room of the ultimate fear, where Winston Smith is forced to read The Complete Funky Winkerbean.

Room 217, from Stephen King’s The Shining.  Danny knew he shouldn’t go into this room, but he did anyway.  And there, standing in the middle of the room, was Les Moore.

Room 237, from Stanley Kubrick’s film of Stephen King’s book.  As Jack Torrance embraced the beautiful woman, he glanced in the mirror and saw that, instead, he was holding a naked Les Moore.  (This scene was changed by studio executives to allow an R rating.  In the film as released, Jack was holding a withered old hag.)

Speaking of changed by studio executives, Doublemint Naughty certainly has…developed…in that last panel.  In fact you might say, “Oh, she’s got a balcony you could do Shakespeare from!”

We turned left at Montoni’s

The joke in today’s strip appeared in Sumerian cuneiform. It likely dates back even further in oral tradition, as seen in the following paleontologist reconstruction:

Tilmily and Amtrilia

Of course back then, the trilobite’s twin didn’t step all over the punchline like Emily is doing today. And this “teachers are great” business? Hoy, Centerville schools must be in shambles.

Is Nate worried as all get out about what these two think of the school or what? Students moving TO Westview really is the rarest of rare cases, I guess, and he really is terrified of losing them. I don’t think Emily and Amelia’s mother cares half as much about their first day of school as Nate seems to.

Sortwhere is this going?

The red blue carpet tour continues in today’s strip. The Westview hive mind has fully taken control of Emily and Amelia now, as they both smirk at Nate’s anti-joke and don’t seem to even consider fleeing at the very sight of Les.

Given that Nate has shown the sisters “The Bleat” (which is really more min comm than mass comm) in addition to the band, can we assume that, like the band, Les’ video journalism fiefdom is failed levy-proof?
Of course we can! The last time Les didn’t get what he wanted, I could still watch UPN on my analog television.

By the way, I’m still wondering where the news desk that Cindy and Channel 1 donated went. “The Bleat” clearly isn’t using it. It’s rare that TB makes a plot point and then ignores it or forgets about it later…

Enrolled Up Sleeve

As the first students to move TO Westview in decades, Emily and Amelia are receiving the red carpet treatment from the WHS staff. See today’s strip, where Principal Nate personally escorts them to Lefty’s band room to get them involved in the school’s only extracurricular activity. Nate was so excited to be showing new students around that he didn’t even check to see if Dinkle was lurking, waiting to make Crankshaft look good by comparison, before bursting into the band room.

Strip #4 with Emily and Amelia, and we’re almost kinda sorta getting some insight on their personalities. Emily, the “cup-is-half-full” one, wears pink and plays the flute. Amelia wears black turtlenecks, “shreds” a “pretty mean” “guitar”, and says so while standing in a sassy half-akimbo pose (or whatever that’s called).
I haven’t seen character traits summed up this succinctly since the third season theme song of Sister Sister.