archive deep dive – Page 2 – Son of Stuck Funky

Uselesses

Skeletal, pallid Wally Winkerbean came from the airport, bearing a face of woe on which a smirk and a frown lay crossed. A green dressuniform, hatless, was hung stiffly upon him on the mild afternoon air. He held the door ajar and intoned:

—Introibo ad altare Lisa.

Becky Blackburn Winkerbean Howard, displeased and sleepy, leaned her body on the seat of the parkbench and looked coldly at the shaking gurgling face that regarded her, equine in its length, and at the light closecropped hair, grained and hued like pale oak.

Unexploded Ordinance

This post. This whole arc. Wally’s return. It’s been a struggle for me to attack. For a very long time I couldn’t really figure out why. On paper, there’s a lot to work with. Maybe too much, maybe that was part of the problem.

At first I wondered if it was because I was, once again, taking this marathon half-year of a deep dive away from John Howard. Should I save some of this stuff for a potential Wally retrospective in the future? But with the literally hundreds of stupid minutiae that the Funkyverse waves around in my face, begging me to snark and dissect, would I ever get back around to it? After all, I’ve got green pitchers and Jinx Bushka waiting for me! This is a John dive, yeah. But you can’t talk about DSH without talking about Lefty, and you can’t talk about Lefty without talking about Wally. And you can’t talk about Wally without talking about…this.

*Hey, Wally, did you know that Becky is married now? I wonder how you’ll react when you learn that! Boy I can’t wait to see that gut wrenching moment.*

Wally Earns His Second Nickel.

On July 12, 2009, the front door to the Howard home opened… and Wally Winkerbean came back.

Somebody knocking at the dooooor, somebody ringing the beeeelllll!

Sepia Superman

Independence Day went as well for me as can be expected. I woke up July 5th with the same number of fingers and toes I had on July 3rd, and even managed to keep both eyebrows! With the flags and the food and the explosions and the travelling across state lines to avoid taxes, I was patriotic to the max.

Batiuk’s done his share of flag waving over the years, with his cast carrying a healthy dose of veterans and military. Whether this springs from a genuine respect for US Armed Forces personnel, or is pandering is a debate for another day.

In May 2008, Batty uses Memorial Day as an excuse to remind his readers that YES he still hasn’t explained Wally’s abscence, and YES Wally is not here. But the bumper sticker dangles the bait that he is MIA rather than absolutely confirmed KIA. Dumb, pointless, bait.

*Crooked, but I guess it was hard to put on a bumper sticker with one hand…*

Becky has appeared on and off just about every month of Act III so far, but the last few months her appearances were all about the band. No kids, and no John.