Link to today’s strip.
Ha ha ha, the first line Darin’s had all week and Pete immediately steps on it!
I continue to be amazed that anyone, anyone at all, could find a sponge-based superhero to be interesting. When I was back in the ninth grade and was drawing superhero comics on notepaper, I would never have considered such an idea, much less dealt with it for more than a few seconds. (“What a stupid idea. Must be too much eraser dust in the air, confounding my brain.”) Perhaps I’d use it as a comedy character who was immediately defeated in some humorous way, but anything ongoing? NO.
And remember–I’m talking about the ninth grade.
I don’t know what to make of Tom Batiuk’s fantasy publishing world. In a way, it’s quite impressive in its scope and detail, but it makes me wonder why he doesn’t apply some of that creativity over here, in the strip that puts bread on the table. Wouldn’t that be something? Imagine reading posts on this site telling how much we liked the episode of the day. As it is, Funky Winkerbean comes across as an afterthought–as Gerald and others have pointed out, no one who only reads the strip would have any of the Batom Books details provided in the blog posts, which robs these flashback strips of rather most of their impact. Not that it would really make much to people not obsessed with silver age DC comics, but still, some context is always nice.
Without any of that, reading about some guy’s fantasy comic-book publishing world is like listening to a really boring person at a party. You suddenly realize you’ve heard nothing he’s said for at least five minutes, and you start to worry he’ll ask you a question and you won’t have any idea how to respond. And your drink is almost full–can’t use “Going to get a refill!” as an excuse. Maybe plead for a bathroom break? Give it a shot. You can hide in the den…and read old comic books.
Heh heh heh.
