Tag: bricks

Charming the Angry Cliff

Hey, everyone. SpacemanSpiff85 giving it a shot today. All week I was afraid I’d get a full panel of antique Starbuck Jones memorabilia drawn by whoever Batiuk last cornered at a con, so I’m glad I actually have something to write about today.

So…Mason just sat on the window sill like that? And not just while he was watching Cindy on the balcony, but even after she went inside Anger’s apartment and talked to him, which probably took a little while? He didn’t wonder if maybe he should be concerned for her well being? While he had Funky still on the phone? And Pete just stood there awkwardly in the hallway, probably daydreaming about how the old Batom writers used to break into people’s apartments through fire escapes, back in yesteryear? As dumb and typically Batiukian as all this is, it is kind of great seeing Mason’s sad little expression as his fiancée’s ex-husband basically says he still finds Cindy attractive. And who doesn’t Funky have the hots for? Not Holly, as far as I can tell, but his fitness instructor, ex-wife, and his son’s fiancée clearly do it for him.

And the multi-cellular organism bit is another dumb bit of what Batiuk thinks qualifies as wordplay. Single celled organisms don’t find her charming? Plants and mold and lichen do? I kind of wonder if Batiuk originally had something along the lines of “Who wouldn’t?” or “Him, too?” but thought that was too creepy and unfunny even for him. Or maybe he just thinks “multicelled organism” is impressive science talk, like “anti-matter brownie” or “time pool”.

And finally: is she a hag or a seductress charming her way into stranger’s apartments with her beauty, Batiuk? I’m sure in a week’s time she’ll be moaning over how she’s far too worn and decrepit to be the Vera Moon to Mason’s Starbuck.

From Your Perspective (Point)

Hello, Rembrandt36 here – longtime lurker, sometimes poster, sometimes defender of TB (but usually not). My thanks to TFH for the lovely accommodations at the local Motel 6 where I am writing this post; the chewed piece of bubble gum on my pillow was a nice touch.

But now down to business. When we last left the Dynamic Trio yesterday, it looked as if Cindy was going to jump to her death, thus ending her misery of appearing in this comic strip. Today we see no such luck. She has in fact climbed on to the fire escape to try to communicate with the legend that is known as… Cliff Anger.

Before I address the riveting story we get today, let’s be upfront about one thing. We’ve got a lot of really pretty pink bricks drawn in perspective. With that we also get a highly detailed fire escape walk and stairwell to add to the charm. For whatever talent TomBat lacks in keeping the look of his characters consistent, he lavishes upon the location here. Bravo. Although I must admit the window on the lower level looks like it has decided to slide off the wall.

But now we get to the meat and potatoes of the matter. Starting from the left we have Mopey Pete looking like he is trying to bust a move in an inky black void. Mason is speaking into a blackboard eraser to Funky, telling him that he needs to talk some sense into his ex. It should be noted that Mason is sitting at a really weird can-this-happen-in-real-life stance on the window sill (Folks, never set your Jarrs that close to the ledge – they could fall and break).

Meanwhile Cindy is communicating to Cliff through the window. Either that or she has breathed on the glass and is now drawing doodles on the fogged surface. In the last panel we see that Pa Winkerbean has wandered away from the nursing home and has answered the phone at Montoni’s. He – what? That’s supposed to be Funky answering the phone? Huh. Anyway, the audience gets a side-mouthed smirking retort at the expense of Cindy. Otherwise known as business as usual with this comic.

“I’ve Suffered for My Art–Now It’s YOUR Turn”

Link to today’s dreck.

I think we’ve reached some kind of Batiukian plateau here.  Nostalgia-Darin is distressed at the amount of work ahead, but Nostalgia-Pete seems…worried?  That Darin doesn’t have the drive for art that requires sacrifice?  Is that what I’m seeing here?  Because I think that’s what I’m seeing here.   I mean, look at his face in panel three.  That’s someone thinking, “Wh-what?  You think pulling all-nighters is bad?  You…you are not of The Body!”

Which contradicts everything we’ve seen about Darin and Pete, not only in the “real world” but their counterparts in Nostalgia-Vision.  They hate working.  They would rather complain than work.  They would rather complain than eat.  They would rather complain than breathe.

But now, because it involves weak wordplay, all that goes out the Batom Comics window.  Pete now needs to be the Pure Comics writer, who would go without food, air, water, everything if it meant producing a comic book.

Speaking of going out the window, where is this supposed to be taking place?  In the alley or something?  Because who puts the company name on the inside face of a door?  Well…maybe the two clods kept asking the boss whether they worked at Batom Comics or Bantom Comics, and the boss finally had enough and hired a sign painter, or perhaps…I’ve put more thought into this than someone I could name.

The Lost Weekend

Link to today’s offal.

So, apparently Starbuck Jones has another sidekick in addition to Jupiter Moon and Isaac the robot, apparently named Moon Mile Meek, and about whom we have heard nothing before this day.  Way to keep the quality control on high, there.  This seems to flatly contradict the advice Tom Batiuk was given (reprinted on his blog), about referring to characters by name, etc, so new readers are quickly brought up to speed.

I happen to agree with that, by the way.  While there are certainly ways to make it really awkward (“Miss Jameson, you may be the best-selling mystery author of all time, but even I, your agent, don’t know why you need to spend a night in a haunted house!”), I’ve seen movies where the lead character wasn’t given a name until halfway though the movie.  It’s nice to know who the characters are, so when they’re not around and someone refers to them, you can say “Oh, that guy.  That cartoonist guy who draws that dull strip.”

So, this Moon Mile Meek might be anyone.  Perhaps on your way home someone will pass you in the dark, and you will never know it, for they will be from outer space, and their name will be Moon Mile Meek!  Can you prove that it didn’t happen?

At any rate, or rather because of, we have today’s thing.   Those characters in panel one are really poorly drawn–I mean, that is some seriously bad artwork, but…no matter, for we’re off to Nostalgia Park.  See, it’s funny because the boss is a fat stupid guy, and the artists are all like “Whoa” because they have to make a space comic in just a couple of days.  You can start slapping your knees…now.

Actually, I don’t see how the Deflated Due have a problem here.  They can just concoct a story where Starbuck, Moon Mile, Jupiter and Isaac are all sitting around the space office, space bitching because the space boss expects them to go out on space patrol, and they’d rather not.  They’d rather wax space nostalgic about the olden days when–and here’s the space twist–old TV movies were made and the staff totally hated working on them.

They hated working so much, they actually broke the space barrier and space hated it.

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.