As the baby-blue Batiukmobile® rolls into, or out of, Kent, Ohio, Cayla stares intently at her phone, as if willing it to ring. Seems the daughter she raised single-handedly and sent to college now can’t be bothered to answer her mother’s phone calls. Rather than explore her relationship with Keisha to understand why this might be, Cayla instead disparages Theodore “Ted” Paraskevakos and blames his invention.
Tag: Cayla
Christmas Past
TheDiva
December 22, 2012 at 12:06 am
Because we all know how much interest Funky and Les showed in music and singing back in the Act I days…well, I can’t think of any right now, but I’m sure they exist, because otherwise Batiuk would just be pulling random bits of backstory out of his ass for the sake of a cheap gag, and we all know he has too much artistic integrity for that.
I’m not using the above quote here to show up TheDiva, because I’d never have recalled this either (the most musical one of the gang was Crazy Harry with his air guitar). But today Batiuk gifts us with an Act I strip to prove that, yes, Virginia, they really did go Christmas caroling.
I’m convinced that TB’s reproducing a vintage strip here, rather than trying to recreate his old style, as he’s done in the past with mixed results. The logo in panel 1 is the old style. Even the lettering in the dialog balloons is somehow more cheerful. Compare it to the lettering in the weird snow globe that shows our current-day cast: the “L’s” had yet to acquire their painful hump.
Les and Funky, see how young and how likeable! The redhead, of course, is poor, doomed Livinia. I have no idea who the blond girl is, or why she’d have anything to do with Les, even back then. Dig those bell-bottoms in the penultimate panel silhouette! Lastly, it’s interesting to note that before he started taking himself so seriously, Batiuk could use excessive drinking to get laughs.
Humbuggin'
So I thought this was a party? Looks like it’s just the two couples. And why have they not donned their gay apparel? Cayla’s dressed in purple, for cryin’ out loud. Les’ genius plan to cheer up his guests is to drag them around the neighborhood in the snow, singing to strangers. Humbug, indeed.
Some Timely Shit
Hey everybody, it’s Les and Cayla! You win, Tom Batiuk, I have never been so thrilled to see Les and his bride! Not to mention their Talking Christmas Tree, speaking to us through the window in panel 1! Seems Funky and Holly are having a blue Christmas, thinking about their little boy in green. “I think I know what we can do to pick up their spirits!” urges Les. “Do that trick where your appearance completely changes from one panel to the next!”
The abrupt end to the Crazy Harry arc probably is due to the fact that Batiuk realized he only had til today to squeeze in his “Mayan Calendar” gag.
Defense-Les Receiver
This is one of those times that TB offers up what’s meant to be wacky hijinks, while we hidebound literalists go right to the darker, imagined subtext. Ergo, a lighthearted, post-Thanksgiving on the storied front lawn of the Taj Moore Hell turns violent as Cayla (weirdly looking in panel 1 like Black Linda; talk about darker subtexts) forcefully tackles Les in what’s supposed to be a game of touch, before walking away sneering. This is the second strip in less than a week that ends with Les stunned and in pain at the hands of his new bride.
