Tag: Cayla

Ro-bite-a Barkburn

Bullet points for today’s strip!

    • Today’s Breast Cancer Awareness PSA comes courtesy of Cayla, who is performing a self-exam and wearing a pink shirt in panel 1.
  • Also in P1, TB didn’t put much effort into drawing Becky’s face or hair, but as always, he gets That Empty Sleeve just right.
  • Westview’s red Scapegoat mascot, aka Satanic Snoopy, makes its second appearance in as many days.
  • According to Linda, Roberta now is trying to prohibit not just our nameless gay boys but all same-sex couples from partaking in prom.

Raging Roberta

The fired-up Mrs. Blackburn marches into Nate’s office to express her displeasure. From Cayla’s blasé reaction, it appears that everyone who seeks an audience with the principal does it by storming in and making demands.

I’m beginning to find Mr. Blackburn even more aggravating than Mrs. Blackburn. Right or wrong, least she’s capable of expressing emotion. All he’s doing is standing around with that stupid camcorder.

Brokedown Palace

In the history of “writing”, has there ever been a less charming “leading man” than Les Moore? Those perpetually arched eyebrows…the “Mom jeans” he’s wearing today…yecch. To his credit, at least he’s finally coming around to the idea of Cayla and Keisha becoming his family, with his talk of “two girls headed off to college”.

Anyway: what’s the deal with Cayla’s scrawny legs?

Say Cheese

Taking the senior class photo has changed? Because it’s being taken with a cellphone? Wow, progress, huh? Something else that’s changed is TB’s draftsmanship, if indeed it is he who drew this. I have no idea who the old gent taking the picture is, but I guess he’s another throwaway teacher, or maybe a passerby who the class asked if he would oblige. But this whole strip looks like it took ten minutes to draw. We recognize Maddie by her hat and red hair, and Cory by his shifty demeanor. But is that supposed to be the Capitol dome in the background? Might as well be Podunk City Hall.

Flashback to the 2007 Washington trip…Chien is still a drip…

In Situ Whatever

Batiuk’s “Funky felt tip” has been especially cruel to Linda yesterday and today: she looks like Crankshaft backed the school bus over her. I especially like the shadow cast by her nose.

The strip at first focused on gags about teenagers at the imaginary Westview High School. Over the years, it explored sensitive topics such as cancer, dyslexia, teen suicide and alcoholism.

—From just about every profile written about Tom Batiuk

But hey: writing means that you can play sensitive topics for laughs when you feel like it, right? So let’s all chuckle at the thought of Jim the Science Guy, alone in his hotel room, draining tiny, overpriced bottles of liquor while his colleagues dine without him.

Flashback to the 2007 Westview Senior Trip: Chien continues to demonstrate the “esteem” she has for her culturally deprived classmates.