Internet is down at my apartment. So working off of my friend’s phone turned into the world’s coldest slowest hotspot. So I’ll keep this short.
All I will say is that it is very rude of Les to walk in on Harry and DSH when they’re trying on tuxes and rehearsing their wedding vows. And I had no idea DSH had left the-one-armed bandit, and Harry had divorced Mrs. Eliminator. But then again, when was the last time we saw either of them with their ‘wives’.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
Today’s strip was not available preview, because Comics Kingdom’s strip uploading person has been taking cues from Pete and Durwood and put their duties off until the very last minute.
These two have been procrastinating for decades now. Here’s a scene from back in high school where Durwood has shirked his duties at the school paper in order to have kissy time time with Jessica. Pete, Sophomoric Sightings‘ alleged writer (and now artist) tries to lollygag by claiming he forgot how to write until Chien lights a fire under his rear end.
Chester ought to look into hiring Chien. I’ll bet there would be fewer offsite coffeshop breaks if he did.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
Today’s strip poses the question: Is Durwood a talented artist who truly struggles with math, a gigantic tool, or some combination of the previous two things?
His MBA degree, depicted “artistic” skill, and his development of the Montoni’s app suggest the second of the three options.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
I’ll admit I found today’s strip amusing. What’s interesting is that Tom Batiuk actually took the trouble to build to this punchline, both by portraying Holly as increasingly anxious and angry, and by using yesterday’s strip as a direct lead-in to today’s. The payoff is nice; it shows Holly being self-aware enough to know she was overreacting, and it de-escalates things (for now). It also shows that Mr. Batiuk is (or was, as this week was likely made up of old standby strips) capable of creating something that is at least funny.
The pacing is still off–it would have been better to cull the “fat-fingering” episodes and reformat this arc as a single Sunday strip–but it’s been obvious for some time that Tom Batiuk is just running out the clock. Ya can’t make that ol’ 50th by being briefer, after all. Still, the week showed some nice craftsmanship; the humor, instead of coming completely out of the blue like most of his “wit,” was planned in advance. Bravo.
The craftsmanship in the artwork is 50/50. The drawing of the scene is quite good, showing some nice perspective and giving a sense of “place.” The characters, on the other hand, are rendered as slap-dash, sketchily-defined blobs–and I’m aware that they are slap-dash, sketchily defined blobs; it would just be nice to see some consistency panel-to-panel.
It would also be nice to see the non-author avatar characters drawn with a bit more sympathy. Holly looks like she steps on puppies for fun, and Funky looks like someone exhumed him from a shallow grave somewhere. But none of that will change; it’s also obvious that Tom Batiuk just loathes Funky with all his heart. Still, there’ve been worse weeks here; considering we had no Les and no comic books, I’d put this episode in the “plus” column.
Congratulations Mr. Batiuk.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
I have to admit I found today’s entry amusing. For Funky Winkerbean, it’s actually funny.
Good on commentor Double Sided Scooby Snack for catching that Chuck Ayers was the artist for this week’s, um, “effort.” Also, to Gerard Plourde for divining the reason for this: this is something that Batiuk wrote and Ayers drew months, if not years ago, and it’s been sitting in a drawer ever since. I assume the idea was that readers would explode from happiness if there was too much Les or comic books, so a week-long interlude with Funky texting his stepson ought to calm those passions.
I do like the art here. The perspective in panel one is very well handled, and the sidewalk bricks done nicely.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
Not much to say with this one, except confirmation that Funky is indeed left-handed. I don’t know if that was established in the strip before…and what difference it would make if it were. After all, this is a strip that can’t even get one of its main characters’ last name right.
So, Funky’s got a texting app that lets him delete a text with one keystroke? No confirmation or anything? I’d actually like that. Admittedly I’m not a prolific texter but if I think better of sending something, I’ve got backspace over it until everything’s gone. There’s probably a more efficient way of doing it, but like Tom Batiuk, there are some things about which I really can’t be bothered to research. See also my lawn, and why you shouldn’t be on it.
And you’d think Funky would use a better epithet than “Shoot!” That sounds an awful lot like an invitation in Westview; only the fact that it would be interesting keeps it at a figurative level.
“Shoot!” John Darling said to Plantman.
“Blast it all!” Lisa said, arriving at the post office.
“We’re so screwed!” Pete and Darrin yelled as the police broke down the hotel room door.
“What in blue blazes!” Les yelled when he was trapped in an industrial blast furnace.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
I wasn’t around, in Funky Winkerbean terms, when “Darrin Opens A Letter” famously played. As such, I’ve only seen it in the archives here–everything at one go, rather than stretched out over days.
The pacing there seems positively riveting and action-packed compared with what we’re presented with now. Yes–Funky is going to take an entire week to send a text message.
In fairness, unlike the Darrin story, this one at least doesn’t involve Les or Lisa in any way. That puts it about 50 points ahead. Just like the Darrin story, though, this one lacks anything resembling a punchline, or humor of any kind. Par for the course these days.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
