Despite an erratic and inexplicable production schedule, it looks like buzz is building for “the upcoming” Starbuck Jones movie to the point where the first images are being leaked online. Crazy Harry should know better than to think he’d have the “scoop” on ultimate fanboy John, who has managed to automate the process of gathering these treasures from the web. I can’t goof on DSHJ too much, as yours truly has a Google Alert set up that notifies me of online mentions of “tom batiuk”, but hey, it’s my job.
Tag: cellphone
Wally Thinkerbean
If only Tom Batiuk trusted his characters to inhabit their own stories. and his readers to follow along. We’ve long since established that poor Wally can barely function in 21st century Westview. But in a story arc where he’s the main character, we must listen to Wally’s wife and uncle cousin boss narrate the “action”. In the case of today’s strip, this is done in order to set up the wordless third panel punchline, where we see “focused and ready” Wally sitting intently, surrounded by his younger peers whose attention is anywhere but on the lesson. This marks quite a change for our Wally in the six years since his first community college go-round (see below), during which time he was not merely distracted but actually asleep in class. It’s gotta be those glasses!
B.C. (Batiuk’s Cavemen)
Again with the friggin’ cartoon cavemen! I’ve tried to use restraint when it comes to judging Wally’s behavior on the chance that this might be a true-to-life depiction of life for an afflicted vet. But folks, Wally’s been back Stateside over seven years now. And sure, his wife and everyone in his hometown mostly left him to fend for himself. But seven years. This fish-out-of-water act is really getting old. Fortunately, the day is saved by a young lady so unconcerned about campus security that she cheerfully unlocks the door for a gaunt, older stranger in military fatigues.
Raging Bullcrap
Thanks to BC and the entire SoSF crew! I’m back to wade once more into whatever the madman Batiuk has cooked up for us this time around. So let’s see if Bull is still alive and…
Sigh, what a letdown. I was hoping for something a bit more dramatic than this extended tantrum, something we could really sink our teeth into. Like a heart attack, an untimely death, some sort of dismemberment, you know, Act II type stuff. But Bull angrily throwing his phone because he misplaced his special dialing wand and has to use his fat useless fingers? Meh. So now he’s fat, angry, stupid and impossible to contact too. His worth as a character just continues to grow with every appearance. So whaddya think all this rage is about? Being married to Linda? Being around Dick Facey all day? Frustrated over his missing children? I’m (somewhat) sure BanTom will fill us in…eventually…maybe. Sigh.
Flying the friendly skies of Montoni’s
Today’s strip teaches us that there are two things T-Bats knows nothing about. The first is drawing handshakes. Here’s a guy who’s had his doodles in the newspaper for over forty years, and yet whenever two of his characters shake hands, they always look like one of them is blocking a punch from the other. Pro tip, Tom, the fingers wrap around under the wrists.
The other thing of which he’s apparently ignorant is the time it takes to make a decent pizza. If the restaurant is keeping a bunch of pre-made pies in the walk-in, it might be possible to get it through the oven, into a box, and into the sky in under twenty minutes, but that’s not good quality…and they’re trying out an unproven technology to boot. Pretty clever the way Funky has gotten Tony so riled up that this drone thing is practically guaranteed to fail.
I’ve got no idea what the hell Wally is supposed to be doing with that cell phone. He’s been pretty much in his own little world this whole week, so I bet he’s just playing Pokemon Go while those two old fools argue.
LATE EDIT: As of this morning, nj.com seems to be having problems displaying today’s strip (at least, none of the machines I’ve used to access it in the past two days show the comic.) So here is an alternate link directly from Comics Kingdom.
Son of Stuck Funky 