Monday, May 11

billytheskink here, back for my third non-consecutive fortnight of guest weblogging. Today’s strip was not available for preview, so we’ll have to all be unpleasantly surprised together. If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll get a month-long break from the usual schmucks and watch Mr. Clean repair the band box, gear by gear and piece by piece.

Atten-shun

Today’s strip is a triumph in forced perspective. See how the spindly tip of Owen’s chullo appears to be scratching the temple of a young Spike Jones in panel 2. Remarkable.

And don’t forget to pick up your tickets for Saturday’s 8:00 PM Winter Concert. That is a thing that is going to be happening, a stark contrast to this strip, which is the very opposite of the definition of “happening”.

Not-quite Emu quote of the day:
“I ran three miles today… finally I said, ‘Lady, keep your purse.'”
– Emo Philips

Merry ChristmAAs

“Nice to have you home son, even if it could potentially trigger an alcoholic relapse!” Props to Funky for being painfully candid with Cory about his condition (“…when my self-esteem bottoms out”? Lawd!). So ol’ Wade is still around…he was not looking so good when we last saw him at Christmas 2011.

The Son through a Window

I happen to be a sucker for those “returning soldier surprises his [blank]” videos. My two older brothers both served in the armed forces, and I still remember the joy my family and I felt upon their safe return. So I guess I won’t beat up Batiuk over having Cory pulling the old stealth maneuver for the second Christmas in a row. Though it is kind of fun to remember that Cory’s training and experience afford him the ability to sneak up on his parents and take ’em out before they knew what hit ’em.

Merry and Blight

SpacemanSpiff85 December 20, 2014 at 12:24 am If we had any clue at all what was going on here, this might actually have been dramatic. Batiuk likes to throw in cheap drama without any of the buildup to make it meaningful.

Cheap drama and a Sunday victory lap. Dr. Chill’s presumably good news elicits from Funky the first non-ironic smiles we’ve seen from him in months. He whips out his phone again to re-read the doctor’s text (and for the benefit of those lucky Sunday-only readers). Here’s what brings joy to Westviewvians: the news that you’re not going to die…just yet.  Batiuk wraps up this mini-non-drama with a Christmas bow in the form of an improbable, reverse engineered punchline.