“Wally says he loves you too…What’s that, Mom? Oh. Well, it’s…it’s an I.O.U., actually. But I folded it up and put it on my finger just like a ring! …Hmm? No, silly, we wouldn’t dream of having our wedding in a pizza parlor! We’re getting married in the gazebo!…No, that big white pavilion…in the park!…What? You’re breaking up…oh…Buddy. Buddy. His service dog, Buddy! Mom? What’s wrong? Mom, stop crying. Mom?”
Tag: cellphone
Put Off
Perhaps the sounds you’re hearing are from a mass zombie outbreak, in which millions of the newly-risen dead thirst for the flesh of the living. Perhaps it’s an asteroid, howling through the air on its way to smite us. Could be, but I think that if you listen carefully you’ll discover that you’ve been screaming for a long, long time.
I know what some (initials “TB”) might say: that the elderly have a perfect right to enjoy an active sex life. And I wouldn’t argue with that–what I would argue with is the depiction or the implication. There are a lot of biological processes that people do that are perfectly natural.
It’s just that we don’t have to watch them doing those perfectly natural biological processes, or read about how they’re just itching to do them. How many times have you seen characters in a comic strip use the restroom, for example?
–I’ve just given Tom Batiuk an idea, haven’t I? I am so, so sorry, everyone.
UPDATE: As Epicus points out in the comments, this was wrong when Frankie did it, right?
With the tiniest edit, we can indeed make this even creepier–
Meeting at Montoni's
So having spent the week hectoring her husband to meet with his absent “bio-dad”, Jessica suddenly seems filled with dread at having to come along with him. Perhaps she knows Frankie’s history after all? Or maybe she’s terrified at the prospect of meeting someone who’s escaped from a fictional prison dimension!
TheDiva
May 16, 2013 at 11:23 pm
PROTIP TO TOM BATIUK: The phrase “talking out of the side of one’s mouth” is not meant to be a physical description.
Yeah, Darin’s smirking so hard in panel 3 that his mouth appears to be trying to escape to the back of his head.
It's Durwood
Charles
May 16, 2013 at 6:32 pmAll this has taken place this week, and yet, what’s the result?
Frankie: Wanna talk, son?
Darin: No.(After this week of treading water and worthless strips, reinforcing negative impressions of both Darin and Jessica):
Frankie: Wanna talk, son?
Darin: Yes.
Gyre
May 16, 2013 at 4:06 pm
“Give bio-dad a call”? “bio-dad”?I get that they were trying to save space, but if that’s all then why not just have Darin refer to him by his actual name. That would be a great way to show the distance between the two of them.
Or how about this: have “Bio-Dad” refer to Darin by the wrong name, thus tipping off the reader (if any still need to be tipped off) that Frankie’s motives are less than altruistic? Such a slip-up might be plausible if Frankie called him “Derwin” or “Aaron” or something that has more in common with his real name than just the first initial. Not to mention that Frankie seems to have gone to the trouble of learning everything about everybody in town: it’s unlikely that he’d carelessly misremember the name of his mark.
Looking on, of course, is Lenny, Frank Pierce’s partner in whatever scam they’re trying to run here.
Love and "Marraige"
April 2008
Again today we have Blonde and Blonder acting like a couple of newlyweds when we’ve got proof, proof, people, that these high-school sweethearts tied the knot eleven years ago. It feels not so much like a willful retcon as it does that Batiuk settles for just making his puppets dance and say cute things and calling it “storytelling”.
I’ve “remixed” panel 2 to suggest a more natural dialogue between two people who’ve had 11 years to get used to the realities of “marraige” [sic]:
Son of Stuck Funky 