Tag: Chester

Chimp Change

Link to Today’s Comic.

See this. This is really depressing in light of yesterday. Yesterday Burchett drew two really fun panels, and showed us that he can do better. Today he couldn’t even manage to phone it in. He had to drunk dial it. I imagine him splayed across his drafting desk, bottle of scotch in one hand, pen in the other, resting his head directly on the desk while scratching this out with one eye open. Or more likely, he doodled it with a stylus on his smart phone in fifteen minutes while on the can, and emailed it directly to the colorist.

Either way, a Charger Chimp sounds like some kind of stupid portable multi-port wireless device battery pack that would be advertised on TV very early in the morning. Use it in your car! Use it on a plane! Any place want, any device you want, your little charging pocket buddy is there for you. Buy the Charger Chimp today! Only $19.99 plus shipping and handling. But wait! There’s MORE!!!!

Simian Simulacrum

Link to Today’s Comic.

Comic Book Harriet back again for another ride on The Carousel of Death (and Comics) known as Funky Winkerbean. And like all carousels we’ve been on a trip up and down, around and around, only to come right back to where we were before.

Mopey Pete and Durren have quit their old jobs, moved halfway across the country, got a new boss, and started an entirely new comics venture, only to write “Starbuck Jones But This Time He’s a Monkey.”

At least Burchett got to draw two panels of exciting detailed comic book action. I especially like the face of the guy getting a haymaker in panel two, and the Abe Sapien/Murloc love child in panel three. For a brief moment, he actually got to be an artist producing art again. Like a rotting tree producing a single delicious apple even though it’s dead inside.

Make Like an Ape, Man

It’s my call and I have to tell you right now that covers with gorillas on them are total locks.

Tom Batiuk, 1/6/18

I doubt that today’s strip (or anything in Funky Winkerbean) accurately depicts the way comic books are produced in the real world…I mean, you come up with a “flagship title” after you’ve launched the company? I do think that what’s reflected here is Batiuk’s own creative process, wherein he paces the floor and muses out loud (or maybe TB’s got his own Cosmic Treadmill), before settling on some half-baked, flimsy premise, and then hollering “YESSSSSSSS!!!” so loudly as to attract the attention of passersby.

Speaking of comic books, guest author comicbookharriet serves up the snark for the next two weeks. Bon appetit!

Doom And Legume

Link To Today’s Strip

This one took me a while to figure out. “Bean’s End catalog”…I have to assume this is a play on “L.L. Bean” and “Land’s End”…I guess. Which means that BatNard is now basing story arcs on the junk mail he gets every day, in keeping with his “whatever I happen to see within my limited field of vision” approach to “storytelling”. While I certainly do not doubt that “someone” out there collects old catalogs (someone collects everything) it seems HIGHLY UNLIKELY that anyone could fund a fledgling comic book company with the proceeds of such a collection, especially if they just purchased (and renovated) an entire old office building to house such a comic book company. As others have already pointed out, perhaps Boy Lisa’s MBA skills might be of use here if only he wasn’t so busy doodling. What a shame.

Commander Vomit

Link To Today’s Strip

This SoSF shift is dedicated to LFB, always my # 1 fan

What did I ever do to deserve this? The (sigh) Atomik Komix gang is back and apparently they’re already being henpecked and overworked. No one saw THAT coming, eh? “Commander Comet”…”Rip Tide”…”The Pulp”…sigh.

Tom Batiuk doing arcs about the exhausting demands of being a “big time” comic writer is pretty funny when you think about it. Maybe it’s some kind of subconscious or subliminal guilt trip, I dunno. Or maybe he’s just trying to convince everyone that he’s putting way more into this than he actually does, although no one who actually reads it is ever going to buy that.