Perhaps Mason’s sudden-onset name change mania isn’t a symptom of his bipolar disorder. Recall how Les fed him that story about Pavarotti’s superstitiously carrying a bent nail for good luck (before planting one for Mason to find, in order to give him the confidence to get through a table read for Lisa’s Story). It wouldn’t take much to convince such a gullible sap that tacking an “e” onto his surname could bring good fortune…or maybe even “a new interview with People magazine“! Because, you know, that project he was involved with the last time People mag came knocking? Les and his fucking “kill fee” put the kibosh on that.
Tag: Cindy
J…E…R…K…E
Professor Fate
June 20, 2016 at 9:35 am
It had been established earlier that Mason was bi-polar could this be the start of a manic upswing? And since we are well into production of the SJ movie wouldn’t this require modifications to all the publicity material? And shouldn’t he be talking about this with his agent?
Mason’s supposed mental disorder, which he disclosed last fall and which has not been mentioned since, could indeed explain his impulsive desire to change his name. It’s certainly not a logical choice: for starters, the added “e” would change the pronunciation from “jar” to “jar-RAY” (or even “zhahr-RAY”). It would be only a couple degrees less confusing than when Prince changed his name to 
.
Wheel! Of! Torture!
Greetings, dear snarkers, hate-readers, and beady-eyed nitpickers. Please allow me to share with you my horrifying realization: with Cody, Owen, Wedgeman, et al, having finally graduated from Westview High, Tom Batiuk no longer needs to depict “contemporary issues affecting young adults”. After forty-four years, Batty’s decided to ditch the high school madness plotlines and focus full-time on what he really wants to write about: the Starbuck Jones universe. Brace yourself for strip after strip about how TB imagines Hollywood movies are made. At least he used to take the trouble of lurking around his old high school to glean details of “real” high school life (and he’d still get it wrong).
With such thin material from which to spin the Starbuck saga, Batiuk’s going to need to pad and plod even more than he typically does, which brings us to today’s strip, which starts out promisingly with a cameo from Pat Sajak. Turns out to be more of Batty’s bait-and-switch, and not to spoil it for you but I feel I must: this whole week revolves around Mason considering adding an “e” to his last name.
Causing Fireworks
In today’s offering, handsome Mason Jarr tries to get Cindy to chill because all he and Marianne Winters will be doing tomorrow is blowing up cars in the street. Cindy hints at causing some “fireworks” of her own, but stops short of confessing that she was the one that bombed the Westview Post Office in a pique of jealousy over Lisa’s happy life with Les – happiness she was never able to find with Funky.
How Green Doth My Envy Burn For Thee
What the hell, Cynthia? It’s already acknowledged that any multicellular lifeform on Earth would bump uglies with you in a heartbeat given half a chance. Why are you so threatened by this unseen nemesis Marianne Winters?
So it seems that this week’s arc is rapidly devolving into another display of Cindy’s insecurities. T-Bats sure does like torturing her. That popular blonde chick in high school must’ve not only shot him down but double-capped him for good measure and he’s been doodling his revenge ever since.
And hey, what are Mason and Dick Facey (heh heh, thanks Epicus) chatting about in the foreground? Let’s listen in…
Son of Stuck Funky 
