Classic Funky – Page 2 – Son of Stuck Funky

It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is

While most of the now-reassembled idiocy of Winkerbeans mopes at a Pete-level in today’s strip, Holly is taking charge! How, exactly, she expects a photo of Act II Funky with the mayor of Centerville to help Adeela remains to be seen…

Before we get into the explanation for this bit of Batiukverse history, let’s take a minute to appreciate the magnificent uselessness of Amicus Breef, who today is repeating the exact same legal vernacular he spit out two days ago… like a 14 year old who just learned the phrase “subpoena evidence” and keeps saying it because he thinks it makes him sound smart. It has been some time since TB introduced such a remarkably incompetent character, which is saying something.

OK, now for the tale of the time Funky and his mullet met President Bill Clinton. It was the summer of 1993 and the Westview school district was facing its latest challenge in getting voters to approve yet another school levy (or “tax issue” as Fred and Nate referred to this one). Dinkle decided the best way to drum up support was to get the recently elected President Clinton to appear at a rally headlined by his WHS band. Being a well-known former band geek, the President actually showed up, endured the band’s performance, and finished things off by playing a saxophone duet with Dinkle. On his way out of town, President Clinton demanded pizza and Dinkle recommended Montoni’s. Thus:

Dinkle also gave the President a gift for showing up at the rally… *sigh* It was a box of comic books, of course.

Dream Academy

Being late/running late is a very common theme in dreams…Being late in a dream as an image of finding it difficult living up to your own demands or the demands of others…When we dream that we are late or that we are about to be late, it is often because we are fighting a battle to achieve more than we can actually handle.

https://michaelrolsen.com/dreams-late-mean-dream-interpretation-late

It’s a pretty common dream, all right, so give Batiuk points for being relatable for once. I know I’ve had dreams of this type. The naked-in-public kind of dreams, too. Batiuk and Ayers do a pretty good job at giving this scenario a dreamlike feeling. The hallway appears infinite, and eerily empty. And while this is almost a universal dream premise, I bet Tom Batiuk hasn’t had this dream in ages. At this stage of his career, the only demands he probably has to meet are to submit one comic strip per day. It doesn’t have to be especially well drawn, or funny, or make sense, or follow a narrative. Just a piece of content, to fill space on a newspaper comics page or on a website.

Well, my two week long nightmare of having to deconstruct FW every day is ended, and on deck is guest emcee Epicus Doomus! Take it away!

Friday, April 1st

Link to today’s strip

Huis-clos

Link to today’s strip.

So…for Les, life is watching blonde women interact with their lockers while he endlessly walks down a brick corridor. Or some damn thing–who honestly knows what the point of this strip is supposed to be. I’m starting to think that Tom Batiuk is simply trolling us (as others here have pointed out). I’ve read this episode over carefully and I cannot make head nor tail out of it. Is the point supposed to be “High school lasts forever”? Is it that Les hates his job because it makes his life Hell? Is it that hairstyles on blondes are getting shorter? (Panel four must be from a previous year, since Les is dressed differently.) Or is the point that, every time the school year starts, there are blonde women with lockers–only, get this, the women are different each time! Really, that sounds the most plausible but it’s weak, even for this strip.

So, I don’t get this one. I honestly thought we’d get the “bullying” arc started up again, but I guess Mr. Batiuk thought we needed some Les Wisdom(c) dropped on us. Too bad he forgot the Les Wisdom Decoder Ring(c) to go with it. It just looks like a hellscape to me, with a pair of word balloons pasted on. (Look at that dialogue. Tell me than any random sentences couldn’t substitute there and make the same amount of sense.)

Sorry for rambling, but I don’t see this one as an “episode.” Instead I see things like the adult Les’ face in the “Westview Class” masthead image among all the teenagers and I think, Is that supposed to mean something? Les has always been old? Then I note that in the penultimate panel, Les’ hair is all disheveled, and it’s neatly combed in the last panel. Again, is there a point to that?

I do like the Modigliani face in panel five, and I like that someone went nuts with the Scotch tape in panel three. And all those bricks. Endless bricks.

Bricks.

Ah, I get it now. We’re supposed to want to slam endless bricks against Les’ head. Okay!

Thus ends my time in the Les Chair. Tomorrow, the fabulous DavidO takes over the hosting duties…and good luck to him!

See you then, and thank you for your indulgence!

Light at the end of the Time Pool?

billytheskink here, occupying the SOSF time share for a couple weeks. I’ve just come back from a weekend of moving everything out of my parent’s house of 30 years in 100 degree heat, driving it 4 hours away, and moving it all again in 97 degree heat. I mention this because it was considerably more enjoyable than the last half of last week’s strips, now that I’ve got around to reading them.

So today’s strip confirms that the time pool works both ways, and that everyone’s internal organs and white Keds (and Holly’s elephant Q-Tip) apparently survived the trip intact.

Who do you need to convince, Cindy? This is literally everyone you interact with, plus some people that you don’t. Is convincing Barry Balderman and Principal Fairgood that you talked to your future self about the definition of “happy” really all that critical?

I do look forward to Act II Apple Annie Crazy’s attempts to convince the stagflation-weary populace that time travel is possible by showing them a stolen battery-operated device that he should have idea how to use and no way to charge.

If it is just so important, you know how the gang could really convince people that there is a “time pool” in Crazy’s locker? They could show it to other people… kinda like how Crazy convinced the rest of them in the first place. Nah…