Tag: Cody

Denyin' Ryan

$$$Westville Oncologist$$$$$
April 24, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Raise your hand if you think this new hunky guy will actually be the first half of Tom Batiuk’s “unambigously gay duo”?

Yes, this is the same guy

From time to time, consensuses seem to arise within this community regarding the plot direction of this strip. For example, during the Wally Gets a Therapy Dog arc, some of you suggested that Batiuk would cruelly kill off Buddy the Dog, sending Wally around the bend for good. I never subscribed to that theory.

More recently, some have suggested that another Time Jump was in the offing. That one sounds more plausible, if for no other reason than TB’s made such a hash of the current cast of characters that he’s got nowhere to go from here. Given his complete disregard for continuity, Batiuk’s got nothing to lose by shaking the Etch-a-Sketch for a third time.

But where are some of y’all getting the vibe that Ryan is one half of the Coming Gay Prom Date? Is it because he likes Summer? That would make Cody ‘n’ Owen gay too. Is it because the way he’s clumsily pawing Summer in yesterday’s strip implies he doesn’t like touching girls? Because he talks with his hands a lot?  Is it because Summer says asking her to a movie is “sweet”? I’m curious, that’s all. The only preview we’ve had of the Gay Prom arc (starts next week!) is the panel shown here. Sure, that could be Ryan on the right, but it could be any anon-o-teen. It would be weird, even by Batiuk’s storytelling standards, to introduce this guy hitting on Summer, and then buying prom tix with Cody another guy just a few days later.

Summer Bummer

TheDiva
April 12, 2012 at 12:53 am
…Tom Batiuk just cannot draw an attractive woman to save his soul.
O.B. Dan
April 12, 2012 at 8:24 am
Tom Batiuk can’t draw an attractive anything to save his soul.

Haha, it’s true! Check out Cody’s rival! He has Ed Crankshaft’s nose. Of course, he’s an Adonis compared to Cody, whose looks on in abject dismay. If I were directing this strip as a movie, panel 3 would be a “dolly zoom” (I had to look up the term), aka the Vertigo effect. I’ve worked up a crude animation to illustrate.

"Arch"- Enemies

Epicus Doomus
April 21, 2012 at 12:11 am
…Speaking of vomiting with rage, I have seen Sunday’s strip. You are ALL going to be absolutely f*cking appalled. That is all.

While I understand Epicus’ reaction to today’s strip, as far as TB’s comic book tributes go? This one is not as…appalling as usual. At least this time, he’s not “tipping the Funky felt tip” to a comic most of us have ever heard of.

Based on their verbal exchange I’m guessing Cody is standing in for Reggie here, and Owen is Archie—although he’s got more in common with Jughead Jones. Summer is portrayed as an Archie comics “everygirl”: Betty, Veronica, all the chicks in Riverdale (except, of course, Big Ethel) had that look…big eyes, solid teeth, black lips, and nubile bods. If this is how Batiuk always drew Summer, it’d be much more plausible that two buddies would fight over her.

Archie, by the way (the comic book, not the newspaper comic) has been drawing numerous comparisons to FW these last few years:  Riverdale High’s Miss Grundy lost her battle to cancer, and more recently Cheryl Blossom was stricken with the big C. Archie comics also grabbed lots of attention in 2010 when gay character Kevin Keller was introduced. This article helpfully brings us up to date on all the gay stuff in both comics.

(Note)book of Love

Jimmy
April 20, 2012 at 1:11 pm
…Seriously, what boy writes hearts all over his notebook, unless his girlfriend did it for him?

Charles
April 20, 2012 at 5:25 pm
What sort of odd high school boy writes hearts and the name of his unrequited crush on his notebook? Especially if he’s trying to keep said crush secret. It’s not as if no one would ever notice that.

Well, there’s only one other that I know of…

So I guess this wasn’t going where we all thought/hoped/dreaded, eh? As snarker Senor Taco pointed out yesterday, the Coming Same Sex Prom Couple likely will not be C&O. According to this article on The Daily Cartoonist:

The gay characters in Funky Winkerbean are not from his normal cast of characters – so there will be no drama about anyone coming out, but readers will see how other characters react. In fact the gay couple is only featured in 2 of the 24 strips – mostly to set the stage for dealing with the larger issue of intolerance surrounding homosexuality. “Dealing with intolerance is something I’ve dealt with many times before. Adding the gay angle is just a twist to the topic,” Tom says. “I’m not trying to shock anyone, I’m just telling a story.”

Oh boy. A month-long story arc. Can’t. Wait. Anyway, the whole writing the name all over the notebook thing; sorry, I’m pretty sure it’s not something high school boys (straight or gay) do.