We know that Cody’s a fan of show tunes*, and his panel 1 dialogue suggests a song cue; you can almost hear the strings swelling in the background as he confesses to Owen his feelings for Summer. Owen’s as surprised as the rest of us to witness this turn of events.
*As seen in this strip from 2009
His near-beatdown at the hands of the bully Wedgeman apparently has triggered PTSD-induced hallucinations in Cody. Or could it be…love? Whatever the case, Batiuk does Summer no favors with this side-by-side comparison with the Amazon Princess. Wonder Woman’s curves (those thighs!) only call attention to Summer’s androgynous form. And anyway, I thought Summer’s comic book analogue was Supergirl.
Charles
April 10, 2012 at 11:31 pm
You know, if you want your bully to be credible, it’s probably not a good idea to have your bullied character insulting him, seemingly with impunity…If Cody really believed that Wedgieman was going to beat the crap out of him, he wouldn’t have sassed him like that.
Yep, Cody’s a real tough guy when he’s standing behind his new bodyguard. Her work done here, Summer walks her angular, boxy ass away down the hall.
Cody’s Christmas-themed comeback is particularly ill-chosen: judging from his surname, his tormentor Wedgeman is possibly Jewish! But before he can deliver a chmalyeh to Cody’s punim, who should come to the rescue but Summer. Rescued by a girl? It might be less humiliating just to take the beating.
I gave myself a migraine trying to decipher the tin-eared dialogue in today’s strip. “There’s a couple of tick-tocks before class starts”? This is bully-speak? Sounds like baby talk. “Kick your butt off“? “Off” doesn’t follow “butt” in this construct, unless I’m “kicking your butt off the team”, or “off the bus”, etc. Never heard of anyone getting his “butt kicked off”. Oh, I see: this is setup for Cody’s retort: “No problem, I’ll just share yours.” Share his butt? ‘th hell?!?
And what skinny teenage nerd confidently cracks wise in response to a verbal threat, however clumsily it’s worded? This is the same tactic that teenage Les used with teenage Bull. Of course now we know that that wasn’t real bullying at all. Mr. Black Shirt Hatchet Face appears to be serious. Given his renown for “tackling serious real-life issues”, you’d expect that TB would at least attempt to treat bullying a little more thoughtfully. Instead he goes for “funny” but it just comes out “wrong”.
Son of Stuck Funky 
