Today’s “contemporary issue affecting young adults”? The high rate of turnover among comic book artists. I wonder if the artist is “leaving the book” because he’s sick of having to work with the deadline-averse Pete Robertini? In any event, it seems that Batiuk just realized that Crazy Harry, though he may look like it now, was not born in the 1940’s, and has updated young Harold’s appearance (compare with this strip from 2010).
Tag: Cody
Bland Control To Major Dull
And today it’s a very special cameo from no one’s favorite FW character, Jim Klabichnik, Science Guy. Hey, at least it isn’t Les. It’s a long, long way to go for a gag maybe a dozen people will see and maybe half of them will get, but then again I usually tend to vastly overstate these numbers. We also see that Westview is ALREADY in the grip of near-whiteout blizzard conditions, as there aren’t any sunny winter days in Olde Westview Towne. It’s gonna be a long winter, folks.
And this marks the end of my latest hosting stint, thanks to all for the superlative snark! Stay tuned for our resident Funk-storian, billytheskink as he guides us through whatever the hell Nate’s up to this week….enjoy!
Hallmark Monitor
Today we’re finally treated to the Sunday strip whose pencilled preview Batiuk teased us with a year in advance. Make that a 53 weeks in advance: this strip would have served as the coda to the “Owen Learns He’s Not Good at Bullying” arc from the week before last, but Batiuk decided we needed to have a week of Les moping about life. I hope that in addition to Senior Lit with Mr. Moore, Owen is taking remedial math: he’s waited three years, not four, to become a senior (he’s entering his fourth year).
(S)enior (h)ighschool L(it)
Well, Chullo, let me remind you of something. You may not remember this, because it all happened so long ago, but just a few minutes earlier you were eager and ready to sit in this very class. You went out of your way to get those seats. The principal himself stepped in to aid you in your quest. Now class begins and suddenly, you’re full of regrets. Apparently you forgot that the Les Moore who teaches this class is the Les Moore.
Well, you’ve made your bed. Now you have to eat it.
Every time Tom Batiuk does an episode like this one, it just amazes me that he cannot see how utterly loathsome he makes Les Moore. The worst character of all time, the fist-magnet of one hundred thousand punches, and Mr. Batiuk keeps making him more and more punchable. The only possible reaction for the students to have to panel two is to close their books and all silently walk out, never to return. The fact that they stay is sheer fantasy. The fact that they struggle to get into the class is mind-boggling.
Yes. The mind boggles.
I was looking over some of the older Act III strips, and there was an interesting dynamic when teen Summer was around. Les was frequently over-protective and anxious about her to the point of being a pathetic, needy jerk (stalking her on her solo car date, for example). But he also came across as human, as a parent genuinely concerned about her and obviously unwilling to lose her and mire in loneliness. In a way, it humanized him, allowing to be an overt jerk, yet also acknowledging that his jerkdom came from his neediness. In most cases, he was still nauseating, but he hadn’t quite become The Horse’s Ass.
Nowadays, well, I picked this up at the local Goodwill.
Senior Moment II
As you can see, we’ve dropped the “Bullying” arc because Mr. Batiuk had to get in another Les fix. I’m sure the “Bullying” arc will be back–there are awards to win nominations to be had, after all.
While he was lovingly detailing Les, he forgot how to draw the other characters. For evidence, look at Chullo in panel one–worst face this week. He looks like Becky at the Wally-Rachel wedding–
–a hastily decorated potato pressed into service. Perhaps even the very same potato. On the other hand, look at panel two–four sets of heavy-lidded world-weary eyes.
Anyway, what we have today is more evidence that Chullo and Glasses are dumber than rocks.
In the past, students have hated attending Les’ class, largely because they hate Les, but also because he’s a dull pedant who turns the learning process into sheer torture. Puns, Hemingway, Moby Dick and “trick” trick questions. No one wants to be in Les’ class.
Now, here come Chullo and Glasses, and they can’t wait to sit in for more of the same.
Of course, Les would have a roster of students who were supposed to be in his class this year, and he could easily see that Chullo and Glasses are signed up. Unless in Westview High, all you do is show up at a class and you’re enrolled.
And was Les so enraged by this perfidy that he marched the Dumbtastic Duo into the principal’s office? If not, whose “OFFICE” is this? Does Les hold classes in his office? Is Glasses saying “Told you” to Les Moore? Seems rather disrespectful; even Les deserves respect for his position (and for nothing else).
So, you make the call: lazy ignorance or willful stupidity?
Son of Stuck Funky 
