Tag: Comic Book tribute

"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.

La Donna Della Mia Vita

Wow. In a comic strip legendary for its epic sadness, I don’t think it’s ever been sadder that it is today. Bad enough that Harry’s devotion to Tarzan “comical books” would lead him to consider cashing in his daughter’s college fund. But when Donna, the only woman in the world who finds him desireable, dares to (only-half-) jokingly expresses her longing for him, everyone in the room is immediately and visibly repulsed. I suppose Maddie can be forgiven her reaction to hearing her parents allude to “gettin’ busy”. As for John, he’s probably skeeved at the thought of caressing anything besides pubescent boys.

A while back, someone stated on Twitter that the Komix Korner was based on Ground Zero Comics in Strongsville, Ohio (15 miles from TB’s home in Medina). I couldn’t find GZ Comics’ website, but some pics found on patch.com seem to support this. The store’s nestled in a strip mall, not above a pizza joint, but like the Korner, it’s decorated with nerd tchotchkes. They also have a Space Invaders machine just like Tony’s.

Many Harry Returns

“So Crazy Harry is fifty-two!” No shit, really? Y’know, because he doesn’t look a day under seventy-five! Funky and Holly treat our quinquagenarian postman to a Montoni’s pie with delicious melted wax topping.

Say what you will about Batiuk; he must be a man of faith. How do we know this? Because he takes so many Sundays off! Great birthday tribute by the way…nothing says “happy birthday” like a reminder that “the sands of time are running out”.

 

Waste of Space

Speaking of painful digging into the past, I suspect a bit of revisionist history…as it would appear that Jessica was the popular cheerleader and not at all a member of the AV club.

— Stuckfunky, April 15, 2011

Turns out our little Darling was both! I guess she gets the audiovisual gene from her Mom, Jan Murdoch Darling, the famous television producer whom we never met. I’m resorting to the bulleted list format to get through everything going on in today’s strip.

  • Another tribute to another obscure comic. How ironic is that banner ALWAYS ALL NEW STORIES ? Nothing says “ALL NEW” like cutting and pasting your character’s head onto a half-century-old comic book cover. And would it have killed Batiuk to maybe Photoshop a suggestion of boobs onto that figure in the red spacesuit?
  • The Three Faces of Jessica:
    • Jessica’s disembodied head at the “top” of the panel has been lifted from the “model sheet” on the FW site’s Meet the Cast page.
    • On the comic book cover: “she” is apparently diving to avoid raygun fire…why the hell is she smiling?
    • In the inset, TB finally manages to make her look attractive…meanwhile Summer needs an eyebrow waxing, and Les resembles a Muppet with cleft palate.
  • A little demeaning to cheerleaders, no? I guess unless a girl plays “real” sports, she’s not to be taken seriously.

Happy Easter everybody! — TFH

Lazy Sunday

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TB’s  Sunday Comic Book “Tributes” are somewhat akin to the “Family Circus” strips when “Bil is on vacation” and 7-year-old Billy fills in. The Funky Fedora is usually tipped to obscure titles that only the comics-geekiest would know about. TB just has to think of a comic that, however tenuously, ties into something or someone in the strip, slap on the FW banner and a vignette at the bottom “explaining” the connection.

Wally was making such great strides, traveling to Colorado and back, and venturing out to dine. But grocery shopping still gives him the willies. Fortunately Buddy’s there to “pop the corner” for his master. Rachel (I’m assuming that’s Rachel) sighs…like she really misses doing that for Wally.