I’m a little worried about Les’ being “a little worried about Funky.” It’s a business trip, or so we’ve been told (although many of you pointed out yesterday the absurdity of scheduling business travel a week before Christmas). He didn’t just up and “take off”.
Instead of standing around the airport muttering to himself, Funky should learn a thing or two about air travel from his old pal Les: don’t be miserable, be a douchebag to everyone you meet and make them miserable!
I wonder what “business” requires “the Funkman” to travel by plane. He’s not visiting the franchise locations, since the New York shop closed up years ago.
We’re all familiar with Batiuk’s use of “photo album corners” and sepia tones to depict past events. Today he thoughtfully employs a similar visual cue, the “squiggly-bordered panel”, lest the reader become confused by the abrupt jump-cut from Montoni’s to some airport.
I suspect that rather than carry them over into the new year, Batiuk is obligated to burn off every shitty pun that he’s scrawled on a Luigi’s napkin over the last twelve months. Even the puns in French, which are harder for people who are not Les Moore to “get”. Polishing this turd of a gag into a strip requires Les to deliver the jeu de mots, since he’s the only one intellectual enough to coin (and appreciate) such a clever jest.
I guess this could be considered a “happy” strip, and Lord knows there aren’t many of those. The joke seems to be that this is a collection of tiny, tiny dreams, and–surprise–these are the very dreams that these folks desired the most when they were young. Okay, now it’s kind of depressing, honestly.
It might be that only Harry is really living his dream, and that the others are thinking “Jesus wept, Harry. Thanks for reminding me how far I’ve failed.” No one looks happy in the last panel, except Harry, who looks deliriously happy. One might almost call him “Crazy.”
When I was in high school, I dreamed about my future as well…and it was never anything like “co-owner of a restaurant” or “clerk in a comic book shop.” My dreams were rather more grandiose. Admittedly I haven’t achieved them, but at least I had them, and there’s always hope.
I guess in Westview there’s never hope, so it’s best to keep your dreams small, because that’s all you’ll get as life slowly crushes you under its heel. If you don’t die first, that is. Then, you win!
After a week of pretty bad artwork, this episode shouldn’t be unexpected, but wow. Those faces in the last panel are just awful. And what’s going on with Les and Funky in panel two? Funky is a shrunken old man, half a head shorter than Les, while Les seems to be missing half of his head. Suddenly in the last panel Funky is taller than Les. Also in that panel, Les is smirking so hard it looks like his beard is trying to tear itself off his face.
Well, if I wanted to nitpick the artwork, I’d be here all night…and in fact, the Guest Host SoSF chair has tossed me out! Watch Monday as DavidO takes up the reins (or as Tom Batiuk would say, the rains) as the strip continues to hurtle Hellward.
Monday’s strip was not available for preview, so I guess it’s time to speculate on what the new week will bring.
For the most part, I don’t think stories in Funky Winkerbean are told much past two weeks (whether the story ends then or not). There are exceptions here and there, like last year’s Frankie mega-arc, and the trip to Kilimanjaro (though I think that one was interrupted when Funky had to name his new car). Two weeks seems to be the default length for a “chapter.”
So if I had to guess about what we’ll get, I would say that we won’t see more of Holly and her comic quest in the coming week. I would guess we’ll get a week of filler–Funky at the gym again, Owen and Cody giving blood again, Dinkle going to some conference again. Something like that.
Of course, I could be entirely wrong. Monday might begin with John and Crazy driving Holly over to Tony Isabella’s house to get that last damned comic book.
There’s no real suspense to be had either way.
In other words, I got nothin’.
UPDATE: So I was wrong. In a world in which Funky Winkerbean exists, being wrong is no big deal.
Son of Stuck Funky 