Tag: Crazy Harry

Supreme Indifference

Questions continue to come in about the comic book covers that I use from time to time in the Funky Sunday strips. It seems that there are a lot of folks in Funkydom who enjoy seeing the comics of their youth and the artists who created them paid homage in this way…

TB’s blog, Jan. 31, 2013

Batiuk actually takes a great deal of pride in his “Comic Book Sunday” tributes, but we folks here in SonofStuckFunkydom just see them as lazy, facile filler. Today’s “homage” to Justice League of America Vol. 1, No. 5 is particularly galling. This time Batiuk has not even gone to the trouble of trying to relate the comic book cover to any of the strip’s current plotlines.

Typically he finds a cover he likes and comes up with some contrived way of shoehorning it into the current plot. He’s reversed the process today, whipping up a weak standalone gag for the inset panel that relates only tangentially with the comic cover. Batiuk can’t even be bothered to Photoshop one of his character’s heads onto a superhero body. The “gag” consists of Crazy Harry (he’s a Tea Partier, you know!), kvetching to Les about that goddam out-of-control Supreme Court. I’m not even going to Google the news from a year ago to find out what the Court was up to at the time TB came up with this gem. Clearly he figured that, no matter what was happening in the news, the “folks in Funkydom” would all nod in amused agreement at Crazy’s rant.

The Flamenco Bits

While we often take Batiuk to task for his “tell, don’t show” storytelling style, let’s give him a pass just this time for not actually depicting Crazy Harry in the throes of his “happy dance”. But he gets no points for rehashing yesterday’s panel 2 reaction shot in order to milk this gag for another day. As a bonus, we get another rendering of John’s lumpy mug and some tortured, redundant sentence structure from Owen. And anono-hoodie is going to be haunted for the rest of his life? Not to worry: as far as this strip’s concerned, your life is over and you’ll never be seen again.

Scar-struck Babies

billytheskink
January 10, 2013 at 9:13 am
All I really take from this storyline is that Crazy’s “happy dance” is not spontaneous in any way, but rather, a premeditated event purposely intended to scar those who view it. Frightening.

Spontaneous? No. Frightening? Presumably. I don’t know. John sure seems pretty used to it. Owen looks like he just got a whiff of something bad. Cody and the peanut head in the blue hoodie just look fearful. Blue hoodie kid has some kind of jagged sparks emanating from his head, signifying perhaps that he’s “on something”.

I Shall Be Released

On behalf of myself and my family: sincerest thanks to each and every one of you for all the wonderful comments and emails I received regarding the passing of my sister.

Batiuk continues to stretch the “happy dance” gag, which might have been acceptable as a one-off, to ever-more-absurd lengths. John produces a release form for the boys to sign if they insist on staying to witness Crazy Harry’s routine.  Give TB credit today for “writing what he knows”; he certainly has experience with legal documents. Of course, since Cody, Owen, and Little Blue Riding Hoodie are minors, it’s doubtful their signatures would be legally binding. And what the hell could be so “soul-scarring” about this spectacle unless it indeed involves Harry getting naked?