explosions – Son of Stuck Funky

Back To The Future

For the first time in awhile, this week in Crankshaft wasn’t straight-up Funky Winkerbean Act III. It starred Ed Crankshaft and his family, in a staple Crankshaft story: Ed’s barbecues causing a major disaster. But it was a great example of many things that are wrong with Tom Batiuk’s storytelling in general, and invites commentary for that reason. It’s going to be a cavalcade of TBTropes, some old and some new.

The week started with Mindy informing Pete that he’s “not really dressed for a grill-out” at her house. The suggested gear is, of course, protective gear against fire and explosions. Yuk yuk.

How does Pete not already know of Ed’s grilling misadventures? He’s been dating Mindy since 2017, and the “engagement tiger” incident was in 2019. They’ve been on multiple trips together.

On top of that, Ed’s grill-outs have resulted in criminal charges of destroying the earth! You’d think Pete would be aware of that incident. If the earth was destroyed, where would Pete get his comic books?

Jumping’ Jack Flashback

Today’s strip was shot in Kodachrome… despite being set even further back in time than this past week’s sepia-toned historical revision. Really sets the mood for imagined fiery death, doesn’t it?

You would (not) be surprised at how often TB goes to the well for Holly’s Act I flaming baton trick. It wouldn’t shock me if it has appeared as a gag in Act III more often than it ever actually did in Act I. But hey, after this past week, I’ll take some Sunday Funky-Holly filler, even if it involves flaming batons.

And with that, I cede the podium to Comic Book Harriet, a master of both Batiukverse history and the entertaining anecdote. I expect we will enjoy a good bit of both from her in the coming weeks.

LOL scary

Click here to continue reducing your IQ.

Do you know why a bus load of high school seniors would never be terrified in this situation?

They know “spacemen” aren’t going to attack Cleveland.
They know there’s a movie filming close by.
Teenagers have a natural affinity for explosions.

This quarter-inch-from-reality stuff is wearing pretty thin.

Directed by Alan Smithee

Breathtaking action continues!

Hey, remember this guy?

He kinda just showed up two months ago to pile yet more work onto poor suffering Durwood and Mopey Smurf. Well, he’s back and it turns out he’s the director! Who’d have known, huh? When you’ve got mad comic storytelling skillz like T-Bats, you can have new characters drift in and out without any real introduction at all. That’s why it’s called writing. Damn, we plebes should only hope to be smart enough to be on Tom’s level.

Before we go any further, it’s time to award 1 FREE INTERNET to TheDiva, for having a Ouija board finely tuned to The Ghostly Realm Of Ghastly Cliches.

Well, let’s see if I can go two for two! *presses fingers to temples* I hereby predict that this disruption, instead of stopping the shoot dead while the unauthorized personnel are evacuated before someone gets seriously hurt, will be declared to have improved the scene immensely…

— TheDiva

Of course, the director isn’t going to call “cut.” They never do when something unexpected happens on the set, and anyone who thinks otherwise just doesn’t watch enough TV or read enough comics.

Great storytelling demands great artwork, so allow me to bring Mr. Director to the foreground of the first panel so we can see what an awesome draughtsman Tom is.

Jesus, he’s a T-Rex.

Ka-boom! Blaam!

Link to today’s strip.

Odds are, this shortcut lands them right in the middle of filming. If we’re lucky, it will be an effects shoot and they’ll all be blown up.

— TheDiva

I stand in line, TheDiva. Now let’s hope that some of those costumed Space Dudes have better aim than Imperial Stormtroopers and actually score a few hits on that bus.

Are we ever going to learn what part of a futuristic sci-fi popcorn flick is so critical it *MUST* be filmed in modern-day Cleveland?

— hitorque

Mekka Lekka Hi, Mekka Hiney Ho! Thy wish is granted, hitorque (kind of.) Long live Jambi.

Unfortunately, we seem to have missed the part where the bus crashed through a police barricade preventing traffic from going through that alley to begin with, but I guess we shouldn’t quibble about T-Bats not really knowing how something actually works before putting it into one of his little scribbles. On the up side, though, we finally have a strip that picks up where yesterday left off. So although it’s probably going to take two weeks to get that damn bus off the set, at least we’ll be able to follow the story line for a change.