Both Cory and Rocky seem to have gained the ability to reshape their noses in today’s strip, presumably as a part of their 5 second “acclimation” to returning to the United States from deployment.
If only our real servicemen and women could acclimate so easily upon returning home. If only.
Lisa’s beloved autumn leaves are falling so heavily that it’s all Les can do to keep up. Especially with arms that are barely thicker than the handle of the rake he’s holding. The Other Woman, properly chastised and accepting of her secondary status, presents Les with Lisa’s third-party hug along the second tape DVD. Her dazed grin signifies her complete submission to the Will of Lisa’s ghost. Les, meanwhile, appears startled that eighteen years after her death, Lisa’s recorded nagging continues.
Cancer sucks. We got your thesis statement loud and clear, Tombat, but with all of the Autumns you and Lisa must have shared pre-cancer, why are you reminiscing about this one in today’s strip?!
Thanks for that, by the way, now I have to try and wrench sarcastic snarking humor about a strip that is basically about slowly losing a loved one to cancer. Wee.
Now, the proper response from Ms. Lavender would be, “Actually, I’m afraid I’m going to have to smash your f***ing face in, you self-inflated old sack of garbage!” Of course, she’s dim enough to want the book, and Harry’s dim enough to assume he knows how to spell her name, so this encounter is obviously meant to be. There really aren’t a lot of ways to spell “Jim,” or “Mary,” or “Dave” but when there are variants, it’s a good idea to, you know, ask “How do you spell that?”
It is possible, with a certain amount of charity that I’m not prepared to give, to assume that Harry is joking in panel three. His expression sure doesn’t offer any clues. His face looks like someone who is monumentally pissed off that his infallibility was questioned. Leading me to assume that his book is filled with nothing but events where Harry Dinkle was disappointed by those around him, and let them know in no uncertain terms that his fury over their incompetence is barely contained.
That is probably my main issue with Harry Dinkle–he lacks any sense of humor, especially about himself. Oh, sure, he makes stupid puns, but that’s like saying he wears pants: everyone in Westview makes puns. He just seems mean-spirited, grouchy, cheap, one-note, and easily offended and when he appears, he sucks any possible fun out of the strip. (Yeah, I know, I know…)
Just think how easy it would be for Harry to make a real joke about his mistake. “To Kathy, with a C! Stay C#, Cathy!” See, it’s even musical, something with which Dinkle is supposed to have some familiarity. It would actually make Dinkle come across as somewhat charming, instead of the “insufferable” Tom Batiuk decided was more his style. Just as his style also meant that Becky would have to loom somewhere in the background, contributing nothing. Seriously, why was she drawn in today’s episode? Did Tom Batiuk not want to waste the bit of ink still on his brush?
And people actually wonder why we make fun of this strip.
Bleah, more Harry Dinkle. Becky no longer mentions the “volume three” part, as it no doubt made (potential) customers say, “Three volumes from that old shriveled husk?! Why, he must be even more of a pompous windbag than he looks! He must talk non-stop, when he’s not clutching a book with his teeth!” Of course, even at one volume it’s still the story of a pompous windbag, so (like yesterday) I’m guessing from that stack that sales are not brisk.
I like thinking they’ve sold absolutely no books at all. “I’d rather the whole school close down forever than buy that book. That book is so awful that throwing it in the garbage is the highest critical praise it’ll get,” is probably the usual response. Other responses: “Sorry, I don’t have a table that has a short leg, and I don’t have a toddler who needs his booster chair augmented.” “My birdcage is lined with quality newspaper, thank you very much.” “How well does it work to get my fire started? I thought so.” Followed by SLAM! SLAM! SLAM! etc.
Hey, does this week’s story mean that Harry is now on a tour promoting his book? He gets more and more like Les all the time!
Another thing I like is how the falling leaves look like Harry is surrounded by flies seeking his rotting, purulent flesh.
The best part of this one is imagining how Brad DeGroot from Luann is pronouncing his sentence. “I thought you’d be selling a turkey,” with the words going down in pitch from “thought.” In other words, “this is a very bad thing you want me to buy, and it isn’t even edible. Its one use seems to be to neutralize the arms of that horrible old man you’re with, and I don’t have a horrible old man, so get lost before I shoot you with my 38 special and then burn your bodies in the yard and consider my Christmas wish has come true.”
Okay, maybe that last little bit wasn’t really implied in Brad’s sentence. Much. As the British say, “No ‘arm in tryin’.”
Son of Stuck Funky 