Find six differences between the panels in today’s strip.

Find six differences between the panels in today’s strip.

Go see today’s strip
Unless you do not want to
You won’t miss a thing
Day two of this arc
Funky is so out of shape
This is in real time
Be careful Funky
That hillside is full of stones
That can trip you up
Darin trespasses
And finds himself getting shot
Same fate for Funky?
Funky’s four-door car
Back down to two doors just like
All Batiukmobiles
If this turns into
A big rip-off of The Shack…
We have still seen worse
Well, now that all that is thankfully over, today’s strip shifts gears (booooooooo!) to Funky, who is testing out his recently-renewed driver’s license while listening to Lesley Gore.
And that’s it. That’s all there is to it…
TB actually spoiled this week’s story (such as it is) on his blog a few weeks back. In fact, if you haven’t read that blog post, this strip has no context at all. It might even have negative amounts of context.
This does actually remind me of something I enjoy, though- The scene in Hoosiers when Coach Dale drives up to visit Shooter Flatch’s shabby house on a wooded hill. If tomorrow’s strip shows Dennis Hopper firing a shotgun over Funky’s head, that would redeem a few things.
It looks like we get one of this strip’s patented jogging gags in today’s strip. Looks, however, can be decieving.
No, I would not classify today’s gag as a jogging gag. It is haplessness gag, a staple of Act I reconfigured to fit the age of the strip’s main characters. Back in Act I it was Les and Dinkle’s pupils who were most often the butt of such jokes. Now in Act III, Funky has assumed Les’ former role, his pitiful sole can’t keep from stumbling over the same little rock over-and-over as he tries and fails to get some much-needed exercise. Les has kind of assumed Dinkle’s role, lording his perfection over the morons surrounding him. Act I, however, was sometimes self-aware about how irritating Dinkle’s behavior was. Can we say the same about Act III?
It also looks like Les, who gave Durwood “the bum’s rush” yesterday so he could get to work on his new/old Lisa project, is procrastinating again. This look is not deceiving.
Trying to get a driver’s license under an assumed name is no joke these days. If Fat Les really thinks that’s what’s going on here, he should calmly ask “Funky Winkerbean” to wait right here please and then summon the authorities. And assuming Funky’s got his expired license with him, he doesn’t need to produce his birth certificate or anything else beside the $25.75 renewal fee. This is just payback to Funky for busting BMV Guy’s chops. And it’s working: instead of another wry retort, all Funky can muster is sputtering, Crankshaft-like indignation.