Tag: Funky

Counter Intuitive

Did I say Montoni’s was deserted? I stand corrected: as long as the coffee’s free, there will be “Crazy” Harry Klinghorn taking up space at the counter. Darin unwisely decides to use Harry as a one-man focus group to market test his latest hare-brained scheme. Sadly, though he still wears a postal uniform, Crazy’s been unemployed since before Act III began (think about it: have we ever seen him deliver any mail?) and is reduced to scrounging free grub from his old friend Funky. Hence, Harry’s preoccupation with where his next meal is coming from.

Meanwhile, over in Centerville:
Snarker Flummoxicated emailed SoSF to call my attention to a ver-r-r-ry intriguing Crankshaft crossover: Cranky is introduced to the daughter of his friend “Smokey” Williams. Damn! She looks very familiar…

That Darin Young Man

Even a meeting of Montoni’s board of directors is more welcome than a continuation of Les’ Story. Wunderkind Darin, whose “I-Phone” app was a huge success (as the sight of the deserted restaurant will attest), apparently has another brilliant notion. In expressing his disapproval, Funky manages to disparage both Darin and Tony. He forgets that Tony’s worst idea probably was making a partner of Funky, whose reckless expansion plans and cost-cutting measures nearly sank the business that bears his name.

Sunday Funday

Last day to comment on Friday’s post for a chance to win your own copy of Lisa’s Story!

You know what? I like today’s strip! I like it because in recreating a couple Act I scenes, TB has actually recalled the cartoony style of that period. Funky, Les and Crazy Harry, Holly and Cindy are their old 70s and 80s selves again. The punchlines are nothing to write home about, but I’ll settle for gentle humor over hamfisted melodrama any day of the week.

Funky Cold Medina

I guess TB needs to remind readers once a year that Funky is a recovering alcoholic. Although taken with the strip from two Sundays back, could he be setting Funky up for a relapse? The Winkerbeans waltzed to that tune with the line “Till [sic] I can gain control again…” Is he losing control? Are Funky’s demons “exercising” him?

1/4″ from Reality Dept: the gazebo figured so prominently in the past week’s strips, and is rendered so lovingly in today’s; I took a notion that TB must be copping a real-life structure somewhere in, oh, I don’t know…Ohio? Sure enough, a bit of Googling yields pics of the real-life gazebo in Medina Square in TB’s hometown. And true Batiuk completist collectors may pick up a CD of the Medina Community Band‘s 2009 “Salute to Sousa” concert; cover artwork by you-know-who.

Anniversary Schmaltz

Finally: a respite from Les!

The titular character and his missus are celebrating their anniversary, at…where else? Montoni’s! And according to this news item, “Tom Batiuk, the cartoonist, specifically requested the use of the song as a loving tribute to his wife for their 40th wedding anniversary.” Awww! Happy anniversary, Tom and Cathy.

I have to give Funky (and TB) credit for musical taste: “Til I Gain Control Again” by Rodney Crowell is a pretty sweet tune (though it was never the “B” side of “The Rock of My Soul“, which was recorded 26 years later…