Tag: Funky

That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles

Link to today’s strip.

I can kind of see the joke, here. A fortune cookie without a fortune would be “un-fortunate.” It just seems oddly constructed, like he had the basic idea and struggled to fit it into a less clunky shape, finally saying “Oh, the heck with it” and just writing it in like it was on the napkin.

Maybe Funky’s line could have been something about “It was probably bad news anyway” or something. Or, the idea could have been dropped as unproductive.

But that would have meant coming up with another idea, which is work, so…”in” goes the cookie jest.

Bury My Foot at Wounded Knee

Link to today’s strip.

I have no idea what Holly means in panel two. Is she on her knees a lot? Does she scrub a lot of floors, or is her Dorf impression hugely popular at parties? When one says “I’m on my feet a lot” it tends to mean “I’m very busy.” I don’t know the corresponding meaning for knees.

Panel three is the real baffler. I really have no idea what she means. It’s framed as if it’s a punchline, but I cannot find a trace of humor in it–or anything sensible. Her knees want her to die so they can rest? Is that the joke?

Proof positive (as if any more were needed) that this is never touched by an editor.

The Cursive Westview

Link to today’s strip.

Dunno what to say about today’s strip. I’ve never had a broken leg, so I don’t know if toe-writing is a standard healing exercise or it’s just a bit of whimsy.

It’s actually kind of funny, to be honest. I mean, I didn’t laugh or anything, but I appreciated the attempt. I like, too, that she seems to be making light of the situation without being condescending–a real rarity in this strip. Though Ayers has drawn the doctor as if he had just been sneered at.

Ellipsis Sweet as Candy

Link to today’s strip.

Dunno why Tom Batiuk feels the need to censor himself–I guess having a character say “ass” in a comic strip is a horror beyond imagining. Hundreds of readers would demand that the strip be pulled from newspapers across the country.

I mean, I guess that’s the thinking. The problem is, it reduces a decent punchline into a complete non-punchline. The reader (by which I mean me) is brought up short by the omission, making me pivot from contemplating the joke to wondering why he felt the need to censor it. “Butt” would be acceptable, and if that’s considered too risque, how about “rear”?

Oh well, this seems to be Tom Batiuk’s working method for several years now, making sure no humor gets into the strip. Because “funny” doesn’t win awards.

Including “ass” would have made Funky’s panel two expression work much better. Ha ha, he would think. She means me.

A thing I like: the cabinet handles in panel one make it look like Funky has antennae.

Noisy Parker

Link to today’s strip.

Well…uh…say, isn’t it funny how you can go to the hospital, and spend so much time looking for a parking spot that you start singing about it?

No?

Most hospitals have a circular driveway that goes right up to the front door, so that (for example) a person with a leg injury can be helped into a wheelchair. Then, the person driving can go and find a parking spot so that the patient can be tended to.

But if we did that, we wouldn’t get today’s example of ultra-hilarious wit. (I’m guessing that is what we’ve been given.) I’m not sure what Batiuk is aiming for by revisiting this particular story, but I guess he feels he has something to add. I’m anticipating being underwhelmed.