Tag: Halloween

Breakneck Pacing

Link to today’s strip.

Looks like we’re in for a whole week of sideways strips.  And once again, the format is pointless.  Does Batiuk think New York Times readers will enjoy his daring staging?  OOOoooOOoooOOooo…so avant garde!  Expanding the boundaries of the comics page!

Or does he think they enjoy stretching their necks?  If so, at least reward them with something worth the effort.

Which this decidedly is not.  I thought the week started out well, as noted a tiny bit whimsical, but now it’s just more revenge porn against Funky.  Yes, we are supposed to believe that Funky is so stupid he thinks this is a real monster, and he’d better cater to its wishes…or else.  I mean, the damned thing is weaponless.  Any sudden movement would send it to the floor in a heap.

Sigh.  Heaven forbid you were the popular kid when Batiuk was in your high school class.  How dare you be popular, and well-liked, and generally normal!   Don’t you know Les’ wife died of cancer twenty years ago!!

In fact, the more I think about it, the more it seems that the “Lisa’s Story” garbage was thrown into the strip to point out to “new” readers that, yes, Bull died…but that’s not the death you need to concern yourself with.  Just imagine the panic that must have gone through his mind when he realized people might say, “Funky Winkerbean?  Oh, yeah, that’s the one where the coach died.”

Attack Interrupted

Link to today’s strip (eventually).

Today’s strip was not available for preview…hey, remember when I said that about six times in a row?  Ah, memories.

I assume that we’ll get the “pizza monster” shambling around some more, and raising, well, noise levels if nothing else.  Still have one more day before we can reveal the scamp behind it all!

Of course, Batiuk could throw us a curve ball–it’s not unknown for him to suddenly break, say, an arc dealing with CTE and suicide so that he could, say, shill his book for the billionth time.

I guess we’ll all find out later!

Boxers Briefed

Link to today’s strip.

I suppose I should be thankful that Halloween allows Batiuk to indulge his more whimsical side (a side otherwise kept carefully suppressed).  And bravo to Tom Batiuk for trying something light.  Especially considering that some of those New York Times readers might still be around.

The concept of a monster costume made out of pizza boxes is somewhat unique, I’ll give him that, though he has to admit in turn that it’s kind of stupid.  In a kind of amazing twist that only happens in this strip, it’s very creative and yet short-circuits itself by its own blandness.

And why are those two lamebrains gaping in fear at this spectacle?  Do they think it’s real–even for a moment?  Do they feel threatened?  Are they worried about how it will impact business?  (Speaking of which, I have the feeling when it turns out to be Cory, Funky will just berate him for wasting resources.)

Whether it’s fake or a real monster, the worst thing this creature could do to you is fall on you.  It doesn’t even have a mouth!  See, a pizza box opens at a hinge, just a like a giant mouth, but this feature couldn’t be worked in.  Its hands could wield pizza cutters, or a cutter and a spatula…Jason Vorhees did a lot more with less.

The lack of these things kind of dampens my initial interest in this story.  I have this awful feeling it will wind down in the most boring way imaginable.

Finally, the vertical style should have been skipped.  The artwork is too damned crowded together.  Spread out over a typical horizontal strip, it might have made a more impressive tableau, but I guess Batiuk spent all that time lettering the boxes and was damned if anyone could escape that detail.

Ignorance is Bliss

Link to today’s strip.

First, hats off to SpaceManSpiff85, who had to suffer through one of the strip’s worst storylines in recent memory.  Glad to see you lived through it.

As for today’s offering, well thank whatever gods frown down on us that “Lisa’s Story” is no longer the focus.  I’m not sure what’s beginning here, but it almost looks like…whimsy?  Can Tom Batiuk do whimsy?  I’d have thought that he felt such things were beneath him, but who really knows.

At any rate, looks like someone’s build a costume out of pizza boxes.  I’m guessing it’s Corey.

The Anti-Social Network

Today’s strip

TB’s flagrant abuse of registered trademarks continues unabated today, as do Funky’s witless insights into this newfangled “computers” thing everyone’s always talking about. “Holly and Cory”…remember that, kids, because it’s going to be relevant real soon! I wonder how long that “face to Facebook” gag was clanging around in that delightfully pointy little head of his?

Check out Rachel in panel one, I have no idea what that particular little sidewards glance is supposed to indicate, but whatever it is I don’t like the looks of it. And panel three is a Batominc masterpiece, with Funky’s wry nonchalance and Rachel’s bemused background tilty-headed smirk. I would imagine that’s how every Montoni’s conversation unfolds (and I bet the visual evidence would back me up on that, too).