Harry Dinkle – Page 32 – Son of Stuck Funky

Who’ll Stop The Rain

Gah, six panels to extol some piece of software–not long after Harry decided that software was worthless for anything human beings do. Tom Batiuk must be really impressed with some app he’s recently downloaded, because otherwise this episode would end with a smirking Dinkle saying something like, “Well, you could just look outside,” or “My system of yelling at them is better,” or some terrible pun. That’s the best thing about today’s strip–Loathsome Dinkle doesn’t get a single line of dialogue.

I recall (from comments here) that the Battle of the Bands was always rained out. So we’ve gone from showing a running gag every year to just talking about a running gag? Huh.

Tromboners

The Bedside Manor sign makes another appearance in today’s strip because sight gags get funnier every time we see them, right?

I guess the word “sexism” makes what actually happened, sexual harassment a bit easier to swallow. Adding to the strip’s confusion is that it looks like Dinkle is addressing Funky in the last panel, which raises the squick factor by 100x. Miss Violin needs to get herself a can of bear spray.

The Blue Bird of Hideousness

Link to today’s strip.

Tom Batiuk’s slipping–there are barely any signs that Becky only has one arm. Someone who has never read the strip before would not get that information from today’s offering.

Harry Dinkle is one of those characters that I loathe–in my ranking he’s just below Les. Yet I don’t hate him in today’s episode. I think that’s because he’s substituted his typical sneering condescension with genuine bafflement; instead of finding someway to insult Twitter and its users, he simply admits he has no use for them and lets it go at that. (Of course, it wouldn’t be Funky Winkerbean without smirking condescension, so Batiuk gives the line to Becky.)

So, a Funky Winkerbean first–the only appearance thus far of Dinkle where my revulsion didn’t kick in instinctively.

That blue Dinkle-Twitter abomination on the other hand…wow, somebody had a really bad acid trip. I think I saw that thing chasing the Beatles around Pepperland.

Thus ends my time in the chair. I thank you for your wit and indulgence, and ask that you give it up for the fabulous DavidO!

You’re the Pitz

What began as a “Les Tries to Write Something” arc turns out to be nothing more than a year-end strip dump of leftover gags. We’re transported (or transposed, to use a musical term, ah=HAH!) from Moore Manor to Dinkle’s Den, where we behold the miracle of a deaf man enjoying music.

Second Fiddle

Merry Pookster
December 21, 2015 at 9:35 pm
Is Dinkle and Harriet (w/violin) now living there?

I had been wondering about the plump little lady violinist too. It’d be nice to see Harriet supporting her husband’s interests (in other ways besides “putting out” for him). But alas, a check of the archives turns up this strip from last June in which in which Dinkle comes home to Harriet after rehearsing the band.