Tag: holidays

Harry New Year!

I’m not a huge believer in New Year’s resolutions, but I’ll make one here: in 2012 (well, after today) I will cease to snark about Becky’s Pinned-Up Sleeve. Back in November, snarker Charlene made this comment:

Charlene
November 29, 2011 at 4:24 am
…The lack of a prosthetic arm is one of the few realistic features of this entire strip. Her amputation is too high up for a prosthetic to be of any use.

Take it from me: not every amputation can magically be replaced with a prosthetic. You need a certain amount of bone and muscle left, and her stump is just too short.

So we will allow that Becky (and some real-life amputees) are not unwilling but rather unable to use a prosthesis.

But HOO BOY, does TB beat us over the head with that empty sleeve today! Do you suppose, when Becky puts on her winter coat, that the rolled up sweater sleeve tucks neatly inside the rolled-up coat sleeve?

Inconsola-Bull

It’s just not a Westview New Year’s Eve if there’s not somebody who’s depressed and all alone! Last year, of course, it was Les, ditching the party he was hosting to ring in 2011 with the ghost of Lisa. This year, Bull stares into the depths of his punch cup, looking for answers to the She-Goats’ 0-2 start. Would be nice of his wife to try to console him, except she’s too busy talking to Les, whose own significant other is forced to share a table with Principal Nate and Miss Grundy.

Thank you one and all for a terrific year of snarkin’! It’s an honor and a privilege to serve as your host. Best wishes for 2012, and if you are celebrating the New Year, please, please don’t drink and drive, and don’t ride with someone who’s impaired. Happy New Year to All!

–TFH

Getting Wade

Jason
December 17, 2011 at 8:17 pm
So I looked through all the pictures on the “meet the cast” page, and I’m left with only one question:

Who are these people, anyhow?

Seriously, hardly a third of them ever show up in the strip.

Today TB brings one of those unseen cast members off the bench. Meet Wade. Formerly a “homeless man hired to do odd jobs at Montoni’s” (according to the “Unofficial FW Fan Page“), he would later become Funky’s AA sponsor, and is pictured on the book cover at left. Wade’s presence in Funky’s Batiukmobile boosts the combined age of the car’s occupants well into the two century bracket. Knock off the singing, Pop; it’s disturbing!

Father Christmas

In an unusual, abrupt, but very welcome midweek “jump cut”, we see Funky picking up his old man at jokeishly-named “Bedside Manor”. The rarely-seen Pa Winkerbean is one of the most forlorn figures in this strip (and boy, is that saying something). We don’t even know his first name; we only know that he never speaks and that he is fond of a certain Britcom. And if you were to swap that Santa cap hat for a baseball cap, give him some glasses and enlarge the pores on his nose, he’d look just like Ed Crankshaft!