We’ve all had fun with Crazy Harry’s “Tarzan” obsession, but while many have pointed out that it isn’t logical for someone like him to be a fan of things that happened long before he was born, I’d like to say this: fandom isn’t logical. There are people today who read Dickens, listen to Bach, and watch Alfred Hitchcock movies. Something within those works resounds in a person, despite the age of the person (or the artifacts).
That said, take a close look at the Starman Jones cover. Note the price–ten cents. Doing a bit of quick research, I see that the Fantastic Four’s first issue, in 1961, had a cover price of ten cents, while Spider-Man’s debut in Amazing Fantasy a year later went for twelve cents. So Cory Winkerbean is a fan of a series that’s over fifty years old. Note what I said in paragraph one, then remember this: we’re talking about Cory Winkerbean. Cory’s interests seem to be limited to “sneering,” “stealing” and “minor villainy.”
To be fair, I suppose it’s possible that Cory’s new-found friend Rocky is the leader here, and Cory is simply desperate to belong, but he seems an unlikely recruit to go down the comic-book path.
And it seems even less likely he’d go down the vintage comic-book path. Last week I posted a link to article that said most old comic books are worthless, but what Carla’s holding is still a collector’s item, something not so much to be casually read as to be traded amongst other aficionados. Is there a thriving comic-book trade in Afghanistan? Aren’t the folks on military bases kind of busy with other stuff? The logical thing here, if Cory is desperate to have comic books, is to purchase one of the many reprinted collections available–it would be cheaper, you’d have complete stories, and you wouldn’t have to worry about damaging a rare original issue.
Heck, even Crazy Harry isn’t crazy enough to hunt down the original works; he’s content with a reprinted collection, and he’s the ultimate obsessive in these matters.
I believe what we’re seeing here is projection, pure and simple. Tom Batiuk loves vintage comic books–and there’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is that he feels the need to make every single character share that love, which doesn’t really make for compelling reading, unless the reader also shares that love. And if that mythical reader exists, why is he reading Funky Winkerbean? Doesn’t he have tons of comic books he can be reading instead?
Also, why does the “Jones” on that cover look like it was pasted on? You know, I have this hilarious image in my head of Tom Batiuk, writing “Starbuck Jones” in the dialogue for Holly, Funky and Carla, only to discover to his horror that in the artwork–drawn a year previously–he had named the comic book series something else. “Starbuck Les,” comes to mind….
Son of Stuck Funky 