Tag: Holly

Christmas Past

TheDiva
December 22, 2012 at 12:06 am
Because we all know how much interest Funky and Les showed in music and singing back in the Act I days…well, I can’t think of any right now, but I’m sure they exist, because otherwise Batiuk would just be pulling random bits of backstory out of his ass for the sake of a cheap gag, and we all know he has too much artistic integrity for that.

I’m not using the above quote here to show up TheDiva, because I’d never have recalled this either (the most musical one of the gang was Crazy Harry with his air guitar). But today Batiuk gifts us with an Act I strip to prove that, yes, Virginia, they really did go Christmas caroling.

I’m convinced that TB’s reproducing a vintage strip here, rather than trying to recreate his old style, as he’s done in the past with mixed results. The logo in panel 1 is the old style. Even the lettering in the dialog balloons is somehow more cheerful. Compare it to the lettering in the weird snow globe that shows our current-day cast: the “L’s” had yet to acquire their painful hump.

Les and Funky, see how young and how likeable! The redhead, of course, is poor, doomed Livinia. I have no idea who the blond girl is, or why she’d have anything to do with Les, even back then. Dig those bell-bottoms in the penultimate panel silhouette! Lastly, it’s interesting to note that before he started taking himself so seriously, Batiuk could use excessive drinking to get laughs.

 

Some Timely Shit

Hey everybody, it’s Les and Cayla! You win, Tom Batiuk, I have never been so thrilled to see Les and his bride! Not to mention their Talking Christmas Tree, speaking to us through the window in panel 1! Seems Funky and Holly are having a blue Christmas, thinking about their little boy in green.  “I think I know what we can do to pick up their spirits!” urges Les.  “Do that trick where your appearance completely changes from one panel to the next!”

The abrupt end to the Crazy Harry arc probably is due to the fact that Batiuk realized he only had til today to squeeze in his “Mayan Calendar” gag.

The Retiring Type

Crazy Harry’s “retired”? That seems a little different from “cancelled“. Although in either circumstance, one would expect that there would be a pension, severance, even unemployment benefits that would make it unnecessary for Crazy to have to sell all his books. And selling them to John, who passed on buying Pete’s collection because he couldn’t afford it? Crazy might do better trading in his SUV in favor of a tiny Batiukmobile® like everyone else in town drives. With Maddie away at Kent, and his two younger children missing and presumed dead, what does he need with that gas guzzler?