Tag: Hollywood

That Is A Painful Face

today’s strip

I know trying to figure out the meaning of Tom Batiuk’s work these days will have the same result as looking upon a Lovecraftian Elder God, but seriously, what is the deal with Mr. Silver’s face? It’s hideous, of course, but I can’t tell if he’s supposed to be squinting or what. And if he’s never even met Mason then why does he have a poster of his Mason up in his waiting room?

I really couldn’t tell what the “free coffee” line was supposed to be.  I’m guessing it’s supposed to mean people are so interested in working with Mason they buy him lots of coffee, but I thought at first Alan was hitting on Mason, since he’s pointing right at him and has that horrible expression on his face.

Oh, and Les is Mason’s sidekick. Isn’t that cute. I don’t know why Les is bowing to shake Alan’s hand, apart from the artist wanting to make sure there was room to showcase Mason and still fit that word balloon in.

Sagging Interest

Click here to meet Pookie, tied with Buddy for best FW character

What is this office they’re waiting in, where they for some reason have a poster of one of Mason’s most embarrassing movies hanging on the wall? If they have this poster up then it really, really doesn’t seem like Mason should be sitting around waiting for Mr. Silver to get off the phone.

I spent about five minutes looking up SAG health insurance requirements, because I found that way more interesting than this strip. From what I can tell, you either have to make a certain amount of money a year or work a certain number of days per year to maintain your eligibility. The amount of money you have to make is apparently $33,000 a year, which, if Mason headlined a movie but made less than $33,000 is pretty awful.

I also think it’s pretty awful that Les had no idea Mason was in this movie, even though he’s in business with Mason. But it’s par for the course of Les being all around awful.

All Strung Out on Heroine

If nothing else, today’s strip sheds a little light on why Mason struck out with those guys at Mixmaster: it was their “practice pitch.” Because there are no other ways to rehearse and refine an important presentation that don’t involve humiliating yourself and wasting other people’s time. Mason compounds his folly by daring to smirk at the mention of St. Lisa, and draws a withering rebuke from Les. A cancer superhero?  How dare you, sir! What twisted mind would ever even conceive of such a thing?

 March 4, 2007:

July 1, 2007:

Dos de Mayo

This week has been has consisted of nothing but these two poorly drawn, hipster jerkoffs disrespecting Les and his cancer saga. Les and Mason meekly just sit there and take it, and in the process demonstrate that the Clone Brothers are absolutely correct that nobody needs this kind of “entertainment,” especially right now. Way to “pitch,” fellas. Tom Batiuk and the formerly capable, now indifferent draughtsman Chuck Ayers somehow get paid for dragging this crap out, but I do not…I’ve spent all the disdain I can muster for this horrible week of strips. Hopefully Sunday will be a one-off that will be worth getting into a froth about. In the meantime, dear readers, please have at it. Thank you for reading and commenting and for sharing the pain.

Diss Master

Again: why is this meeting even taking place? Aaron and Marc, the Clone Brothers, knew that Mason wanted to make “a depressing film about a woman dying of cancer,” yet saw fit to waste their time and their sparkling water in order to tell Les to his face that this project was a no go. This whole sequence harkens back to that time that Les and Susan Smith had to face a bunch of angry Westview parents over Susan’s choice of Wit for the school play: