Link to today’s strip
Boy, that first panel–yeah, Funky, Les needs more encouragement that he’s the greatest genius of our age…you know? Wait, did I say “genius?” Of course I meant “ass.”
Speaking of which: who’s the blonde in panel two? It’s not Rachel, since she (usually) has red hair and hers is less than shoulder length. Do we have a new character?
Probably not. Pretty much all the new characters introduced in this thing disappear right after they’re introduced. Aside from Chullo and Glasses, all the high school kids were shed last graduation day, and have barely been seen since. Tom Batiuk doesn’t seem to like new characters; they serve a plot point, then disappear. Take Blonde Waitress, here. Her plot point is to show that, just below her elbow, there’s another customer at Montoni’s, so take that, all you beady-eyed nitpickers!
Well, Tom, I don’t like any of your old characters, and even if I did, you seem hell-bent on making them unlikeable. Take Crazy Harry for example. I liked him because he seemed to have a positive attitude toward things he cared about (admittedly, Tarzan comics, but still). There was a strip about a year or so of the young Crazy surrounded by Tarzan books which was genuinely good, and really reflected a “sense of wonder” that stories can embody. So I thought Harry was kind of cool…well, Tom Batiuk can’t have that. So Harry was made just as obnoxious as everyone else. If any character is to be liked, by gum, it’ll be Les Moore or it’ll be nobody…which it is. Eventually the whole town will be populated by Les-clones, probably hatched from pods in Cayla’s garden. Lestables.
When I started my sidekick stint here, I was hoping to get a Les arc–the guy’s so damned punchable and pathetic, I figured the jokes would just fly from my fingertips. I should have known better, though–Tom Batiuk has become very protective of Les, and the arcs in which he plays a central role have been carefully set up so as to deny most of the potential for sarcasm. The story this week has been, basically, Funky tells Les that he, Les, is a genius. Les agrees. Cayla sits in admiration of Les. The reader vomits.
Of course, I think Tom Batiuk has become pretty protective of almost all of his characters. I’m trying to think of the last time that any of them made a simple mistake. The only example I can think of was last year, when Funky accidentally left a CD in his leased car when he returned it. Notwithstanding Chullo and Glasses, who are the only characters played for laughs (and I’m being charitable), can anyone think of mistakes made by the main cast?
I have to admit, I can’t get over Funky’s line in panel one (I would have used a different finger, though). “Wow, you are such a brilliant, talented, handsome man, Les…you know? Well? Well…did you know that? If you didn‘t know that, can I get credit for telling you? Please don’t wish me into the cornfield, Les.”
Son of Stuck Funky 
