More confirmation that this strip has devolved into nothing more than the author’s favorite characters having their wildest dreams fall into their laps today. Given how all we’ve really seen of Darin’s drawing skills is Sophomoric Sightings I don’t think this is really saying much. And I strongly doubt Pete’s writing skills would produce much of a woman, either.
What do you think Jess and Darin are talking about? I think it’s either “Did you know chimpanzees and silent film stars can be part of a murderous love triangle?” or “Wow, your significant other only wears Flash Underoos, too?!”.
Tag: Jessica
Batiukian Butt Banter
So . . . it took Jess several years (it’s been years, right? it hasn’t just felt like years?) after she finished the documentary about Her Father, John Darling, Who Was Murdered, to realize that the Hollywood Biz Life wasn’t for her? And what exactly did The Biz do to him? He got murdered by a psycho because he was an asshole. I don’t recall that it was The Biz that turned him into an asshole, I’m pretty sure that’s just who he was.
Is it me or does Jess look pretty creepy in this strip? Like I kind of feel that Baituk instructed the artist to make sure he really showcased her “sexiness” or something. And speaking of badly drawn women, when I first read this I really thought Jess had flown back to L.A. already and was talking to Cindy, but no, that’s Mindy. I think. I really cannot keep track of these identically drawn Attractive Young Blondes Batiuk’s been showcasing lately.
Oh, and going back to the topic of assholes, Crankshaft (who had a love/hate relationship with someone literally named Keesterman) apparently talked about buttering asses enough that his granddaughter remembers it fondly, decades later.
Weak Impact
What are the odds that Skyler still lives with his grandma, even after Jess comes back? I’d say very, very high. If Batiuk still put any effort into this strip, I’d see this resulting into another time jump when Old Lady Jess is berating Skyler about how she threw away a promising Hollywood career to stay home with him and his bum dad Darin who ended up running away to live at the Flash Museum with Pete.
I’m all for women (or men) choosing to spend more time with their families, even if it means career sacrifice, but I really don’t like how this is presented as kind of an either/or thing here. And she was apparently willing to spend years in Hollywood finishing up a single documentary about her dead dad, but not working for an actual Hollywood production.
And is it just me or does Darin look not quite human in the last panel?
Darin Blows
Ha. I just spent several minutes Googling what being an assistant cinematographer entails. It doesn’t seem to be a very common job title. The closest listing I could see was just someone posting looking for someone to assist the cinematographer by carrying heavy cases and cameras for them. Which I do think Jess is more qualified to do that than anything involving actual camera work. The actual cinematographer oversees all lighting and cameras for the entire film, so there’s no way Jess is even close to qualified for that.
I do think it’s pretty hilarious that Cindy recommended Jess for that job. Either Mason is doing the hiring, or Cindy just walked on to the set and told the producer to hire Jess, or maybe Buddy Blog is actually making the sequel themselves. None of those would surprise me.
This strip really is kind of amazing, though. Batiuk brings up a dilemma-will Jess take the job?-and resolves in a single panel. I can’t remember the last time he didn’t drag this kind of thing out for days.
Hot John Darling’s Daughter-on-Boy Lisa Action
Two panels of Jess and Darin making out. I don’t think we needed two panels of them making out in the entire history of this strip, let alone back to back on one day. And I really don’t like Batiuk making us thing about what Darin’s breath tastes like.
Tomorrow’s strip: Darin and Jess are undressing each other right in the middle of the concourse, and Darin says he’s glad he switched to his clean pair of Flash underwear.
Son of Stuck Funky 
