Tag: Jessica

Are We There Yet?

Smirks ‘R Us
October 25, 2012 at 8:43 am
And the Smirk-Mobile rolls on…..yawwwnnnn.

…and on, and on. The Tour de Fairgood as now widened in scope to take in not just Ann and Fred’s first apartment, the place where Ann once worked, and now, their second apartment, which “didn’t have the charm of the first place,” which was in a slum. In the unseen fourth panel, Jessica takes umbrage at Ann’s “cardboard boxes for dressers” remark, as it aptly describes how she and Darin have been living for the past ten years.

Snarkers, hatin’ on Funky Winkerbean 24/7 sure can wear a body out. Your ol’ pal TFH is going to take a break this week and turn over the proceedings to my caporegime, David O. I’ll see y’all down in the comments section. Thanks for snarking.

Lighthouse Mystery

The Fairgoods’ motor tour takes them past the former home for troubled youth where Ann once worked. What’s troubling me is trying to figure out the point of this aimless arc. Darin was raised by Fred and Ann; wouldn’t he know that this was somewhere that Ann once worked? Is TB calling out a Real Place in Ohio? Wonder how the good folks at Lighthouse Youth Services in Cincinnati are going to feel about this?

In order to “lighten” things up a bit, I’ve reworked the last panel so the Fishstick Annie delivers her line using the same jokey delivery she used in yesterday’s strip.

"Hystery" Lesson

This trip just gets weirder. Today we seem to be in yet another part of town, which looks kinda less seedy than the neighborhood we were in yesterday. So is this their old place, or did they live in that house with the garbage piling up outside? Anyway, what’s the point of all this? Aside from giving Ann the chance to deliver the lame “pun”-chline.

Naus-talgia

It’s over? The wedding is over?? You’ve got to be kidding.

Les and Cayla set up dozens of chairs; for whom? We saw, but never got to meet, a couple of Cayla’s presumptive relatives; and didn’t see any relatives of Les’ except Summer. Instead of a heartfelt, moving toast to the happy couple, we got Bull’s backhanded “overpunted his coverage” compliment. Nothing whatsoever to show us what is so special about these two becoming one, aside from the fact they did so on their front lawn. Trust Tom Batiuk: on those rare occasions when you want him to spend more time on a story arc, he drops it like a Scapegoat dropping an end zone pass.

Married for ten years already, Jess and Darin have just moved into their “first real place” (the apartment over Montoni’s). At this rate, who knows, they might even have their own car before the decade’s out. Meanwhile they must depend on Fred and Ann for a ride home, which mean they must endure a “newstalgic” tour of the Fairgoods’ old neighborhood.

Video Shoot

Documentarianne Jessica has been enlisted to capture Les and Cayla’s special day with her pro-grade, state-of-the-1990s-art VHS-8 camcorder, eschewing a tripod in order to get that trendy “found footage” effect. The music, wherever the hell it’s coming from, suddenly swells again, distracting Jessica in the instant that her lens captures Cayla’s head exploding…the shocked guests turn in the direction that the gunshot came from, to see Susan Smith sitting in the “golden canopy” of Les’ old tree, dressed in a wedding gown, triumphantly holding aloft a sniper rifle.