Tag: John

The Sub-conscience Mind

Spode
March 6, 2013 at 6:58 pm
The thing I hate most about strips involving DSH John and Funky:
DSH (the most repulsive character in all of comic strips – I can almost smell him) is raising Wally Jr, who is the son of Wally, Funky’s nephew. Does TB even think about the inter-relationships among the characters in this claustrophobically incestuous little world he has created?
Why are these two shown talking about anything and everything except their most obvious, normal, natural human connection? Wally Jr: DSH’s adopted son and Funky’s great-nephew, who grew up in the same town Funky has lived all his life.

Spot on, Spode.  John explains to Funky that he intends to circumvent his wife’s efforts “to get us to eat a little lighter.” “Us“? Becky, with her huge head and scrawny frame looks like a walking lollipop, Rana is a svelte cheerleader, and Wally Jr., well, maybe he’s a little husky, but he’s only, what, 8? 12? 16? Surely Becky just wants to keep her second husband from turning into an even fatter fat slob.

John’s creepy countenance in panel 3 makes me wonder what the other occasions are when he chooses to ignore his conscience…

 

The "Batch" -elor

“It’s like spring break for band directors…” And for retired band directors, and for the spouses of retired band directors, I guess. Rather than accompany Becky to Columbus, John takes advantage of her absence to “batch it”. Thanks, Inkwell, for looking it up; I was afraid John stayed home to “run a batch“, which actually sounds a lot more in character.

Does Montoni’s even make pizza without pepperoni?

The Flamenco Bits

While we often take Batiuk to task for his “tell, don’t show” storytelling style, let’s give him a pass just this time for not actually depicting Crazy Harry in the throes of his “happy dance”. But he gets no points for rehashing yesterday’s panel 2 reaction shot in order to milk this gag for another day. As a bonus, we get another rendering of John’s lumpy mug and some tortured, redundant sentence structure from Owen. And anono-hoodie is going to be haunted for the rest of his life? Not to worry: as far as this strip’s concerned, your life is over and you’ll never be seen again.

Scar-struck Babies

billytheskink
January 10, 2013 at 9:13 am
All I really take from this storyline is that Crazy’s “happy dance” is not spontaneous in any way, but rather, a premeditated event purposely intended to scar those who view it. Frightening.

Spontaneous? No. Frightening? Presumably. I don’t know. John sure seems pretty used to it. Owen looks like he just got a whiff of something bad. Cody and the peanut head in the blue hoodie just look fearful. Blue hoodie kid has some kind of jagged sparks emanating from his head, signifying perhaps that he’s “on something”.

I Shall Be Released

On behalf of myself and my family: sincerest thanks to each and every one of you for all the wonderful comments and emails I received regarding the passing of my sister.

Batiuk continues to stretch the “happy dance” gag, which might have been acceptable as a one-off, to ever-more-absurd lengths. John produces a release form for the boys to sign if they insist on staying to witness Crazy Harry’s routine.  Give TB credit today for “writing what he knows”; he certainly has experience with legal documents. Of course, since Cody, Owen, and Little Blue Riding Hoodie are minors, it’s doubtful their signatures would be legally binding. And what the hell could be so “soul-scarring” about this spectacle unless it indeed involves Harry getting naked?