Tag: Kilimanjaro

Kili-Krankshaft Krossover

Has Coach Bull already abandoned the “project” of whipping Les’ sorry ass into shape? He’s nowhere to be seen today. No matter: here comes motivation in the form of none other than Ed Crankshaft! Yes, it can be no one else; just peep this Crankshaft comic from July 2009:

The above strip is from that weird flash-forward arc where Crankshaft becomes unstuck in time, leaping Billy Pilgrim-like between scenes of his present-day, younger and older selves. This appearance lends support to the theory that Crankshaft, while also set in Ohio, takes place ten years in the past.*

Note to Cayla: if the prospect of being left to plan your wedding on your own, while your fiance goes off with his daughter to climb Kilimanjaro, doesn’t convince you that you’re making a huge mistake, well, you’re on your own.

*…while the Crankshaft strip from September 11, 2011 disproves this theory.

A "Pun"-ishing Workout

No pun intended? More like “no pun detected“. What’s Les talking about? Even Bull is confused…but that’s nothing new. “Top” shape as in “top” of the mountain, I guess. That’s not a pun, Mr. “Language Arts” Moore. And what’s with Les’ samurai headband? Is he getting ready to climb Mt. Fuji?

The Three Faces of Crazy

In typical Westviewvian fashion, all of Les’ friends are offering unbidden and useless “help” with his Kilimanjaro conquest. First, self-styled personal trainer Bull shows up to whip Les’ pasty ass into shape. Today Crazy Harry offers to loan his precious collection of “comical books about Tarzan”. I think Crazy may have confused “Tarzan” and “Tanzania”. Look for Funky to send Les and Summer off with a shipping crate of freeze-dried Montoni’s pies to sustain them on the climb.

I’m sure you all recognize the delirious kid with the Tarzan comics swirling around his head as young Harold Klinghorn, pre-hat, pre-nickname and pre-drugs, back in those innocent times when his only “high” was Tarzan funnies. The Sunday-strip color gradients and shading do not make him any cuter. We recognize his teenage (and actually likeable) self in the little portrait in the banner. Would anyone not familiar with Funky Winkerbean see today’s comic and figure out that the boy, the kid in the hat, and the old geezer are the same person? Or that the two men talking went to high school together?

Training Day

“But I don’t think you understand what you’re taking on here.” Wonder if anyone said that to Bull when he undertook Summer’s “knee-hab”? Anyway, more than enough smirks to go around in today’s strip. Bull’s a “teacher”, huh? I’m reminded of a quote by one of TB’s (and Les’) idols, Woody Allen: “Those who can’t do, teach, and those who can’t teach, teach gym.”