Gym Jam

The red and blue balloons (though the school colors are red and white) have been filled, and the kraft paper and tempera paint banner has been haphazardly Scotch-taped to the folded up bleachers. Everything appears ready for the coming reunion. You’d expect Reunion Committee Chairman Les to be displaying his base-running, smugly satisfied smirk. But Les implies that the reunion planning has been fraught with problems. OK, well, his committee did forget to choose a venue, though this issue was easily resolved (albeit to the detriment of Westview’s basketball-loving youth). Les has overcome his lack of a Facebook page and a suitable high school portrait, and has managed to delegate the setting up of the Lisa shrine, yet he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. And here comes Barry Balderman to drop that shoe…

What a Jukeoff

TFH here, starting things off with a hat tip to SoSfDavidO and the rest of the guest author rotation for bringing you the daily snark!

Guest Page Turner Author
June 27, 2015 at 1:50 am
So Funky had the band box repaired…[b]ut he repaired the Bandbox specifically to watch these individuals dance…[i]nstead, they are jamming to the music from the jukebox. Which didn’t need fixing…[a]nd probably worked all along.

I’ll bet Les’ friends cringe anytime he starts a sentence with “I don’t know if you guys know this, but…” With Westview’s cultural totem refurbished and restored to its place of honor, Montoni’s is once again “alive with music”, if not with paying customers. Naturally Les, the walking Wikipedia, cannot resist using the occasion to school his lessers on the history and etymology of the jukebox, and is chastened by Funky—Funky!—for being a buzzkill.

Feet Fail Me Now

SosfDavidO here! Aw, lookit! In today’s strip we get treated to Tombat’s take on the “someone who is dancing silly is interrupted by someone silently watching” schtick that was the mainstay of movie trailers in the late 90s. Cue up that record-scratch sound effect!

What’s the cause for celebration? He finished another book! Presumably the same book that Darin had given him an idea for only yesterday. Either he used 48pt font or I’m calling complete, utter, time-bending, reality-warping bulls*** on this!

Darin’ Choice

SoSfDavidO here, and I’m gawking at a well-trod troupe at this point, which is sort of like the pronoun game only the complete opposite. Today’s strip might as well have Darin turn and deliver the last line straight past the 4th wall.

Why does Tombat do this? Does he really think new readers are joining in and trying to follow this mess? In catering to them, he’s putting off his longtime readers with dialog that no one sane would ever speak aloud.

The gears in Les’s head are spinning like Darin just dropped some amazingly profound advice or something but it should be obvious the Lisa cash cow can still be milked. Sure, why not write about Lisa? Maybe it’ll get optioned for a movie!

lisacash

Re-Pete Teenage Years

Oh boy, everything in today’s strip not only unsurprisingly goes back to comics but even features what appears to be a 18 year old Pete getting the chance to haul Darin in to the clutches of the evil Hollywood.

“We’re ready to get started on the story boards, Pete?” I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t film first and then do storyboards later, given Tombat’s understanding of Hollywood.

So now we have Darin, an MBA, working at a pizza joint, raising a kid, developing apps and sidelining a job storyboarding for a major film for Hollywood. Yes, this is a normal person, sure. At this rate, by next year he’ll also be doing anesthesiology and training circus seals.

bullsht1