Well, I sure get the image of Tom Batiuk, after posting today’s strip, sitting back, having run around his tiny baseball diamond, waiting for the phone to ring. Hey, it’s Apple Computer! And they love his idea of an arm holder! And they want to pay him millions for it, and they also want to produce Lisa’s Story for theatres–and the way Tom Batiuk wants it made, too, with none of those dumb changes that are dumb! Halleluiah! Amen!
In reality, of course, there may very well be such an item already on the market…and I have to say it strikes me as completely idiotic. No one who is a serious runner would be capable of using this–you have to use both arms when running, after all, but beside that you also have to be aware of where you are going and what’s in front of you, meaning you’re not fully concentrating on showing those mean commentators just how jobless they are. Most technology used during exercise is meant to keep your mind occupied so it can’t tell the body, Hey, knock it off! I’m trying to write! So listening to music is great, surfing the web, less so.
I would think such a device would actually be an impediment to getting any exercise, but of course that assumes it’s made for a human. Clearly the fellow above is not a human being, his face alone tells you that. He looks a bit like The Man From Planet X, honestly, which is great that he got work after so long…even if it means being an extra in Funky Winkerbean. Oh well.
This is a rare strip indeed where I don’t feel like punching Les, but then I am currently quite ill with the flu so perhaps I don’t have the energy. But look at Funky’s Expression in Panel Two (clearly, this is the Theme of the Week). He doesn’t look surprised to see such a device–he looks utterly crushed, as if his dreams have all just screeched to a halt.
Maybe between writing the first panel and the second, Tom Batiuk learned there was already an existing arm-holder thing. Ah, that makes it all make sense, now. Well, no, but when there’s a straw, might as well grasp it, right?
SPECIAL BONUS: HOW TO COMPOSE A COMIC STRIP PANEL – The Tom Batiuk Way!
If you put your character in front of a tree, like this:
–then you’re putting a mental image in your readers’ heads, so you might as well go all the way.
There! Perfect for the cover of the latest issue of The Nostalgic Punk.
