Tag: Les

Montoni Maternity

In case you’ve been wondering whether the 40th anniversary “flashbacks” are the actual vintage strips, today TB tips his hand. Compare today’s panel 2 (at left) to the original, taken from the archive page on the official FW site.

It’s a shame, really, because you’d expect the redrawn version to be better than the original.

billytheskink
March 27, 2012 at 11:16 am
I kinda like seeing the old, original FW artwork. It was the closest thing this strip ever had to charm. It’s not entirely coincidence that the further TB moved from this artwork, the further the strip sank.

It’s natural for a cartoonist’s style to evolve, especially over four decades. But the “charm” that billytheskink mentions is absent in the redrawn version. Check out the facial expressions, Les’ comical posture, and the sweet checkered tablecloth.  Compare both panels: imagine the dialogue balloon is not there, and consider which one still tells the story.

How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away?

The whole thing with the Lisa tapes has lost whatever warmth and sentimentality it possessed, and has finally become creepy. How much time and energy did it take this dying woman to produce tapes for every occasion, every milestone in the lives of her surviving family? And what a frigging nag she is! Did she think that Les, a teacher, wouldn’t be “on top of” his daughter’s college application process? No matter: to Les, even Lisa’s postmortem micromanagement brings him sweet, sweet bliss.

Les Not Go There

That’s some pretty tortured perspective in today’s panel 1: is Bull walking on stilts? His knees are nearly on a plane with Les’ waist. Maybe that’s why he looks like he’s ducking to get through the door. To the literal-minded Bull, “no sweat” isn’t a mere figure of speech: he has to show us his armpit to prove that there is, in fact, no sweat. Cayla persists in emasculating Les (admittedly not that hard to do) by once again bringing up the Bull-ying that (she thinks) he endured in high school.

FW’s 40th anniversary celebration kicks off next week.

St. Louis Blues

The only surprise today (probably the only surprise in this strip all month) is that Bull’s NFL suitor was “the then St. Louis Cardinals” and not the Cleveland Browns, given Batiuk’s Ohiophilia. Alas, a blown knee ended his gridiron career, but being a natural physical therapist,  Bull was able to rehab himself.

Me and You and EMU

Epicus Doomus
March 20, 2012 at 2:03 am
For anyone who’s ever wondered if TB becomes enamored with some bit of idiotic wordplay and then builds some sort of half-assed arc around it, I present this week, which exists solely for the sake of doing a gag based on EMU.

billytheskink
March 20, 2012 at 11:48 am
…[Eastern Michigan University] are a Mid-American Conference Opponent of TB and Les’ Kent State Golden Flashes and Cayla’s Akron Zips. The EMU in this strip is probably a placeholder for them or any other MAC school that isn’t Kent State or Akron plus… flightless bird joke!

Make that a flightless bird joke right between the eyes, for the benefit of the handful of readers who didn’t see it coming. No one will accuse EMU’s recruiter of lavishing their prospect with expensive gifts, that’s for sure. A ringer tee? You shouldn’t have! No, seriously. You shouldn’t have.