The pacing of this strip has gone from bad to unbearable. Start the race already! I guess wearing a STAFF shirt gives one license to not only dispense advice, but to emphasize said advice by wagging a finger. I have some advice for ya, Funky: what you need to stretch is your wife’s neck.
For the third day in a row we are asked to marvel at the presence of Funky at a 5K run. “Holly saw this as a chance to build on the work I’ve been doing since my accident and end up in an even better spot.” Idiot: Holly’s plot to have you die in a car crash failed, so plan B is to get you to run until you drop dead.
Somebody tell Pink Visor Lady in panel 2 that the “Race for the Chinless” was last week.
There was a time in the Funkiverse when a lame quip like Holly makes here would have drawn at least an appreciative chuckle from Les. But now that he’s a soon-to-be-published author (and he’s wearing a STAFF shirt and carrying a bullhorn and clipboard), the supercilious douchebag just shoots her a look. Also “running” away in panel 3 is Funky’s half-smile, replaced with a more appropriate “Ah shit, what does it matter” expression.
Nice “Paulie Walnuts” gray streaks on Les today…
Is this the Lisa’s Legacy Race or the Halloween Parade? How else to explain the person with Funky who is wearing that giant paper mache replica of Holly’s head? Check the body language of Mr. and Mrs. Winkerbean: instead of ambling along, arm in arm, Funky appears to be elbowing Holly aside, while she staggers under the weight that gargantuan cranium. I’m not kidding, that head’s like Sputnik! Spherical, but quite pointy in parts. Well, that was off sides, wasn’t it? She’ll be crying herself to sleep tonight…on her huge pillow. (Can anyone name that movie?)
What the…
Via flashback, Batiuk resurrects the other character whom he famously killed off. I guess the Westview football coaches really do have to talk to the media. And back when “Bull” Bushka was still playing (I’m guessing that’s him in panel 3, holding his helmet and weeping), their coach was…I don’t know, some guy. Young Ed Crankshaft, perhaps? Well, he does share Ed’s doorknob-esque nose, as well as his “is-he-being-sarcastic-or-is-he-really-that-clueless” worldview.
Son of Stuck Funky 