Tag: Les

Take Another Little Piece of My Pulitzer, Baby

Link to today’s strip.

At first I thought Les was admonishing Naughty in his office, in a private conference so as to steer her away from Chullo’s former crime (I seem to remember “It says Wikipedia right at the top.”  “So that’s what gave it away.”).

But then I note Nice sitting there, and I realize he’s actually berating her in front of the entire class.   Apparently being a dick is nothing compared to being Les Moore.  That’s quite a level of ass-hattery to deploy against a student who’s barely been in his class for a week.  I guess when Les has to smug his superiority (“I am familiar with all the Pulitzer-award winners…as well as several deserving nominees…”) woe betide those who happen to be in his view-finder.

Which is what makes the third panel so…delicious.  Naughty is full-on denying Les his ability to give a half-lidded-eye smirk!  She is being a dick right back, almost effortlessly!  And look how Les, denied his pun-portunity, takes it!  Look how he is practically boiling with rage, barely able to contain his fury at being de-punned.  If this strip was set 100 years in the future, his next line would be “Jetson!  YooooOOOOOOOOOOOuu’rre FIRED!!”  You might think the impact of panel three is lessened by not seeing his full squeeming visage, but I would offer instead that it allows us to imagine it.  And what I imagine is glorious.

I think I have a new favorite character in the Funkyverse.

 

Say The Secret Word

Link to today’s strip.

For once, the wordplay isn’t terrible, though I imagine it’s awkward as hell to say out loud.   But it doesn’t seem like a real problem here–if you can’t think of a rhyme for a word, choose a different word that says the same thing for which you can think of a rhyme.  Unless…unless Les has given them a list of words that they have to use in their work?   I can think of several he would choose–Lisa, cancer, smirk, no one can understand me, roses, December, endings, earned, and of course the word “pun” itself.  Lists the students are fantasizing about–dickhead, douchebag, punchable, smug….

What makes this an exceptional episode is panel two.  Aside from Nice, everyone looks stymied and miserable, even on the verge of panic as they craft poems destined to be punned over by Les.  Les himself–now there is a man just beginning to climb the hill of self-loathing, and that look on his face is awesome.  The dawn of self-awareness never looked so deserved.

Dedicated Shenanigans

Link to today’s strip.

So, it’s another Nice-Naughty contrast thing.  It’s also boring beyond description but let that pass.

Nice’s idea does sound like the sort of thing that a high school-level journalism class would go ahead and produce.  It’s positive, it boosts the school, it encourages participation, and shows the value of hard work.  Yeah, she’ll probably blow all that by choosing Chullo as her subject but until that moment it’s golden.

Naughty, on the other hand…she’s been at the school for a week, maybe, and they’re already letting her into the administration offices to check the finances?  Wow, she is a) either a really fast worker in the charm department, or b) more likely is just making it all up because it’s sensationalistic and will be the talk of the school.  Likelihood of getting the green light?  Yeah, sure, a project that attacks the staff.  She’ll be lucky if she’s not deported back to Crankshaftberg.   Say…maybe she should do a sensationalist piece on how some cartoonists are still getting paid the big bucks while barely phoning it in!

I assume that both of these projects are for the journalism class, and would likely be viewed only by members of that class.  What little we’ve seen of “The Bleat” doesn’t really seem to cater to this sort of format–it’s school announcements, sports scores, cafeteria and probably lost and found.  I know I’ve said that several times, but I really think it bears repeating.   It’s not a news channel.   So Naughty might get a good grade on technical aspects, but if she thinks she’s gonna bust this school wide open, she…will fit right in here at Westview High.

Another note on the artwork.  Naughty and Nice are both dashed off haphazardly, while Les is delicately detailed.  It is nice to see the word-balloons not stuffed with empty space, though.

Say, isn’t that Cindy’s old news desk in the back?

Krack-a-toe-r

Looks like another antique joke in today’s strip.

I actually don’t dislike the hacky old jokes that TB so often leans on, but they never EVER land in this strip because they are delivered in an environment completely and totally absent of joy. It’s like interrupting the end of Old Yeller with Hee Haw cornfield shtick and then using scenes from Schindler’s list for reaction shots.

That elderly relative we all have who asks “if it’s nacho cheese then whose is it?” doesn’t do so in between discussing their various medical ailments and how their life insurance policy will only pay for a fraction of their funeral. If your elderly relative does do this, then I am sorry that you are related to Tom Batiuk.

The often imitated but never duplicated beckoningchasm returns to the helm tomorrow. Thanks for putting up with me for the past couple weeks.

Sortwhere is this going?

The red blue carpet tour continues in today’s strip. The Westview hive mind has fully taken control of Emily and Amelia now, as they both smirk at Nate’s anti-joke and don’t seem to even consider fleeing at the very sight of Les.

Given that Nate has shown the sisters “The Bleat” (which is really more min comm than mass comm) in addition to the band, can we assume that, like the band, Les’ video journalism fiefdom is failed levy-proof?
Of course we can! The last time Les didn’t get what he wanted, I could still watch UPN on my analog television.

By the way, I’m still wondering where the news desk that Cindy and Channel 1 donated went. “The Bleat” clearly isn’t using it. It’s rare that TB makes a plot point and then ignores it or forgets about it later…