Look at Dick Facey in panel one, he’s not even bothering to pretend to be interested. What a jerk. Anyhow, Bull’s scrapbook is full of memories he can’t remember anymore, which is pretty depressing in that special FW way, I must admit. Good thing she bothered to assemble a scrapbook for him then, eh? She could pretty much summarize his entire life by simply saying “you sucked at everything until a few years ago”, or she could call Batom Inc. Studios and simply ask Author Guy to re-retcon everything and supply Bull with all new retconned memories, like BanTom does with his readers. It’s a win-win for Bull.
Tag: Linda
Forgeta-Bull
OK, so now things are becoming clearer here. Bull is obviously suffering from CTE aka post-concussion syndrome. Either that or he’s just been working with Les for way, way, way too long. It’s certainly one of the more “relevant” topics FW has addressed in a while, definitely a change from the usual drivel about comic books, pizza, time pools, Lisa and etc. I could point out that Owen’s concussion was played for ha-has a few years back but hey, why even bother? I could also point out that Morton’s degenerative brain disease seems to have miraculously healed thanks to cigarettes and a trombone, which is something Bull might want to look into right about n0w.
So how will Batiuk handle this contemporary issue affecting old athletes who ran into things with their heads? With sensitivity and pathos, or with his typically heavy-handed felt-tip drollery? Or perhaps some incomprehensible combination of both? Who knows? At least it’s a bit different than the typical Act III fodder, I’ll give him that. A timely issue that he ripped straight from the headlines a few years ago when it was somehow brought to his attention in between pizzas and comic cons, which will no doubt impact tens of daily readers.
Un-Bear-A-Bull
Blech, imagine being stuck in a car with that cretin. Especially that horrible robin’s egg blue car of his…(shudder). A picture (in so many words) is very very slowly beginning to form here…Linda is “worried” about Bull. Yes, after decades of smirking at his antics in that condescending somewhat bemused way of hers, she’s concerned about her husband’s obesity or mood swings or something. Well, it’s about time. It’s actually a good thing that Linda and Dick Facey never got together, that much wryness would have torn a hole in the fabric of the Funkyverse.
The most hilarious thing about today’s episode is the way BatNom totally butchered the word balloon in panel two. Looks like he ran out of dialog there or something, I’m sort of surprised that he didn’t find some awkward clumsy word salad to fill all that space. Then again, Les is speaking so maybe he just took some mercy on us. Still though, knowing how he operates and all, it’s a pretty glaring anomaly. At least bother to print larger or something, you know?
Rapidly Going From Bad To Much, Much Worse
As much as I ordinarily despise Linda, it’s tough not to feel bad for her today. Her husband is off on some unexplained rage bender, her hair loss seems to be continuing unabated and on top of all that, Les is making his move on her. Look at him, ready to pounce on her during her moment of vulnerability, his hand perversely thrust into his pocket as he blatantly targets her…just repellent. And that rear view of Les’ head with those second-rate Paulie Walnuts wings, thanks for that, TomBan. Back when Bull was dying in front of him on the tennis court Les was flitting around and gloating in the most obnoxious way possible and now he’s pretending to “care”, what a sickening display. What. A. Dick.
Half in the Bag
There are some things that Tom Batiuk is quite good at drawing. Everyone knows about the bricks, and our own TFH likes the way he draws the back of the ear. He’s also really, really good at drawing bored people, especially in groups. The expressions in panel one make up a nice image gallery of people who are bored out of their skulls. Some of them are practically melting in their desire to escape, but there’s no mistaking the dreary ennui etched in their faces. (Les and Linda in panel two are excellent examples of faces drawn in such a way that you want to punch them…so that might be another thing he’s good at drawing.)
Earlier I questioned whether there had to be a face-to-face meeting with parents to discuss the senior trip, and today the answer is clearly “No, it’s not necessary at all. A one-page printout would do perfectly, and not inconvenience everyone to attend an after-hours meeting. However, Les has some ‘jokes’ to deliver and he can’t do that in a printed sheet, so a meeting there will be.”
And not just one meeting. Even a cursory glance shows that the crowd in panel one has been replaced by a completely different set of parents in panel two. Meaning that apparently one crowd goes in to get smirked at by Les, and then they leave and another bunch comes in…I have this horrible idea this goes on for hours, long into the night, with Les delivering his idiotic quips over and over, each time with the idea that maybe this time someone will be smart enough to appreciate him and let out a hearty laugh. What a sad, delusional, detestable man.
I have no idea why Linda is there. Is she supervising? Is she going to be speaking next? If some parent stands, yells “For God’s sake, doesn’t this guy ever shut up?” and starts wailing on Les with a folding chair, is she there to try and stop it? (Bad Linda! Les will never learn if you interfere!)
One entirely plausible scenario is that Principal Nate called Linda into his office and said, “I want you to go to the meeting and smirk at his ‘jokes.’ You’ll know when he makes them–there’ll be a long pause and a smirk. I’m not asking you to laugh, I’m not that cruel. But last year I had two damned days of Les whining about how no one appreciated him because no one laughed at his–” Principal Nate waves his hand in a dismissive gesture. “–jokes.” Long pause, and Principal Nate’s face hardens, his stare intensifies. “I’m not going through that again.”
Principal Nate is lucky. He can choose that path. Everyone else…not so lucky.
Son of Stuck Funky 