Tag: Lisa

Not the Van’again

It looks like Tombat finally secured enough of a budget to show instead of just tell. A wise move in this medium of art! It may not be enough to keep Les and crowd interested, however, as they’re starting to look as bored as most of the readers. I’m not sure why they’re facing “Jff” like they’re a firing squad but there’s not many places to go when a wall of text takes over your living room.

Today we finally get a peek at what went down that fabeled, magical night. Maybe. Actually, today’s comic left me even *more* confused than at the beginning of the week!

Deny, Deny, Deny

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

Matthew 26:34

“I’ve just alerted all of our friends…” Hey Westview, you’ve got mail! Frankie and his “reality TV crew” (Lenny with a camcorder) are coming to get some dirt on St. Lisa. Not so as to waste any time, the “crew” does away with advance calls and pre-interviews and just shows up on the doorstep rolling film. Rather than flat-out telling Frankie to GTFO, they’ve been instructed by wise Les just to play dumb; i.e., to lie. Funky follows these instructions to the hilt, practically channeling his senile father. Bull, as always, is able to get by with physical intimidation: “Never heard of her.” SLAM! And Crazy Harry’s just dim; doesn’t realize that Lisa Crawford is that Lisa.

Mo' Tell

Act III’s most confounding, incomprehensible story arc continues apace. Back at the motel, Frankie discusses with the mysterious Lenny his sinister plot to… to do what, exactly? Help out Fred and Ann Fairgood with their expenses? Assist Jessica in completing the documentary about her father, John Darling? And where does Frankie, who apparently lives in squalor, get the money for an extended stay at a motel (albeit one that still uses actual metal room keys), let alone to fly his partner in for “some back-up”?

Fade to Wack

Charles
April 20, 2013 at 4:53 am
…So where did we go this week? Well, Les dithered around uselessly and then started writing his script in the most mundane fashion imaginable. I can’t believe Batiuk is actually going to do this. Never mind that he’s going to show Les writing this script, but what he’s going to have Les writing is godawful.

Not to mention improperly formatted.

Everybody can relate to the illness and loss of a close friend or loved one. And Batiuk did a creditable job of telling “Lisa’s story” the first time around. Readers were moved; at least the ones who didn’t object to such depressing content in the comics section. But TB, through his avatar Les, has spent the last five and a half years rehashing this story over and over again, as a book and then a movie, and Lisa’s story has become All About Les. The book was a success, and adoring fans lined up for their signed copies. Then Hollywood sends him a fat check and lets him write the screenplay, despite his complete lack of screenwriting experience. All the while, Les carries on like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. After a week of dragging his heels, today the Delicate Genius can bask in the afterglow of having written a trite and stilted line of dialogue.

Does the “home run” fantasy indicate that what he’s just written is the last scene? Doesn’t the story end with Lisa dying?