Tag: Lisa

Mommy Deadest

I’m struggling with guilt over hating today’s strip, but come on. This is just layin’ it on with a trowel. I could maybe allow myself to give TB a pass if not for Summer’s constant smirk. What’s with her face in panel 5 (right)? Looks like she’s planning a heist.

All of us have dealt with the loss of a loved one. In Funkiverse time, it’s 14½ years since her sainted Mom passed away, but thanks to the combination of Les’ prolonged grieving and a seemingly infinite collection of beyond-the-grave videos, Summer feels compelled to go through this ritual year after year. There’s a difference between fond remembrance and…I dunno, insanity.

I can’t wait for Funky’s pilgrimage to Bedside Manor next month.

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.

Tape-stry

Charles
December 15, 2011 at 11:38 pm
…So the thing sat in Summer’s tape storage shelf for over a decade when Summer finally decided to give him a tape for his birthday (was it his 30th? That might make a little sense, but not enough).

sourbelly
December 16, 2011 at 2:40 am
Was there some sort of “Do not watch until so-and-so date” note on this videotape? If so, why? Why would Lisa want Darwood to wait X amount of years before viewing it? That makes no sense.

This birthday celebration could plausibly have been Darin’s 30th, allowing for Westview’s chronosynclastic infundibulum aka Batiuk’s ever-more-confounding time jump. According to the Meet the Cast page on the official FW site, Darin’s pushing 30 (we just don’t know from which side). But the videocassette is just marked “Darin’s Birthday”. Maybe they make him watch it every year? That would be nutty. Anyway, the party’s (finally) over, and the tape is rewound and returned to the Lisa Library.