Lisa’s Story – Son of Stuck Funky

Fight The Power!

Today’s TBTrope is about power dynamics. This is a subject I’ve wanted to explore for awhile now.

All fiction runs on Like Reality, Unless Noted. When we are consuming a story, we assume that the story’s world is like our own, unless the story says otherwise. We use our own knowledge to fill in the gaps about how things work. When we’re watching a rom-com, Emma Stone doesn’t turn to turn to the camera to explain to the audience how dating works. We all know how it works, from our own lives. And so it is with interpersonal dynamics.

In a story, one character may hold power over another. In the funny pages, the mechanics of this are often very simple. Adult/child, boss/subordinate, older sibling/younger sibling, aggressive person/timid person, and so on.

Funky Winkerbean used to understand this. In Act I, Bull was a bully and Les was his victim. Harry Dinkle was a hyper-demanding band director, whose students had no power to resist his orders. The characters made sense, even in the comically exaggerated world of Act I. We recognized these situations from our own lives. We understood the power dynamics in play.

By Act III, though, a new paradigm had emerged. I call it By The Power Of Batiuk. “The character in control of any situation is the character Tom Batiuk thinks should be in control of it, not the character who actually would be.”

When Life Gives You Lemons, You Make Second Rate Pizza And Eat It In The Parking Lot

I’m a little late with this spur-of-the-moment post, as this was from June 8th, but this The Komix Thoughts post amused me more than the entire run of “Crankshaft” AND all of Act III combined.

“At a book signing in Akron at Luigi’s (yes, the book launch was at a pizzeria. A sterling example by Susan Cash, who was the marketing manager for the Press, of thinking outside the pizza box.), they closed for the afternoon, and we spent the day with people filling the restaurant and the line spilling out the door. The generous folks at Luigi’s even took food and drinks out to the people waiting in line to get their books signed. When they finally had to open for the dinner hour, we moved my signing table to the parking lot and finished the book signing there.”

So essentially, they threw him out. The inner workings of this man’s mind are just endlessly fascinating. I picture a lot of non-Euclidean gears, wheels and ramps, all leading nowhere, with peculiar atonal melodies whistling in the background. It’s like he lives in another dimension that only he can perceive or access.

Not going to one of these book signings is a major life regret of mine. Mind you, I never wanted to openly harass the guy or anything, but what I really wanted to do was pepper him with increasingly obscure FW questions until he reached his breaking point…if he even has one, that is.

“So, Mr. B, sir. There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long, long time. Is Kerry Darin’s step-half sister, or is she his half-step sister? And how would Kerry and Summer be related?”

Things like that. And I’d have been all enthusiastic too, like I was a genuine FW superfan. I’d have worn a “Stay Funky!” T shirt, a fake Les goatee, and waved a homemade “Band Directors Make Better Music Together” sign, in the official FW font. And I’d have put tape on the corners, all haphazardly of course.

The rest of his post (you know where to find it) is pretty funny too, but man, that “Lisa’s Story” signing sounds like it was THE book signing to go to, like Jimi at Monterey or Van Halen at the US Festival. I’m sure all the other ones were, uh, “good” too, but that one sounds like it was a real barn burner.

Lisa-est Lisa.

2022, Lisa.

Lisa, many Lisa 2022.

Lisas?

Lisa January.

Retroactive Contemptibility

2022 Funky Awards coming soon!

Voting ends Saturday Night!

You remember when this was just supposed to be a little Frankie retrospective? A fun little character study to thank Epicus for his years of hard work on this blog? Sorry about that. We all have to grieve/celebrate the ending of Funky Winkerbean in our own way. So, on to Day 9 of FRANKIE WEEK!

The last couple days, Frankie has faded into the background while the Westview Avengers assembled.

What was our hero Frankie getting up to during the two weeks it took Cayla to remember Lisa had a high school journal?

Well, first he and Lenny attempt to interview the locals about Lisa.

*Just some amazing facial expressions from our Frankie boy here.*

Then, the partners take a idyllic stroll down lover’s lane.

*Interesting show of empathy from Lenny.*

Frankie Fake-out

Vote for the 2022 Funky Awards HERE!

Preliminary research by people who took college level chemistry classes showed that individuals who voted for the 2022 Funky Awards were happier, more energetic, and more attractive to their preferred romantic partners than the control group. (Disclaimer: This statement should not be taken as any kind of indication that the person and/or persons who took college level chemistry classes remember what was taught in those classes or even, indeed, that they passed the class at all.)

An ominous shadow of threatening portent hovered over baby Summer Moore’s stay in the NICU.

*Even more ominous than Les’ inhuman puppet mouth in panel 2.*

The story seemed to be headed toward a topical fable about sharing too much online, especially when you’ve just had a violent drunken interaction with a potential stalker.