Mason Jarre – Page 14 – Son of Stuck Funky

Of Course He’s Cos

As mentioned, I found yesterday’s strip kind of cute and a bit of a relief from the usual fare. However, it appears I’ve picked up a terrible habit from reading this strip: I didn’t think things through.

I figured the guy would take off his costume to perform the ceremony, you know, the way a normal person would. (Indeed, I thought that’s what had happened in the second panel, with the minister the bearded guy in the back.) Instead, this turned to the Dumb Side, really, really fast. So, what kind of church does this guy lead? Can he perform marriages that will hold up in court? I think if he’s an ordained minister for the Church of St. Leeloo Dallas Multipass, Cindy, Vera, Cliff and Mason might find themselves in something of a pickle down the road.

What’s probably most irksome here is John. His nonchalance from yesterday has cooled into a deep boredom–as if he searched all over for a priest of the Holy Order of Batman, Batman, the one he really wanted, but damn it couldn’t find one and had to settle for one who wouldn’t be able to give him first communion. Screw you, Mason, you wanted a damned minister and I got you a damned minister. Can I go home now?

I do like how the Xaxian is posing in panel two, in that James Dean in “East of Eden” symbolism pose, though I kind of think it’s a bit inappropriate here. I remember doing that pose as a kid, and usually the spear would be going behind the neck–it looks here like it’s piercing his chest. Maybe that’s why Mason looks so distraught–he watched someone commit hara-kiri right in front of him! He couldn’t be hiding his face in shame because of comic books, because Mason sure strikes me as the kind of guy who’d leap at the chance for a comic-book themed wedding.

Minister of the Inferior

Link to today’s strip.

I have to admit, this one was just startling enough that I enjoyed it. The strange situation, and the nonchalant way in which it is presented, made for a strip that was actually entertaining. So, kudos to Tom Batiuk; I’d like to see more like today’s offering, and less of what he typically deposits here.

Of course, today’s strip doesn’t really bear any close looking, because the premise is kind of stupid. I mean, I guess the local minister could see a flyer, “Wanted, People to Portray Movie Characters for Film Premier, Costume Provided” and stop darning his socks in the night when there’s nobody there and think, “Say, that sounds like fun! And I’ll bring my Bible along, just in case someone wants to get married!” I mean, that sounds really, really contrived, even for this strip…though certainly not beyond the realm of possibility, given this strip’s history…

Okay, I’ve talked myself into it: Tom Batiuk will take something cute like today’s strip and ruin it with tomorrow’s.

Just Say No

Link to today’s strip.

Well, Jff, I guess your tongue-tied nature might be explained by the fact that this is a huge surprise to you, unaccustomed as you are to public speaking…except that all of this was your idea in the first place. As Mason points out, the whole reason everyone is here because of you. Given the fact that this strip goes out of its way to praise its characters for the slightest reason, did you really think you’d sit in the back and be ignored? Sure, sure, that’s what we wished would happen, but that never counts.

I have to hand it to Tom Batiuk for his optimism–every time he brings in characters from Crankshaft, I imagine a mythical Funky Winkerbean reader saying, “Wait, there’s a whole other comic strip full of characters like these? Where can I find this magical realm!” And, since Mr. Batiuk never names “Crankshaft” in these cross-overs, said mythical reader is left saddened by the fact that he will never find this other strip. Why, it’s a two-for-one!

Shooting Gallery

Today’s strip

Greetings, folks, BChasm temporarily in the captain’s chair for the next little while. What’s this?! The viewscreen shows a sea of hostiles–ready photon torpedoes! We must annihilate this threat before it spreads across the galaxy!

I’m going to skip over Mason’s “movie we filmed here,” comment, because while I don’t think any of the film was shot in Centerville, I honestly don’t remember the “school bus drives into shot” bit well enough, and–Tales to Astonish–I have no desire to look and see. So I’ll give him that.

What else? Well, we’ve got a crowd shot of almost everyone, including Les–which sets our Les Watch back to zero, damn it. At least he’s not saying anything, and is both poorly drawn and partly covered by a word balloon. Funny, though, I’d have expected both Comic Book John and Imbecilic Harry to be there, but I guess they got their exposure in at Comic Con, so no need to feature them any longer. But who is that between Jim KibblesNBits and Marianne? It looks like they flew Marianne’s mother out there after all! I guess?

The fact that so many of the cast and crew are in the audience–and sitting right up front, too–makes me wonder if Tom Batiuk believes that the first time anyone involved with a movie actually gets to see the finished film is at the premier. In the real world, the director would have seen the film dozens of times by now, and there’s almost always a screening for the cast and crew. So all these people would be backstage, or at the back of the hall, gauging audience reaction–pacing, room for laughs, people getting bored at certain parts, and so on–and looking for “oohs” and “aahs” for the cast members.

But not in the fantasy land that is the Funkyverse. Here, everything happens the way a five year old imagines that it happens–it’s all just magic, and friendship, and comic books and pizza, and it works every time! In a way, that sounds like an attractive world…for a few minutes. But after those few minutes, I’d want something of substance, something that would stir the imagination rather than just “be” everything forever.

Poorly thought-out as the Lisa stuff is, it’s at least an attempt to address adult concerns–something that a comic strip aimed at “contemporary problems of young people” should attempt more often. Because I’m pretty sure the contemporary problems of young people aren’t that they wish there were more comic-book movies.

Red Carpet Bombing

So, clearly the courthouse encounter we saw yesterday takes place before, or who the hell knows, maybe after the Starbuck Jones gala premiere. We don’t know the name of the wasp-waisted blonde with the mic, or what media outlet she represents, but she’s obviously done zero preparation for this assignment. Yesterday she was taken aback to find that one of the “cast members” was the sentient (and now apparently ambulatory) computer Holtron. Today she either forgets or doesn’t know that Mason Jarre is the star of this thing. In panel two, Cindy’s sporting an odd neck bulge behind her ear, while Mason resembles a young Danny Kaye. I can’t wait for tomorrow’s strip where washed up minor celeb Cindy fumes over being ignored by the reporterette.