Today’s strip was not available for preview, but I think we can safely guess that it will feature Pete extolling the many wonders of the Flash Museum in Central City.
One of the many wonders probably won’t be “I wonder who would be so obsessed and sense-bereft to build a museum celebrating The Flash?”
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
Link to today’s strip. (It’ll be there soon, trust me.) (FINALLY)
That sentence, “Same old same, old man” sure is jarring, but the saddest part here is Pete Rugose…and not because he looks like he’s ten years old.
He’s a far more successful writer than Les Moore–he’s written for Marvel, he’s written Superman stories, and he’s a screenwriter on a highly anticipated upcoming film. Yet visiting the Flash Museum is the one act that he thinks will define his life. Of course, those other things I mentioned involve writing, and whenever he has to write, he bitches about how hard it is and how everyone should stop making him do it. So maybe being able to write comics isn’t something he celebrates, he sees it as just one big burden.
Harry’s expression in panel three is similarly sad. I’m going to guess that the Flash Museum is not located atop an inaccessible mountain peak, nor is it anchored in the benthic depths of the ocean. It’s probably right here in America somewhere, so if visiting it drives Harry to high levels of ecstasy, then why haven’t you gone, Harry? I seriously doubt that the entry fee is too high–remember, we’re talking about a museum devoted to The Flash. Many museums are supported by visitor donations, while for others the fee is pretty nominal. They want people to come and see what they have, although I suppose in the Funkyverse maybe it’s the opposite, and they’d rather not have anyone visit unless they happen to be the “right” sort of folks.
The only way any of this makes sense is if the Flash museum only opens once every fifteen years, and only stays open for one hour. Then, all this talk of how awesome it is to go to the Flash Museum might make sense. It could be the basis of a great story, too, how Dullard and Pete Ratchet thought they had plenty of time, but got stuck in traffic and got to the museum only to see the “CLOSED” sign be hung in the window by a swift hand. What an opportunity for misery that would be!
But then, Tom Batiuk couldn’t show drawings of the Flash. So of course Dullard and Pete Radish will get to see the museum, and so will we. Sigh.
When they’re at the museum, I hope the staff can sell them razor blades and cyanide capsules at the exit, because if their lives are all downhill from here, why shouldn’t they end it all on a high note?
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
Is today’s strip so bad that it broke Comics Kingdom? It has certainly thwarted every attempt I’ve made to view it, I’m sorry to say/glad to report. I have mixed emotions about this, obviously.
Feel free to discuss when Comics Kingdom gets its act together, or when you receive your print edition in the morning. Hoping for no Les, knock on wood.
Update: CK is still on the fritz, as far as I can tell. My Sunday paper, however, had no such issues. You can read here the photo I took of today’s strip, minus the throwaway title panel.
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It is very true! From akronlife.com:
[Luigi’s Restaurant owner Tony Ciriello] was just a kid in the ‘70s when his uncle Mickey Ciriello rescued the broken-down band from storage…The restaurant’s electrician, Butch Pastik, did the rewiring and a repairman at an old jukebox warehouse in Cleveland got the mechanical parts working again. Then Mickey and some friends began looking for characters to replace the old foam band members – brittle and crumbling from dry rot.
After discovering that Ken dolls and GI Joes didn’t work in the bandbox, Mickey settled on some 8-inch action figure Superman dolls. They were just the right size, and their arms were flexible enough to be posed with the musical instruments. Then he decided to swap out the male lead singer for a more glamorous blond Barbie…Mickey hired a local seamstress to create tuxedos for the band and created mop-top wigs for their heads…
For now, a new Barbie doll has replaced the ‘70s lead singer, but the male band members from the first restoration live on. One has been wearing a Superman suit under his tuxedo for all these years. In the tradition of protecting Clark Kent’s real identity, Tony won’t say which one is the true Man of Steel.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
The year’s still young, but apart from Crazy Harry’s Casablanca outing, Cliff Anger’s marriage proposal to Vera, and Dinkle and Becky’s convention trip, Funky Winkerbean‘s been all about…Funky Winkerbean. The Funkman and/or wife Holly (whose hair color recently changed from blonde to the same gray/beige “greige” as Bull Bushka’s temples) have figured in 60% of the strips since January 1st. By comparison, Les has only been seen four times and been given exactly one line of dialogue! Be thankful for small favors. In any event, the titular character, love him or hate him, is getting lots of screentime.
We regularly take Batty to task for depicting milieux (mainly the comics and motion picture industries) that reflect his interests but in which he has only vague understanding. Query which is better or worse: TB’s hamfisted Hollywood fantasies, or relateable, mundane, QIRFRL* arcs like “Funky Renews His Driver’s License“?
*Quarter-inch removed from real life
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SosfDavidO here, and Holly isn’t looking so jolly this Christmas season as something related to female human anatomy happens to her in today’s strip that, as a man, I can’t really comment on but it looks terrible.
It seems like an odd choice of topics to deal with when the rest of the Sunday funny pages are probably crowded with New Year’s Eve strips. Batiuk could have probably done a one-panel spread of the Funky crew setting up a balloon drop or something as a way to show most of the crew together again but no, Tombat went with a distressing visual of an older female experiencing hot flashes. Great choice!
In lieu of any well wishing from Funky and Co, here’s wishing everyone a Happy 2017 from the crew of SonofStuckFunky!
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
The Further Adventures of Rachel and Funky Talking may be found here.
Hahaha, it’s funny because CrossFit and yoga are, like, totally different things! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s strip when maybe Tom will finish stretching this arc like a chunk of saltwater taffy and actually move the plot along.
BTW, go back through this arc and take a look at each day’s strip. Notice how Tom’s rendering of Rachel gets more fluid and less awkward as the week progresses? I find this interesting because it shows me that Tom lets himself get “out of practice” with his characters when they’ve been absent awhile and probably doesn’t take the time to do a little “freshening up” with the ol’ Funky Felt Tip before bringing them back.
Filed under Son of Stuck Funky
