Retcon Artist

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20101023&name=Funky_Winkerbean

When I just don’t know where to begin snarking, I resort to a bulleted-list format. There’s so much wrong here that this will be one of those times.

  • Les is “still not sure about having a book signing in a pizzeria”. If you weren’t such a pussy you wouldn’t have been browbeaten by Funky into having your event at Montoni’s. And is it a book signing or a launch party? Oh, who gives a damn.
  • “Meet LES MOORE author of ‘LISA’S STORY'”. Uh, I’m pretty sure that everyone in Westview already knows who LES MOORE is. And it looks like Funky went all out promoting the book signing with that huge, lavish sign. Looks like it’s handwritten on the back of a placemat.
  • “[M]y book, ‘Fallen Star’“…Are you talking about your manuscript that you lost in the city? The one that was retrieved by a bag lady who went on to become a literary agent who returned it to you years later? When did it become a book? I promised myself I wouldn’t waste any more time researching Funky Winkerbean history. The “unofficial” FW site cites Les as “author of a novel about the murder of John Darling”. TV Tropes says “In the later 90s, Batiuk returned to the storyline when Les wrote a book about the murder and through the writing process solved the mystery.” The web archives I’ve found only go back to 2004, and I’m not going to go to the microfilm. My assumption was: Les wrote the book, took the only copy of the manuscript with him to New York, lost said manuscript, had it handed back to him years later, and that Lisa’s Story is his first published work, which is why it’s such a big damn deal.
  • And if the book did come out around ’97, well, Les was not rocking the goatee and widow’s peak back then. He still had the helmet hair and goggles.
  • I hope those Cub Scouts go easy on Les. He does not interview well.

Mo' Ho'

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20101020&name=Funky_Winkerbean

“Don’t talk to me about whoring, you little wimp! I survived on the streets of New York God Damn City for years!” Anyway, do we really need to see the word “whore” in the funny papers? Especially used by Les to describe himself? We’ve seen him give one interview only to get derailed two questions in. Boo frickin’ hoo. Man up, beardo.

Apple Slash Annie

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20101018&name=Funky_Winkerbean

Looks like the Book Launch is about to commence. Funky has brought out a table skirt to transform the pizza parlor into an upscale literary den. All the significant (living) females in the Life of Les are here: long-suffering Cayla, relentless stalker Susan, dutiful daughter Summer, and his “agent slash publicist” slash former bag lady, Ann Apple. Lisa is present too (when is she not?): this time in the (somber) cover art for the book. Except for the pink color, that book cover looks kind of familiar…

It’s amazing that Apple Annie had the money for a plane ticket: apparently she owns only one outfit (that damn pink jacket).

Read-undancy

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20100905&name=Funky_Winkerbean
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As the Pizza Summit drags on, Les’ Harem of Two cannot get enough of The Grounded One’s wisdom. We learn that as a kid he was, what else? a fan of comic books. But rather than stash his comix away as a hedge against economic uncertainty, Little Lester would endlessly re-read them, “always hoping that the endings would change.” But didn’t Einstein once say that “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”? So much for Les being the last sane person on the planet.

Les’ point about writing one’s own endings, though, should strike a chord with readers of this blog. A number of you have come up with some endings of your own: a lesbian affair for Summer…a catfight between Cayla and Susan…Wally going out with guns blazing…all of these more compelling and plausible than the “endings” that TB makes us “earn”.

Bonus maddening detail: Les has been wearing what looks like a yellow Livestrong bracelet on his left wrist that seemingly appears and disappears, and goes from  yellow to white and back.  Nice attention to detail, TB.