And here we are, almost at the end of the week…and perhaps, almost at the end of this chapter in the “Holly Buys Comics, Because Cory” saga? Not much room left for Holly to get what she wants, is there? All those pings!
My mutant super-power of being able to see future Funky Winkerbean strips–which is, trust me, the worst mutant super-power ever–is failing me at this point. So let’s speculate.
I see today’s strip leading to the following three possible conclusions.
1 – a bitter Holly lectures everyone how evil technology has ruined her quest (for the moment). She should have put her faith in people, and not processors. This scenario has the advantage of ending the arc with Saturday’s strip, allowing Sunday’s to be another comic cover with a smirk in the corner. Of course, we know Tom Batiuk is not a fan of short-and-to-the-point; the whole comic strip screams that.
2 – Holly receives an email from the winning bidder, which goes something like this. “I am sorry that my $11.54 bid meant that you did not get the comic. I did not know, at the time, that your son was in the service. I am therefore going to mail you the comic, free of charge, along with a personal check for $11.54.”
3 – Holly goes to the Komix Korner to, uh, drown her sorrows or something. And a smiling John Howard produces the comic! “I outbid everyone else, to a final cost of $15,011.54, just so I could give you the comic for free! Because Cory Winkerbean!”
Both 2 and 3 mean extending this by another week–which would be kind of difficult to do, since all it really needs is an extra couple of panels…D’oh! What am I saying? Funky Winkerbean specializes in stretching things way past the breaking point!
You know, I write these entries a year in advance (give or take 360-odd weeks) and I was a little surprised that everyone here already guessed all three of these outcomes. Of course, they’re all blindingly obvious. But maybe Tom Batiuk has a surprise for us! I guess we’ll see, together, how this flops across the finish line. In the meantime, I just gotta say this: Holly’s unborn clown face in panel one is terrifying.
Son of Stuck Funky 