Tag: PTSD

יּ٧ᴥ٧יּ ♥♥♥

Buddy’s back!

If I were to classify FW characters, here’s how it would go:

  • Loathsome Pieces of Shit (Les, Dinkle)
  • Irritating Douches (Jim Kabbadabbadoo, Durwood, Mopey Pete)
  • Sad Sack Shitheads (Funky, Holly, Wally)
  • Goofy Dipshits (Masone Jarre, Owen, Crazy Harry)
  • Those I Don’t Really Care About But Will Probably Eventually Dislike (Just about everyone else)
  • Buddy ♥

Yeah, Buddy. My favorite resident of the Funkyverse. He never smirks. He never makes shitty puns. He never wallows in self-pity, snipes another character to make himself feel superior, or “wakes up” at the end of an arc to proclaim that it’s all a dream. Who’s a good boy? Buddy is! yes he is! even though he’d be totally justified if he pissed on Les’ leg or took a dump on Wally’s bed. Nope, he’s just a goofy, happy yellow dog who lives day to day, greeting everyone with a wagging tail and just enjoying the moment. He doesn’t even bitch when his dumbass roommates Wally and Rachel bring him to a heavy metal concert, those idiots. How ironic that, in a strip claiming to be “a quarter-inch from reality,” the most realistic character depiction is that of a dog.

[PS: I did indeed notice that, after talking all week about the Monsters Of Metal concert, not a single frame of actual comic strip real estate was spent depicting the actual event. In true BatHack style, we instead have skipped directly to the post-concert exit. But you know what? Buddy’s back! so I don’t give a shit.]

Punchline Template 1A

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.

Headbangin’ For A Cure

Link to today’s strip.

Aaaaand once again, T-Bats pads out two panels worth of inaction to fill three days, finally getting around to telling us that Rachel and Wally are attending the concert to help him with his PTSD. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a storyteller with a worse sense of pacing.

While I’d say that I’m looking forward to seeing the concert (who would turn down a chance to see Mort ripping up Inna Godda Davida on the slidefart trombone?) there’s little chance of that. The intern who drew Mort’s dementia-induced Independence Day Sunday comic has weekdays off, and we all know how Tom hates drawing his characters doing anything but standing around talking.

Hero and Goat

Whoa! Tread lightly, sporto! Today’s punchline is kinda funny, IMHO, but also problematic, given Batiuk’s well-intentioned, if incredibly hamfisted, treatment of Wally’s PTSD earlier in this strip. But it’s consistent with TB’s inconsistent, have-my-cake-and-eat-it-too ethos: bullying’s funny (until it isn’t), and PTSD is a serious topic (until it can be worked into a punchline). Can cancer jokes be far behind?

Fair to Middling

…is Les gone? Oh, thank God.

So long has it been since we last saw Wally, Rachel and Buddy that whoever colors these strips has forgotten that Rachel was a redhead, and Buddy is a Golden (not Silver) Retriever. Comparing today’s strip with this strip from nearly two years ago shows what a difference Buddy the Wonder Dog has made in Wally’s life. Back then, it was Rachel who dragged Wally to the fair, where his anxiety immediately got the better of him. These days, it’s Wally who takes the initiative (weirdly waiting until they are already getting into the car to suggest a destination). It’s unclear how the dog developed a fried pickle addiction in the two years since their last fair visit.