Tag: PTSD

Wally Darko

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20100927&name=Funky_Winkerbean

So it’s neither a suitcase nor a massage table: it’s a portfolio of her “art”.  Open the blinds, Mole Man, and feast your squinties on some etchings.

Rachel’s “cute” stock is sent plummeting by her Wynonna Judd-lookin’ profile in panel 1.

“I like it dark…” Maybe that’s what Les should tell Susan! (rimshot!)

Far from the Madding Crowd

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20100821&name=Funky_Winkerbean

Turns out Wally’s fine with crowds, just as long as he can observe them from a quarter-mile away and has plenty of fried pickles! Good job, Rache!

I’d feel a lot better about this “ending”, though, if TB hadn’t gone and posted on his blog these strips, dated next November, where Rachel is still trying to get Wally to deal with re-entering civilian life.

Too Long at the Fair

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20100820&name=Funky_Winkerbean

“Come on! We can’t stay here! We might almost kill another kid!”

The reader cannot see what danger, if any, causes Sgt. Wally to order his men to retreat. But he sure is in a hurry to get outta there.

Rachel, who either is genuinely trying to help Wally over his anxiety or is deliberately trying to make him freak out again, has a “really neat” suggestion. I hope she’s taking him somewhere private; Wally looks like he’s about to blow chunks.

Hey KID!!

http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20100818&name=Funky_Winkerbean

I gotta tread carefully here. I was born at a good time (on the same day Alaska became the 49th state, if you must know). I was too young for Nam-era military service, and was neither compelled or desirous to serve (unlike my late Dad and my two older brothers). So I can’t even suppose what it’s like to be a soldier, but I have the utmost respect and gratitude for everyone who has worn a uniform in our nation’s armed forces.

With that said: here we go again with Wally’s issues. Incredibly, that one visit with the shrink wasn’t enough to straighten him out. Wally’s having flashbacks because he “almost killed a kid”? All his flashbacks seem to involve engagement; does he have no trauma related to being held captive for years? None of this adds up for me, as in typical fashion, TB tries to spin drama from sketchy characters and their poorly imagined backstories.