Funky Winkerbean is a reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues affecting young adults…
Unfortunately, the young adults in this case are Darin and Jessica Darling Fairgood. Their “reality” involves starting a family while he’s an MBA assistant-managing a pizza parlor, and she’s a documentarianne whose project about her father has been stalled for two years. Speaking of stalling, today’s strip does nothing to move this story along.
Bad enough that we witnessed Les getting frisky last week. Today we are forced to contemplate the silhouette of a naked Les Moore in the shower, triggering uncomfortable flashbacks to Kevin Spacey’s opening scene from American Beauty.
Q. Why has Harry Dinkle never been circumcised?
A. Because there’s just no end to that prick!
Me
Yesterday
Those of us here in the real world can freely express our joy over the fact that the Dinkles appear to be exiting the convention at last…
Yeah, I was wrong, we’re still at the convention. For once, Batiuk leaves exposition aside, trusting the reader to know that we are at Harry’s book signing (we don’t see a lobby card that says “‘I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE PARADE’ AUTHOR HARRY DINKLE TODAY 1 PM”).
The first young person we’ve seen in two weeks meekly approaches the wise Dinkle (and hey, Harry gets no long line of adoring fans?). She expresses to Harry her desire to teach, and in the next breath reveals her crushing self-doubt. Harry parries by telling her to “err on the side of confidence”, which Sally Student clearly lacks. Finally, with a wag of his pen, Harry advises her that while she probably will fail, to make sure that she fails for the right reasons.
The Dreamer
February 2, 2013 at 3:30 pm
Back in Act I, Fred was a divorcee. He had a previous marriage. Batiuk apparently forgot that and did a series of strips where Fred and Ann take Darin around to show where they lived as a young struggling couple. Now, Batiuk remembered and last week we had Ann remembering that they met as teachers during the strike at Westview, and had no ‘young’ past…This is obviously the daughter from Fred’s first marriage, which Fred never told Ann about…
Fred’s stroke sure has opened a closet full of skeletons! Turns out Annie was not the only gal to have her dreams crushed by the seemingly mild-mannered former principal. But hey, water under the bridge, right? If it’s not “pleasant”, then why even talk about it? What’s even more unpleasant is Darin’s elongated, potatolike head in panel 3.
Yeah, anytime Cody expects things to go his way, count on the opposite outcome. “Robo-Goat” stands ready for battle; unfortunately, arch-rival Big Walnut Tech has brought along the Iron Giant. I kind of like the overhead perspective in today’s strip, but the shadow-within-a-shadow in panel 2 doesn’t work too well.
Son of Stuck Funky 
