This past week of Crankshaft was so bad, I had to write two posts about it. The first post was here. This second one will focus on the alleged joke-writing. Beware, the comedy disconnects are everywhere.
A comedy disconnect happens when a writer sacrifices reality and ideas in pursuit of a laugh. Tom Batiuk doesn’t really sacrifice reality and ideas; he never introduces them in the first place. We’ll soon see how.
Continue reading “Do Explain The Joke”A “Sticks Nix Hick Pix” reference? That’s the lowest form of humor…
Billy The Skink
Hey, I do my best, man. 😏
If my ongoing TBTropes series of posts was a college course, this week’s Crankshaft could be the final exam. Because this week, Tom Batiuk is putting on a master class of his worst qualities as a writer. I’ve already written a longer explanation for each of these, so I’ll be brief in recounting them.
Class, let’s start the review:
Emily’s first visit to the Centerville Sentinel started on November 18, 2024, with the explanation that she was there to do a class assignment. The week ended with Emily saying a nice goodbye to Skip, and announcing she got an A+ in the class. Okay, fine. It was a week of dreadful jokes, but harmless enough to escape this blog’s notice. Until now.
Continue reading “Blog Spox Reax: Batx Work Sux”(My retelling of The Burnings continues.)
PROSECUTION: Can you please state your name and profession?
SKIP: Skip Rawlings, Publisher-editor-reporter of the Centerville Sentinel.
PROSECUTION: And which of those roles did you perform in the newspaper’s story about the Booksmellers fire?
SKIP: Well, all of them.
PROSECUTION: This story said, quote, “Booksmellers came under attack because students were going to get a book for their school literature course that the school board had banned” and “the protestors said there were things in the book they didn’t want their kids to see.” Is that an accurate description?
SKIP: Yes.
Continue reading “Testimony Of Skip Rawlings”The Armor-Piercing Question is the moment in a story where a character (usually the hero) asks another character (usually the villain) something that unravels their entire world. It exposes the flaw in the villain’s worldview, reveals knowledge of something the villain had tried to hide, shows them the evil of their ways in a way that will hurt them, and so on. Wreck-It Ralph has a great one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW1XX2L7g7Y
The title of this post is my Armor-Piercing Question, for this story. Why is the severity of the protestors’ crime being ignored? Not just by the story, but by the town, and by the main characters. I think this is the linchpin of why this story fails.
Yes, there are stories where the main characters can’t go to the authorities for help, because the authorities are actively helping the villains, or institutionally corrupt. This plot device is as old as Mr. Smith Goes To Washington. And, the police has shown some pretty questionable judgment. Like covering up Bull Bushka’s dubious suicide, and arresting Adeela when they wanted someone else with a similar name. But there’s no evidence of that in this story.
Continue reading “Why Is Giving “Fahrenheit 451” To High School Students A Bigger Crime Than Arson?”Last week, I wrote about Tom Batiuk’s blog post, where he defended his use of what he calls “non-linear storytelling.” He said that he intentionally abandons stories and returns to them later. I thought this was a nod to the fact that 90-something Eugene wordlessly rowed into a lake a couple weeks ago, and his story abruptly stopped there.
Silly me. It turns out Batiuk wasn’t talking about Eugene. He was actually talking about his favorite subject. No, not comic books. Himself!
I will go through this week of Crankshaft day-by-day, because it deserves that much attention. But first, let’s take a moment to review the history of the Centerview Sentinel.
Continue reading “Interview With The Vapid”
Son of Stuck Funky 
