Tag Archives: Vera Nash

by | March 6, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Shmucks in a row

Today’s strip begs the classic 5 Ws (and an H) of writing. It also begins the Oscars story Variety promised last month. Yeah, I thought that maybe if I buried the lede it would stay in the ground, but alas.

Who is Mason talking to on the left? Wait, he calls her Marianne… that’s supposed to be Marianne Winters? The lady with the pentagon head and the pigtail-bun hairstyle my niece insisted on wearing when she was a toddler is Marianne Winters?

What is with TB’s willingness to use Hulu and HBO’s trademarked names but still insist on sticking to the eyeroll-inducing “Netbusters”?

When does TB think the Academy Awards ceremony takes place? We’re three weeks out from this year’s Oscars broadcast… Does that mean? Oh no, please no. I really hope TB just got the dates wrong.

Where is the “chateau” where this “real party” is happening? Chateau Marmont? Haha, really? I guess if you don’t know… then you don’t know. I’m in no hurry to find out, either.

Why are Cliff Anger and Vera Nash here? Neither one was involved in the Lisa’s Story movie at all… well, other than inexplicably being at the film’s wrap party.

How is this story going to end? Insufferably, no doubt. I don’t think any other outcome is possible.

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by | August 19, 2021 · 10:30 pm

Together Again for the First Time

Link to today’s strip.

I thought Les had already met Cliff and Vera, but then I thought that Les had nothing to do with Starbuck Jones, so maybe he didn’t meet them before.

So, they’re meeting now. Fine. Make another movie from it, “Les Moore Meets The Killer Klowns From Outer Space.”

Oh, and thanks Batiuk (via Cayla) for telling us how we’re supposed to regard this joke. Just for the record, it’s not cute. It’s not even clever. It barely recognizes as an attempt at humor.

And that’s why these two fossils are here, right? Who wants to bet they never make another appearance during this week? Batiuk just came up with a pun and had to shove it in here.

I could think of a better place he could have shoved it.

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by | July 26, 2018 · 10:30 pm

Eating Their Turds and Whey

Link to today’s strip.

Whoops!  Late to the party on this one, but I got involved in a project of my own and neglected the time.

Not much to say about this one.  The artwork continues to slide into the abyss, the dialogue is idiotic, and Rich Burchett shows us something in that last panel  (almost wrote “penal”; these hosting stints, lemme tells ya…)

I mean, look at Cliff’s face in that last panel.  “Oh?  Think I’m not planning on getting my cheese dip on?  Really, Vera?  Wow, are you in for a surprise!”

Overall, again, it’s people sitting around discussing things that we have not seen and we’ve not been given a reason to care about.  Eating food that looks, honestly…well, it looks largely like bowel movements.  Which, given the overall bent of this strip, makes perfect sense.  It also makes those vaguely flesh-colored cubes that show up now and then in Mary Worth look edible.

It’s kind of silently nauseating in its own unique way.  And it’s another step away from what people want in comic strips.  And it makes me feel that the 50th anniversary will be something to see, though I can easily imagine Batiuk presenting something ultra dull.  After all, it’s the Funky Winkerbean way.

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by | July 25, 2018 · 10:30 pm

Does this Language Have Swearing or is it All Yawns?

Link to today’s strip.

Well, Cliff, you want a new language?  Wow–aren’t you the lucky one!  Turns out that there’s a person right there who happens to be The Lord of Language!  I’m sure he can help you turn your stifled yawns, underbreath mutterings and defeated scowls into a language you’ll be proud to speak.  And at such reasonable prices!

Oh, um, (cough) but before you go off to meet him, Cliff, your fake beard is melting off in panel one.  Better go adjust it so you can look great with your new frown-talk language. Keep fidgeting with your fake beard, Cliff, and it turns people off.  Glue it on good, though, man, trust me, it drives the ladies crazy!  Also, and think about this–Santa Claus gigs at the local mall.  You’ll want to terrify those tots as your beard is pulled apart by those tiny sweaty palms.  Then you can do a Bela Lugosi laugh and cause all kinds of childhood trauma, which, trust me, is big in certain comic strips.

Seriously, is Rick Burchett trolling Tom Batiuk to the same degree that Tom Batiuk is trolling his readers?  The artwork lately has given off a huge “It’s due in five minutes and no one cares, so let me scratch something out and hit ‘Send’ vibe.”

Honestly, this stuff is just awful and I can’t imagine someone who cares signing off on this and saying, “Great work, man.”  I’m sure the response is more in line with “Eh, it fits the space, so sure, it’s fine.”

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by | July 24, 2018 · 10:30 pm

Hollywood Heartworm

Boy, the artwork in today’s offering is really terrible.  Those faces in panel one look like a set of sad balloons from an abandoned “melting-flesh” themed carnival.  And I don’t know what’s going on with Cayla’s hand.  That doesn’t look natural at all.  Rick Burchette is becoming worse and worse all the time; he’s actually making Batiuk’s work look good by comparison.  Whether this is due to influence from above (“Make it crappy, like me!”) or a growing disenchantment with his task (“This strip sucks, so who cares”), it’s hard to say.  I would guess that the recent Atomik Komix (gah) covers are his way of saying “I am actually quite a competent artist; ’tis the subject that dictates the work and moves the artist’s hand.”

And as to today’s content, well, we’re back to the self-depreciation crap.  I know Batiuk loves to have his characters wallow in misery, but seriously, give it a rest.  It hasn’t been “edgy” for decades now, it’s just tiresome.  It’s the sort of thing that teenagers grow out of.  Sheesh.  Cliff himself has had a 180 degree turnaround in his life, and he’s now revered and celebrated.  But no, he has to be all “Woe is me.”

How can one be a “Hollywood Heartthrob” by starring in one forgotten (but beloved) serial before disappearing into bitter exile?  How the Hell can these people be ambulatory and lucid, let alone alive, in their late 90’s?  It’s easy, really.  Because reality in this strip is whatever Batiuk wishes it to be, because reality in the real world refuses to cooperate.

If it weren’t so dull, it would be sad.

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