Back to School

Summertime means it’s time to see what’s new with Wally, whom (except for at Dinkle’s party) we’ve not seen since the carnival was in town last August. Though he still has that gaunt, hollow-cheeked look, Wally’s “doing pretty well” and is considering resuming his education (“community college”? Why not KSU?). A very admirable goal indeed: one would hope that Wally could avail himself of some tuition assistance under the G.I. Bill, get his sheepskin, escape his dishwasher job and hell, he and Rachel could get married. But a thoughtful response from Rachel doesn’t make for a good punchline, so Batiuk has her put on a Hanna-Barbera smirk and reveal her weird pedophilic “homework” fantasy.

What the Heck Do We Care?

Now you know how many ‘holes it takes to fill Montoni’s Pizzeria.

TheDiva
July 10, 2013 at 11:50 pm
Okay, folks, place your bets:
Halle is drawn in the background of a Sunday spread in a listless nod to continuity: 6/1

Does Halle Dinkle’s presence here qualify as a “crossover” if nobody knows about her comic strip? She’s the one helpfully holding up a placard-sized “Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad” card. There’s another unfamiliar face in the crowd, above Dinkle’s head, whose identity will be revealed Friday (as an afterthought; TB’s just giving a shout-out to one of his music friends). Rachel’s been made to don the dreaded red apron but Wally (and his wonder dog Buddy) have been permitted to mingle with the invited guests. I would give Dead Skunk Head John a hard time for showing up in a t-shirt, but hey: we’re in a pizza parlor.

Get ready for another guest blogger: starting Monday, it’s the snark stylings of Beckoning Chasm!

This Way to the Egress

Led by faithful Flippy, I mean Buddy, Wally and Rachel head for the fairground exits. They pass by Cory and his equally jerky-looking friends testing their mettle at the Army recruiting booth. Not sure what we are supposed to make of Wally’s sidelong glance as he passes by. Certainly his own stint in the service was no picnic: in addition to being a P.O.W. and mistakenly presumed dead and buried in abstentia, Wally survived a land mine, chopper crash and even being blown up in a video game. Still, I would suggest that for an able-bodied, directionless young punk like Cory, military service might be just the thing.

Now It's Depressing

From the cartoonist who turned a Kilimanjaro adventure into a mundane trial…today we bring you the “undercurrent of melancholy” associated with the county fair! Nothing, nothing in the Funkiverse is meant to be simply enjoyed! Nice going, Rachel. Wally actually had a smile on his face until you went there.