Westview High School – Page 37

Shut Up, Donny

“Flag on the field. How did it get there?”

Well, you knew this was coming, right? Given the choice between a sentimental gesture and a comedic pratfall, which one would he go with? Well, there really wasn’t a choice, was there–sentiment only rears its head when Les Moore is involved, and he’s nowhere in sight (thank goodness). Too bad the pratfall lacks the “comedic” bit. In all seriousness, though, how utterly uncoordinated does Bull have to be to trip by stepping on a tiny banner? Oh, I get the symbolism–Big Walnut Tech has once again prevented Bull from scoring–but couldn’t it be done in a subtler way?

“Touch a pennant. Things happen. A coach becomes a buffoon.”

As you know, there was a similar moment in the Coen Brothers film “The Big Lebowski.” I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen the film, but there it was funny, appalling, in character, and worked. Here, it is none of those things, and it doesn’t work. It just seems like another kick from Tom Batiuk against his old high school nemesis. The one task that Bull promised Coach Stropp he would do, and he fails at it. Hardy har har.

“Bull Bushka, noted coach. Now clown. Stumble. Stumble, just to be stumbling.”

Again, the whole premise just seems stupid. The idea that Coach Stropp would want his remains treated in such a cavalier way, the idea that the school apparently knows nothing of his arrangement with Bull…I mean, surely when Stropp died, the school would have assembled to watch Bull amble toward the goal line, as a gesture of respect toward his career? No? There’s just an urn in the locker room with no identification, no one other than Bull knows how it got there (or even that it is there), and the school is perfectly okay with all of this. (The idea that anyone would want their mortal remains placed in the high school shows just how much said high school has shaped Tom Batiuk’s thinking.)

“Nothing bothers some people, not even funeral urns in the locker room.”

The strangest thing is this: Everyone, even Coach Stropp, is fine with the idea that Coach Stropp will be honored by the school when Bull retires, and not one moment before.

I keep re-reading the last sentence I just typed, hoping I’ll glean some insight, but it just keeps getting dumber and dumber.

“Bull Bushka. Caught in the wheels of cartooning.”

Remind Me of My Failures, Bull, For Eternity

Link to today’s strip.

It’s hard to tell because of Tom Batiuk’s typically tin-earred dialogue, but it sounds to me as if Coach Stropp told Bull, “Look, if you can’t get into the end zone while I’m coaching you, can you at least carry my ashes across the goal line, so I can have some sense of what if feels like? By the way, ‘ashes’ implies that I am dead and cremated, so it’s nothing you have to do today.”

I think the real focus of Mr. Batiuk’s energy is in panel two. Bull pushes the switch, there’s a satisfying “THUNK” sound, and Linda looks pleased that Bull was able to accomplish something on his own. The reader can see exactly what happened without it being spelled out. The transition between panel one’s silhouette and panel two’s illumination is handled well, with the characters in the same position from the same angle. This tells me that when he cares, Tom Batiuk can draw something that works. Too bad he doesn’t care more often.

The Last Detail

Link to today’s strip.

I don’t know what Tom Batiuk is reaching for here, but it is clear it exceeds his grasp.

Supposedly, Bull is suffering from memory loss, yet he seems to recall clearly what Coach Stropp’s last instructions to him were. I guess it’s a good thing Bull never got fired, or crushed in a car accident when he stormed off a while ago. The urn would have just sat there atop the lockers until someone just happened to spot it. “Say, what’s that up there?” “Dunno, looks like garbage.” “I guess we should throw it away.” Again, Tom Batiuk wants Bull to have a debilitating condition, but has no idea how to portray that. It comes and goes when it’s convenient, when it can be used for pity. Then it disappears until its next cue.

As for why we are now focusing on someone unseen in the strip for years (aside from a very brief appearance last September–of course, as a Les flashback), I have no idea. It’s not like anyone really cares about the characters abandoned when Act I became Act II. Tom Batiuk doesn’t seem to care about them. Boy howdy, does he not care about them: as BillyTheSkink noted yesterday, this seems to say quite openly that Coach Stropp had no family, or a family that hated him. There isn’t an another interpretation that looks good for ol’ Stropp.

My assumption is that this is supposed to be a poignant moment here. It fails.

Gee Quiz

September’s a good time for Batiuk to revisit the place where the Funkiverse began: the high school classroom. We’ve seen the original Westview students grow into middle age, and some of them become teachers to the students who succeeded them. Now that Cody and Owen have finally graduated (and seemingly vanished), TB must come up with “fresh” teen characters to serve as foils for the insufferable Mr. Moore. So far all he’s come up with is the blonde mannequin Logan Church, seen in the last panel giving side-eye to Bernie Silver, who seems to be an amalgam of Owen’s clueless slacker and Cody’s dark hair and glasses.

It’s been a privilege bringing you the snark for the last couple weeks, folks. Billytheskink steps in for the next fortnight. Stay Funky, y’all!

Un-Bear-A-Bull

Link to today’s strip

Blech, imagine being stuck in a car with that cretin. Especially that horrible robin’s egg blue car of his…(shudder). A picture (in so many words) is very very slowly beginning to form here…Linda is “worried” about Bull. Yes, after decades of smirking at his antics in that condescending somewhat bemused way of hers, she’s concerned about her husband’s obesity or mood swings or something. Well, it’s about time. It’s actually a good thing that Linda and Dick Facey never got together, that much wryness would have torn a hole in the fabric of the Funkyverse.

The most hilarious thing about today’s episode is the way BatNom totally butchered the word balloon in panel two. Looks like he ran out of dialog there or something, I’m sort of surprised that he didn’t find some awkward clumsy word salad to fill all that space. Then again, Les is speaking so maybe he just took some mercy on us. Still though, knowing how he operates and all, it’s a pretty glaring anomaly. At least bother to print larger or something, you know?