Westview High School – Page 74

Kerry On, My Wayward Daughter

Minutes pass as Darin stands in the doorway, all agog. The stranger clears her throat and repeats her introduction. “I’m Kerry. I’m Fred Fairgood’s daughter.”

While we wait for the ground to stabilize ‘neath Darin’s feet, we are treated to a confusing and unnecessary flashback. Bull, who would go on to become a teacher and then a school administrator, is sitting in Principal Fairgood’s office because his poor grades threaten to prevent him from playing football. Coach Stropp has made it clear to Fred that his perennially losing squad can not afford to lose Bull (I guess we’re to take Fred at his word that he’s “just kidding” about his daughter being kidnapped).

Having recently acquired and read a couple paperback Funky Winkerbean collections, I get the feeling that Batiuk has redrawn an actual Act I strip, and in the context of Act I it was probably mildly amusing. Shoehorned into today’s comic, it’s disconcerting, and not just because Batiuk’s sepia-toned the panels, instead of deploying the “photo album corners” he typically uses to denote flashbacks. Bull’s got nothing to do with the current storyline. It’s more like Batiuk’s playing this card to defend against accusations of retconning: “See? September ’79! Fred clearly states that he has a daughter!”

See Ya Vader

As the last brown leaves flutter over Westview High, while a few green ones inexplicably cling to the tree, the nerds are already at work , improving “our robot” for next year. In the aftermath of Robo-Goat’s slaughter at the hands of Tech’s massive mechanoid, Cody thinks that WHS needs a “more intimidating”, rather than, I dunno, say, a bigger and/or stronger robot.

Métal Hurlant

Ring the bell! Today’s strip is funny. Implausible, sure, but it’s a comic strip (sorry, DSH John). I like how little Robo-Goat is actually screaming in the clutches of Big Walnut Tech’s menacing, mechanical monster. And in panel two, for once, Batiuk makes “tell-don’t-show” actually work, as the boys follow Robo-Goat’s trajectory, presumably through a window or wall. I’d have added a “crash” sound effect in P2, but we shall lay aside the snark hammer for today.

(Today’s post title is kind of a stretch. Did anyone get it?)

These Effects Aren't Very Special

OK, now it’s Nate’s turn to be incredulous. Odie and Cohen’s idea of making the robot “look really cool” is to haphazardly bolt a football helmet on top of it. They actually succeed in making the robot look less cool. And in what sense of the word is this a “spinoff”, Cody? It’s more of a kludge.

Pimp My Robot

OK, well, my query from yesterday’s post has been answered: the boys are not in the Technology Club. Rather, they are in the “Special Effects Art Class”. This sounded even more implausible than a high school comic book club, so I set to Googlin’…and found the “[o]nly school district in the nation to offer [a] high school Visual Effects Art Program“…the Berea (Ohio) City School District, about twenty miles from TB’s home in Medina.