An Inconvenient Douche

Unlike Tom Batiuk, I strive to keep my personal opinions out of my “writing”. But since he insists on preaching to us (through Jim the Science Guy) about climate change (I don’t call it global warming), I’m going to vent a little “greenhouse gas” here myself: I’m one of “those people” who  do not believe that the planet is irreversibly heating up, even after the just-ended record-warm winter (which I, not being a winter sportsman, enjoyed the hell out of). There is at least as much credible scientific opinion to disprove climate change as there is to prove it.

That’s my opinion, and you, dear reader, are welcome to your own. On to today’s strip. We find Cory actually awake and paying attention in class (because even Cory is concerned about Global Warming). He shares that he “heard someone on the radio” (these kids and their radios these days, am I right?) call Global Warming “a hoax”. Cory gives a sly, demure tilt of his head, as if to say “Gee, Mr. Kablichnik, that feller on the radio can’t be right…can he? Say it ain’t so, Jim.” Jim wearily throws up his hands; he’s heard the deniers (such fools!), and sets Cory, and the rest of us, straight.

For your pleasure: previous strips dealing with the “fact” of Global Warming:

May 25, 2008: Same premise as today’s strip (and how long has Rana been in this class?) But I gotta give props to Jim for mentioning a classic Randy Newman song.

December 5, 2010: “Of course Global Warming can actually mean we get more snow. That doesn’t make sense to you?”

June 23, 2011: Principal Nate is on board with the whole global warming thing, to the point of inserting it into random conversations:

Les Not Go There

That’s some pretty tortured perspective in today’s panel 1: is Bull walking on stilts? His knees are nearly on a plane with Les’ waist. Maybe that’s why he looks like he’s ducking to get through the door. To the literal-minded Bull, “no sweat” isn’t a mere figure of speech: he has to show us his armpit to prove that there is, in fact, no sweat. Cayla persists in emasculating Les (admittedly not that hard to do) by once again bringing up the Bull-ying that (she thinks) he endured in high school.

FW’s 40th anniversary celebration kicks off next week.

St. Louis Blues

The only surprise today (probably the only surprise in this strip all month) is that Bull’s NFL suitor was “the then St. Louis Cardinals” and not the Cleveland Browns, given Batiuk’s Ohiophilia. Alas, a blown knee ended his gridiron career, but being a natural physical therapist,  Bull was able to rehab himself.

Me and You and EMU

Epicus Doomus
March 20, 2012 at 2:03 am
For anyone who’s ever wondered if TB becomes enamored with some bit of idiotic wordplay and then builds some sort of half-assed arc around it, I present this week, which exists solely for the sake of doing a gag based on EMU.

billytheskink
March 20, 2012 at 11:48 am
…[Eastern Michigan University] are a Mid-American Conference Opponent of TB and Les’ Kent State Golden Flashes and Cayla’s Akron Zips. The EMU in this strip is probably a placeholder for them or any other MAC school that isn’t Kent State or Akron plus… flightless bird joke!

Make that a flightless bird joke right between the eyes, for the benefit of the handful of readers who didn’t see it coming. No one will accuse EMU’s recruiter of lavishing their prospect with expensive gifts, that’s for sure. A ringer tee? You shouldn’t have! No, seriously. You shouldn’t have.

Don't Stropp Believin'

Once again,
Les’ upper lip has retracted under
his mustache

Sunday’s strip got my hopes up that we would at last be done with BasketBull. However, today Les’ mention of that damn highlight reel triggers in Bull a sepia-toned flashback. Well, not a flashback, because Bull wasn’t there. The coach (he’s the one in panel three wearing the t-shirt that says coach) is the late Jack Stropp, who not only fostered Bull’s athletic development but also passed along his gift for malapropism.