The Fu(nky)ture Ain’t What It Used To Be
Posted on | November 11, 2007 at 6:35 pm | 4 Comments
In the comments to yesterday’s post, Lurker ZuzuT said: I would like to hear your opinion of the recent changes at Funky Winkerbean. I was disturbed that the one-armed girl is now married to the comic book guy.
Good question! That is so totally unrealistic. Everyone knows that comic book store owners (not to mention comic collectors) are too unstable to settle down and get married. Plus, what women would have them? Heck, look at Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.
But that’s just scratching the surface of this whole “10 years after” time leap that the strip has taken since Lisa’s death. What I want to know is: What year is this taking place in? It would almost have to be 10 years from today, since events before the jump coincided with present day events (the Iraq War, etc). So, as my friend Pilto says, “If this is 10 years in the future, where are all the hover cars??” This would seem to be a major continuity problem for Tom Batiuk, but my guess is that he’s just going to ignore it and act like it’s the present day. Though he could always use the opportunity to work in some snarky political commentary about the “unending” Iraq War.
There’s some interesting information at the official Funky Winkerbean website, including some spoilers about what has happened to some characters. However, the big question, i.e. “Is Wally Winkerbean dead and was he killed in Iraq?” is not answered. And Batiuk says in his blog that it’s not what everyone thinks. Although the way the family was celebrating Veteran’s Day in Saturday’s strip sure makes it look that way. My personal guess is that Wally is doing time for attempting to kill John the Comic Book Store owner after he caught Becky and John in bed together after Wally got back from the war.
But most disturbing of all is the way that Funky’s appearance has gone to hell. I didn’t even recognize him when he first showed up after the jump. I guess he must’ve fallen off the wagon during those ten years. He looks way too much like Bull Bushka now. Don’t they have a cure for baldness 10 years from now? It looks like poor Funky has been ridden, and ridden hard. But according to the website, he’s married to Holly the ex-cheerleader (i.e. the one who survived cancer), and he’s running a successful business, so maybe he’s not living on the street after all. I guess that’s just what you get for being around pizza all day. He should be renamed Funky Butterball.
I actually do like it when comic strip characters age naturally instead of being stuck in a time warp forever, but a jump like this was a bit drastic. Batiuk says that one reason he made the jump is so that the main characters would be around the same age as his long time readers. Since Funky is now only a year younger than me, he did succeed at that. And it’s good to know that I probably weigh less, especially since that dude used to be a pretty skinny mofo. And I have more hair.
Okay, why am I comparing myself to a comic book character? Time to go!
Jogged Today: No, still under the weather. And too lazy.
Today’s Weight: 164 lbs (probably partly because I haven’t been running)
Lunch Yesterday: None, late breakfast.
Pet Peeve of the Day: Bad service! I took the gf to one of my favorite local restaurants last night, and it was the first time she’d been there. The place is nothing spectacular, cheap but decent Italian food, and a comfy down home atmosphere. But sheesh, it was like we were invisible. We didn’t even get our salads (made by assembly line) until we there for like 45 minutes. And the entrees about a half hour after that. And then when we were trying to leave, we couldn’t get the waitress to give us the check. I know they were really busy and all, but most of the crowd had left and there were lots of empty tables by the time we got our meal. Other people who came in after us got served before us. Needless to say, we complained to the manager (who apologized but didn’t comp us anything), and I didn’t leave a tip. At least I got a free beer that the waitress forgot to charge me for.
Latre.
Comments
4 Responses to “The Fu(nky)ture Ain’t What It Used To Be”
November 11th, 2007 @ 8:00 pm
> “If this is 10 years in the future, where are all the hover cars??”
Dr. Paul Moller still says it’s just around the corner, he only needs a few more investors…
November 12th, 2007 @ 3:55 pm
Bad service: I’m surprised you stayed that long. I assume you placed an order for the salads and entrees (at the same time) – and you had to wait 45 minutes just for the salads? I think I would have been asking questions 15 minutes after ordering (if the salads are pre-made) or certainly, a half-hour. Barring a really good excuse (superbusy, just got over being superbusy, short-staffed), there’s no way I’d still be in a restaurant, without food, a full hour after I’d ordered. I’d be out the door. I might – might – have left a buck or two on the table to cover the drinks. My feeling is, if they make the food after that and I don’t pay for it, my time’s worth that much, so we’re even. Although I would want to try to ascertain whether the fault was the kitchen’s or the waitstaff’s – wouldn’t want to stiff the waitstaff for the kitchen’s problems.
November 12th, 2007 @ 7:44 pm
I am with you about not recognizing Funky and, now that you point out he is supposed to be two years younger than I am, it kind of depresses me. I guess it should cheer me up because I don’t really think I look that old yet.
November 13th, 2007 @ 4:07 pm
2fs, the restaurant was superbusy when we got first got there, and the hostess warned us she was seating us with an overburdened waitress. Most of the people around us were waiting a long time too. So we were inclined to give them some slack. It took awhile for tolerance to turn to impatience, and not getting the check in a timely manner after the place had started to empty out was what really brought us to the breaking point. But my conflict-avoidance gene prevented me from doing anything too drastic.