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November 27, 2005

The Whole Shebang

TODAY'S STRIP

If ever there was a single panel comic that summed up all of my frustrations with Prickly City, this is it.

Here's the basic gag: Winslow is fishing - in the desert. In a dry gully. Yet he's somehow catching real fish. He tells a disbelieving Carmen, "You gotta have faith!"

This strip is completely nonsensical on so many levels I don't know where to start. But I'm going to try.

- Let's start small. I've always picked on Stantis for his less-than-adequate drawing skills. But today is an exceptional example. He throws in the stereotypical steer skull to remind the reader that we're in the desert - yet it's smaller than Winslow's head. It must be one of those mini-bulls I've heard so much about. Maybe those are the ones White Castle uses to make their hamburgers.

Off in the distance, we see something purple - and honestly, I have no clue what it's supposed to be. It's kind of square, with green stuff on it, and at first I thought it was an outhouse. Maybe that's because every time I look at this strip I want to take a dump.

Then we have a blimp(?!) floating along the skyline. Is it supposed to be symbolic of something? Stantis has written, "P.C." on it, so maybe he's reminding his dumber readers what they're reading.

"Hey Ma, what's the name of that stupid comic we read that trashes dem damn liberal treehuggers."

"I think it's called Marmaduke."

"No, the one with the little cat and his colored friend."

"I dunno, look for a blimp with the initials on it - that should tell you."

- Then we have Stantis's just-plain-weird sky. On the left, the sun. On the right - in the same sky - we have Saturn(?!) and what I think is the moon but if it was made out of cheese and someone took a huge bite out of the top of it. Oh, and there's a RAINBOW. BY THE PLANETS, NOT THE SUN. And there's only one tiny little cloud that could never create a rainbow. 'scuze me while my head explodes.

- And finally, Winslow and Carmen. I really wish Stantis would realize that his characters need to, you know, STAY IN CHARACTER. Winslow is supposed to be a damn dirty liberal. Carmen is the god-fearing, W worshipping (and those are interchangeable) neo-con. So why on god's brown earth is Winslow the one catching fish in a dry river bed? Isn't that something Jesus would do? Isn't Carmen the one that's supposed to have faith?

Of course Stantis does this because it's cuter if the coyote pup does all the wacky things while the little girl is the realist. But it just doesn't make any sense to me. It would be like Teddy Kennedy arguing that huge statues with the ten commandments on them should be put inside nativity scenes that are built right into courtrooms next to where the judge sits and demands everyone praise god before they give testimony. It don't make no sense.

So what do I take away from today's strip? I mean other than a headache?

Winslow is Jesus.

He has the power to create fish. He can summon the sun, the moon, the stars, and even a rainbow to occupy his sky. He can command a blimp to float nearby to advertise a city that we've never really ever seen. And he can make weird purple-green things jut out of the ground.

In the name of Winslow Christ our Lord we pray...Amen.

Comments

Posted by: CJo at November 27, 2005 10:05 AM