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September 02, 2006
Dancing King
It's like driving past a car wreck on the highway. You know you shouldn't, but you can't keep from looking over at the carnage. The only difference here is that I get to point out how stupid the driver is that caused this mess.
Seriously, what in the world was going on in his mind when Stantis wrote this? I think I have an idea. He wanted closure on that little stuck up bitch Carmen no longer liking Tucker Carlson because he's going to be on Dancing With the Stars. Why doesn't she like him anymore? His audience on MSNBC is merely a blip on the Nielsen radar, while Dancing is a top twenty hit. It's a great PR move, even if he embarrasses himself. But he's not even considered the long shot - Jerry Springer has that honor. That's right - Jerry Springer, best known for his TV show but who's also one of the best hosts on Air America radio. Why not go after Jerry instead of ragging on Tucker? I might not like the guy, but at least Carlson is taking one for the team. But I guess in Stantis's mind "dancing = gay" - but "bow tie = manly man."
Then there's the bizarre use of dialogue in this strip. At first Carmen is thinking to herself how she can't like Tucker anymore. In panel two she does the same, and while she's talking to herself in her head Winslow walks up talking about a salsa contest at the VFW (more on that later). It gets weird in the third panel. Carmen says - OUTLOUD - that she's entering the "losing all respect" part of the breakup. Um, I didn't know that was one of the steps, but okay. Winslow just stands there. I can't tell if he's dumbfounded or high, but he doesn't respond. What if you walked up to a friend and the first thing they blurt out is, "hence the 'losing all respect' part of the breakup?" Wouldn't you be like, "what the hell are you talking about?" Instead Stantis has Carmen bizarrely shift gears and talk salsa while Winslow cracks a lame joke about an old man being "muy caliente."
SMASH! It's like metal on metal as Stantis has zero idea what the hell he's doing and it's one idea crashing into another in a strip that makes no sense.
As for that last panel: what's funny about that? I simply don't get it. Why does it matter that the runner-up was so old? I'd think Winslow would be proud - he was able to defeat a guy that's been making salsa since World War I. And why make light of the guy breaking his hip? It's as if Stantis was watching Mind of Mencia and heard a joke that he just had to steal, and somehow Stantis turns something that's just unfunny to something that's unfunny and makes no sense.
This is what happens when a comic strip artist wings it every week instead of planning out what to do with his characters. He could have had a week of Carmen pining over Tucker, wondering why he would do it, and maybe even seeking Tucker out to beg him not to do it for fear of embarrassing the Republican party. Nope - we get a strip and a half of Carmen going from loving the guy and wanting to have his babies to writing him off as a fag. Bravo, Scott Stantis - you've taken one of the very few interesting qualities of one of your characters that actually tried to provide a third dimension to her personality and thrown it into the trash in favor of lame jokes about old men making salsa. Next up, Winslow proposes to Conde on the anniversary of her buying thousand dollar shoes while New Orleans drowned - because apparently that's an attractive quality while dancing is a turn off.
Side note: I really hope that by holding this contest at the VFW Stantis isn't implying that Winslow is now a veteran because of his stint in the "war on desert hamsters." I'm just going to assume it was just a place where Stantis knows they have stuff like that so I don't go completely berzerker on his ass for insulting those who have truly served this country by having Winslow say he's a vet. We'll have to see where he goes with it tomorrow - hopefully it'll just be Winslow failing to fly so I can put on the Future Goggles.
Comments
wow! Who's the chick in the pasties?!?!?!
Posted by: Jeff at September 2, 2006 11:25 PM
