« P F F F F F F T T | Main | Another Fine Prickly City "Told Ya So" Moment »
November 09, 2006
A Lepidopterist Never Changes His Spots, or You Need A Kick In the Dupa, Pupa
If I were to give the strip a grade today, I'd give it a solid C+. While the situational construction of a character pursuing an elusive object in abject futility is classical (Charlie Brown trying to fly his kite/kick the football; Calvin urinating on a Chevy; Judy trying not to be stupid and get hit by Punch), the execution is off by just a tad, because a character engaged in such an activity has to remain pure and decent for us to all get behind him and fully feel his pain. When Winslow calls the butterfly "stupid" it instantly breaks the mood and leaves the reader aghast at his vulgar nature. That is why Charlie Brown never called the kite stupid; why Calvin never defecated on the Chevy; why Judy never called the cops.
If for extra credit the author can speak to the theory of the "butterfly effect" to explain the coincidence of Donald Rumsfeld's resignation yesterday and my train arriving 30 minutes late today, I might bump the grade to a B-.
Comments
If I were to read too much into this, I would say that Stantis wants the butterfly to symbolize the Democrats' dreams of taking control of the Congress and how it would inevitably fly out of their grasp. Oops - that's what happens when you're over-confident and write your strips two weeks in advance.
Posted by: The Furnace at November 9, 2006 11:21 AM
Love the critique, it made me smile.
Posted by: FredN. at November 9, 2006 12:39 PM
Sacki's urinating = classical / pooping = vulgar theorem could revolutionize the funny papers. Shrubville will have a chapter in the history of comics; Prickly City will have but a footnote.
We'll know what Stantis thinks about the actual election results around Thanksgiving. Next week should really give Kerry a going-over for that joke about the troops, though.
Posted by: Marc Heiden at November 10, 2006 01:34 AM
