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July 10, 2007
Only If The Mission Is To Suck
They say that in comedy, timing is everything. "They" being professional comedians. Of which, Scott Stantis is not one.
Today's Prickly City isn't necessarily terrible. But it's a joke that if timed correctly could have been funny, but instead it's just another lame "hurry up and scribble this out before deadline" effort from Stantis. We see that Winslow has gotten Bush's ol' "Mission Accomplished" banner from "Used Backdrops-R-Us" and is using it on the campaign trail. That's kinda funny, right?
I guess it could be, depending on the circumstances. Is Winslow hanging that banner up at EVERY campaign stop? Is the primary today and Stantis didn't tell us? If it's not today, when is it? We have no clue.
And what does "Accept No Substitutes" have to do with the joke at hand? Shouldn't it be something like "Bring It On" or "Stayin' the Course?" Something that actually ties in to the whole banner thing in the first place?
What makes it worse is that Stantis is in control here. He's the one that moved up Prickly City's primary, so he gets to decide when it's held. But he hasn't told us yet. Why not? Is it because he wants to spend more time on the campaign trail with Winslow and Carmen? I'm guessing it's because he doesn't have a clue. Odds are it'll be August before there's an actual vote, even though Carmen and Winslow clearly talked about the primaries being held in July. But that's how Stantis rolls. Fans of Prickly City should be insulted by this kind of lazy writing. Instead they fight tooth and nail in support of it, and anybody who criticizes the strip is smearing it.
At this point I could care less about Stantis and his politics. Here he's trying to poke a little fun at Bush, which is nice, but it's a failure. Without any context, the joke just sits there like a lump on a log, searching for a funnier comic strip to be in where the writer actually takes the time to set up a joke before just flopping it out there and expecting you to laugh "just cuz."
*** And now a challenge for our Shrubville readers: what would you like to see happen in this storyline that you know Stantis won't do? Here, I'll start things off: I would love to see Winslow conduct a townhall meeting with the residents of Prickly City, where he has to answer their stupid questions. But Stantis will never do it. What else would you love to see happen as Winslow runs for President but you know Stantis will never tackle it because he's not talented enough to try? Please use the comments section to offer your thoughts.
Comments
Today's Prickly City is one of the best ones. Sometimes, even I manage to chuckle, and I'm a wrong-headed liberal who happens to appreciate plot, theme, structure, and characterization.
If I were Scottie, here's what I would do:
a) hire someone to draw for me.
b) work in a bunch of failed Iraq war themes. Tomorrow, Winslow says that he isn't planning a victory party, as the voters will shower him with flowers and hail him as a liberator. On Thursday, everyone in Prickly City cries tears of joy as they show off their purple fingers. On Friday, make some parallel between people who resisted Winslow's victory and Nazis who resisted surrender.
Annie
Posted by: Annie at July 10, 2007 11:25 AM
