Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Dan Davis for January 27, 2025

Unsuccessful as well!

My comment yesterday ended with “we’ll see what happens Monday.” Well, now we’ve seen it, and you have got to be kidding me! The interminable “Skip Interviews One of Batiuk’s Comic Creator Avatars at Montoni’s” arc ended back on August 24 last year, and now TB wants to give this dead horse a few more whippings? Five months later? Boy, that’s some timely profile you’ve working on, Skipper! Can’t wait to read it…in 2027!

Sigh.

Ooooohhh God no…. Not more of Batty’s self- pity and therapy through his comic…

What is that character’s name? Meek Maurice? Pathetic Perkins? Roxin Hedd? Steppsin Itt? Whatever. He’s the incarnation of the old saying “Those who can’t do, teach.”

Whoa is that a young Bati.. er… Batton Thomas with hair?

I know when I get together with a friend I haven’t seen for five months, what I want to do is pick up a conversation that both of us have long forgotten about…

This shows what a checkered career Batiuk must’ve had (since this strip seems biographical with this character being interviewed)

After moaning and groaning in horror at the sight of these two, I thought the last panel was kind of good.

The third panel is sheer Batiuk perfection. The author-avatar trudges into the classroom, broken and defeated before he’s even reached his desk. He is surrounded by happy, smiling children who are clearly looking forward to their art class… and he is totally oblivious to them, lost in the contemplation of his own misery. The fact that Davis makes him look a little like multiple-award-winning author Kurt Vonnegut is just the icing on the cake.

The panel is a perfect metaphor for Batiuk’s relationship to his readers, especially those of us who gleefully snark at his strips. We are enjoying the heck out of his work, but he can’t join us because we’re not enjoying it the “correct” way.

Perfect.

(Note: I deleted a couple comments I made whilst in my Early Morning Reading Room. Clumsily tapping a tiny phone keyboard is insufficient to capture the sheer Batiukan magnificence of this panel.)

Batiuk’s self-regard has never been higher.

53-2-3

gocomics dot com/funky-winkerbean/2025/01/27

not the first though – Looks like the first was March 27, 1972

JJ I imagine you devoting hours and hours pouring over old comic strips to find something new to complain about. You seriously need to get a life

Do the naysayers on this strip (JJ, Where’s etc) spring out of bed every morning frothing at the mouth in anticipation of finding new ways to eviscerate Tom and Dan just for the sport. Do you folks also harm defenseless animals and deface public art. Asking for a friend.

another week of skippy sales of boar beer will skyrocket

I can’t wait to read the whacky headline Emily will think up for this story!

No wonder he hired Amelia or whichever twin. This obvious 40 page article on Batty is taking half a year to write.

I love it when we get into comic books.All the trivia experts come out of the woodwork

Mental health suggestion. If you hate this strip so much, just go elsewhere. You won’t be angry after reading it, and you won’t feel the need to complain to one and all. Everyone wins.

Of course, that won’t happen.

Either you are a teacher or you ain’t!!!!!!!

Couldn’t wait to get the “H” out if there!

Every few months, when Skip runs low on grocery money as a result of working for an unprofitable, barely a Pennysaver, weekly newspaper, he calls up Batom Hackington (or whatever the name is) and says he’s got a few “follow up questions” for the never to be published interview. Batom, of course, immediately invites him out for pizza and Skip gets a free meal (and leftovers) to tide him over until the next social security check.

Back to another week or two of a story arc demanded by absolutely no one whatsoever. Skip is doing the interview himself. Did he attempt to pawn it off on his new protégé?

Skip Rawlings: Emily, how would you feel about interviewing Batton Thomas?

Emily (or Amelia, you can take your pick): Ew, gross! That’s a hard pass! I’d rather interview a brick wall.

This is autobiographical, right? Did TB resent his teaching experience and pursue a career in comics primarily to avoid his students? I bet his former students love reading this.

Ex-student: We were glad when you left, too, Batiuk. They replaced you with an industrial arts teacher.