Category Archives: The Dinkles

Set-Up: “You missed a lot all those years you were directing the band.”
Punchline: “Apparently…how long have we had this family, anyway?”

TB draws a metaphor then turns it into a strip the next day. Cute. We see that the world’s greatest leaf bagger has idle time to think about his life. I see an existential crisis in the near future where Harry wonders if all the marching band fame and fortune was worth the price of actually being there for his family.

Is he the World’s Greatest Father? World’s greatest coaster user? You be the judge.

Set-Up: Our unfrozen caveman band leader realizes how much work goes into maintaining the yard; it’s only one small task but something Harriet had to do every year for the past thirty years.
Punchline: Harry’s focus on his job means we get the same joke told again. Instead of discovering the leaf blower, he notices the gigantic tree that stared him down every time he came home.

All the complaining going on about this storyline may seem justified, but I don’t see this to be any different in excitement than that week last spring when Pete passive-aggressively asked Chien to the prom; or the five or so days of slient panels when Darin opened an envelope telling him something we all knew. It’s just that we don’t have a ‘serious’ storyline to go back to and that’s a bit of a let down.

Get used it, folks. We’ll eventually have to get to know these future versions of our characters…might as well get it out of the way now and wait for Sunday’s installment of “My father the Perv.”

Set-up: The corndogs have been consumed and we’re back in the yard to finish the leaf piling job. After being chastised by his wife for wanting to use the manual yard implement, Harry pulls out…a rake (to the delight of Harriet). It seems that the next logical step would be to bag the leaves and wait for the city to pick them up.
Punchline: Life outside of the bandbox is a tough one for our esteemed band leader. Things of this modern world frighten and confuse him. Place naturally decaying foliage into non-biodegradable trash receptacles? What good does that do?

…and from that, TB takes us from feeling pity for a newly retired old man to blasting suburban Cleveland’s leaf collection policies. Without knowing how exactly the local municipalities dispose of yard waste, we can only go as far as Harry’s logic.

Fortunately for us, this story arc continues to drag and tomorrow will probably feature either a) Harry lining up the bags across the front yard in a marching band formation; or b) a telephone conversation with the city about where the leaves will eventually wind up. I can hardly wait.

Set-Up: As the day approaches the dinner hour, the sound of trumpets fighting french horns continue its hum. Harriet is in the kitchen preparing Harry’s favorite dinner. At first she was perplexed that Harry would make such a request but a quick glance out front told her all she needed to know. Always the artist, Harry was constructing a monument to his favorite pastime and with that favorite pastime he “shall dine on his favorite fall football fare.” Harry had that look in his eye; the confident smirk he wore during halftimes where he felt at his best. “If only being at home with me gave him that feeling,” mused Harriet. With a sigh she walks to the front door and motions until she has Harry’s attention.
Punchline: “Come to dinner, Harry. Your corn dogs, Frito’s and hot chocolate are ready.”

Set-Up: Using the mere chore of cleaning the yard of fallen leaves, TB further displays Harry’s disconnect to everyday life and his family.
Punchline: It could be worse, a senile wife would have offered the services of the weed whacker.

Assuming he has no idea what’s been stored in his garage for years, Mrs. Dinkle would have to show him how to use the leaf blower. Since he’ll be impressed by such technology, he’ll probably suggest she finish the chore herself. Could this be a sign of latent passive-aggressiveness between the two? Only time will tell. Judging by the pace of things right now, we’ve got a lot of time and plenty of chores to watch.