The Walkertons

Posted on August 14, 2013 by David M Willis

Charles and Linda Walkerton are the parents of Walky and Sal.  Linda was a pretty dang important character in the Old Universe’s It’s Walky!, sort of like how Gendo Ikari was important in Evangelion.  She’s only five years younger here than she was in It’s Walky!, but I think she’d look relatively younger than that because she’s not a former government field agent in charge of running a super-stressful anti-alien organization which hopes to, uh, cancel the apocalypse, which probably would age you like it would the Presidency.  So these are the younger, hipper Walkertons.   As before, Linda’s a few years older than her husband.

Of course, the other major difference between them in Dumbing of Age and the Old Universe is that Linda and Charles actually raised Sal rather than hiding her across the country with a pair of foster parents.  Here they only sent her across the country to go to a boarding school.  Oh, Linda.  Your parenting ideas are weird and arcane.

25 thoughts on “The Walkertons”

  1. Brady Kj

    What does Linda do in this universe? Does she work for the government as well?

  2. AgentKeen

    Also, there wasn’t the whole [redacted] business that probably messed with her genes and I’m sure didn’t do anything to help how she aged.

  3. Spryte

    After all the horrible horrible people that Freshman Family Weekend has brought upon us, it’s nice to see some parents who don’t seem to be (not yet anyways) angry/scary/insane.

  4. Ancestral Hamster

    So why did Linda send Sal to a boarding school? And if boarding school is a good idea, why not send Walky as well?

    1. Regalli

      I think there was shoplifting involved.

      1. Athedia

        More like armed robbery.

    2. David Willis

      I think you need to reread the comic, sir.

      1. Ancestral Hamster

        Ah, so it has been covered, and I’ve just forgotten. Okay, thanks.

  5. Jason

    I take it that Linda still wears the pants in this family, given that we’re speaking as though she’s the only one making parenting decisions here.

  6. Matt

    Maybe I need to go reread IW, but has Linda’s skin lightened up a bit? I seem to remember her being a little darker.

    But then I guess that could be due to most of the old strips being in black and white and my mind filling in the blank space with her and Walky sharing skin tone.

    1. David Willis

      It’s Walky! had no set color palette for the characters. I always rechose them from memory for color strips. Back then, everyone had a dozen skin tones.

      I don’t think I ever intended for her to be dark-skinned, though. Her family history is thoroughly Anglo-Saxon.

      1. Knight of The Stupid

        I’m a bit new to your comics so I don’t know if this has been brought before, but if I may ask: What is Mr. Walkerton’s ethnic background?

        1. David Willis

          He’s mixed race, half white and half black.

        2. Knight of The Stupid

          Ah, thank you for clearing that up for me.

          The whole time I’ve been reading I thought he was Hispanic.

        3. Björn

          Yeah, I thought the same thing for many years.

        4. Davyd

          See, I’d been assuming he was Native. Which I suppose reflects my local demographic more than anything else…

        5. Knight of The Stupid

          I can understand that, part of the reason I thought he was Hispanic is because I have a very similar skin tone and I myself am half Hispanic.

  7. Thomas

    They’re adorable, only more so in the comic itself. Linda Walkerton kinda resembles Joyce, which makes a lot of sense in the old continuity. So that’s Adorable Mom #2 right after Mrs. Keener. :)

  8. Walkypedia Resurrectus!

    Bring back Walkypedia, PLEASE!!! Its strange and powerful transdimensional convolutions baffle even the mighty Internet Archive Wayback Machine!! Only you have the power, Willis!!! YOU MUST BRING WALKYPEDIA BACK TO LIIIIIIFE!!!!!

    1. David Willis

      I don’t actually have the power. It is dead.

  9. Dirigible

    Wait a minute, what about the guy who becomes the Cheese? (Walky is named after him, but he’s… not? the father?)

    What happened to him in this universe?

    1. Regalli

      Probably died a different, Martian-free way.

      1. Ancestral Hamster

        … from eating too much cheese fondue.

  10. Giovanni

    Wouldn’t raising Sal also age you like the Presidency? Even without having to constantly replace windows and walls…

    1. Kaoy

      See: Boarding School.

Comments are closed.