A: When “The Phantom” isn’t even in the strip!
Panel 1 of the 1 January 2010 Funky Winkerbean was Les kissing Lisa — and she was normal colored, not all zombie rotten* and skeletal, like you’d expect her to be after 10 years. (Yes, Les is effed in the head.) The second panel was him gazing out at the moon while two desperate women had wished to be his New Year’s snogging buddy. (Yes, they’re effed in the head, too.)
Still, if Les were by the window, you think it could’ve been a little more dramatic…
Since Les is apparently a Time Lord and can zip back and forth (e.g., kissing what appears to be a living, breathing Lisa), maybe he’s not at a New Year’s Eve party at all! Maybe he’s in sunny California, at the most-talked-about wedding of the year in Santa Royale!
* Major mashup news! What the world needs is more mashups, and CC’s faithful curminion Joe Blevins is doing a continuing series based on Ziggy the Zombie = Zomby! As you might imagine, it’s a lot funnier than the original: http://d2rights.blogspot.com/search/label/Zomby