Funky Winkerbean
Encyclopedia
Funky Winkerbean is a comic strip
created by high school
teacher
Tom Batiuk
, which debuted on March 27, 1972.
The strip is centered on Westview High School and initially focused on several of its students: the title character, Funky Winkerbean, Crazy Harry Klinghorn, Barry Balderman, Bull Bushka, Cindy Summers, Junebug, Roland, Livinia, Leslie P. "Les" Moore, majorette Holly Budd (daughter of Melinda Budd, original majorette for Westview High) and Lisa Crawford.
Since its inception, the strip has gone through several format changes. For the first twenty years of its run, the characters did not age, and the strip was nominally episodic
as opposed to a serial, with humor derived from visual gag
s and the eccentricity of the characters. In 1992, Batiuk rebooted the strip, establishing that the characters had graduated high-school in 1988, and the series began progressing in real time. In 2007 a second "time warp" occurred, this time taking the strip ten years in the future, ostensibly to 2017, although the events of the strip still reflect a contemporary setting. Since the 1992 reboot, and especially since the 2007 time jump, the strip has been recast as a drama, featuring story arcs revolving around such topics as terminal cancer, prisoners of war, drug abuse, and post traumatic stress.
and surreal situations: Running gag
s included the school's computer having become sentient and subjecting the students to its obsession with Star Trek
; student "Crazy" Harry's ability to play pizzas like records; the school's winless football team; and band director Harry L. Dinkle's attempts to win each year's "Battle of the Bands," despite the contest always coinciding with a natural disaster.
Though the titular everyman Funky Winkerbean was the ostensible main character, nerds Les Moore and Lisa Crawford became breakout character
s and the primary focus of the strip. Supporting characters included obsessive majorette Holly (who never removed her costume), "Crazy" Harry (who lived in his locker), "Bull" Bushka (the school's star athlete and Les' bully), and popular girl Cindy. Rounding out the cast was the Westview High staff, including Principal Burch, counselor Fred Fairgood, secretary Betty Reynolds (who actually ran the school), football coach John "Jack" Stropp and band director Harry L. Dinkle.
-themed 1996 story which saw them dressed as Batman
and Robin. Funky now co-owned the local pizza parlor with Tony Montoni, Les taught English at Westview, Crazy Harry was the local mailman
, Bull was the Scapegoats' coach, and Cindy was a national-level television newscaster. The strip followed their stories as well as those of a new generation at Westview, including Wally, Becky, Darin and Monroe. Overtly whimsical elements were now downplayed in favor of more grounded real-life incidents and stories, and some of the series' running gags from the '72-'92 years were recast in a more serious light. For instance, Bull's bullying of Les became the focus of a storyline on domestic violence when it was revealed that Bull tormented Les to cope with being beaten by his own father.
Though humorous storylines remained mainstay, Batiuk also examined real-life contemporary issues not normally seen on the comics page, such as:
A recurring storyline for many years was Lisa Moore's battle with breast cancer. She first dealt with it when she was diagnosed in 1999. Soon after, she learned that Holly Budd was also a breast cancer survivor. After going through chemotherapy
and a mastectomy
, Lisa's cancer went into remission. Lisa would later use her law practice to defend a client who was wrongfully fired from her job due to disability, and still later, a client unjustly charged with selling pornographic comic books to children.
In March 2006, Lisa's cancer returned in a more serious form. Following another round of chemo, her cancer appeared to go into remission again in early 2007, but on May 9, 2007, her doctor revealed that her medical charts had gotten mixed up and her disease was not only progressing, but had become inoperable. In a King Features press release, it was revealed that "Lisa will start chemo again, learn that her long-range prospects aren't hopeful, stop chemo, deal with telling her daughter about her cancer situation, [and] testify before Congress about the need for cancer research and cope with friends and family." Batiuk was very open about the fact that Lisa's latest ordeal would end with her death and some of the events that would take place as a result.
The series polarized the comics community, with Batiuk being both praised for dealing with the topic and criticized for his graphic depiction of Lisa's slow deterioration and ultimate death.
The entire storyline, which did culminate with Lisa's death in the October 4, 2007, strip (excerpt at right), was collected and published in a book entitled Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe. This book, which includes the strips from Lisa's initial battle with cancer (which had itself been collected in book form in 2004), was in fact published before the series had finished running in syndication.
After the May 2007 strip ran, Tom Batiuk discussed his reasoning for pursuing the plotline, stating that he was inspired by his own personal battle against prostate cancer.
On October 21, 2007, Funky Winkerbean underwent its second "time warp," this time jumping ahead to a point ten years following Lisa's death and aging the cast of characters accordingly; those that were children are now high school age, and the original cast are in their mid-40s. Readers actually got a small "preview" of the new-look feature starting in the October 5 strip, in which a now middle-aged Les talks to an unseen psychologist
about events that immediately followed Lisa's passing, which are then depicted in flashback form. The strip on the 21st showed a younger Les talking with Summer about death in general to help her understand that of Lisa's, before switching to the new-look Moores in the closing frames, and the first week of strips that followed, following the Moores participating in a Making Strides
walk, had a banner saying "Act III: Ten Years Later" in the first frame (an "Act III" statement directing readers to the official website would be discretely included in fine print for some time afterwards).
The relaunched Funky, Batiuk claimed, "is going to be a different strip, a little bit quieter." He also promises that despite Lisa's death, she will remain a presence in strip through flashbacks, remembrances, and a series of videos she recorded for daughter Summer just before she died. Montoni's will have opened several locations, including in New York City, Summer will have grown into a popular 15-year-old basketball star (in contrast to her geeky father), and Bull's adopted daughter Jinx, as well as Becky's adopted daughter Rana, are high-school aged. Batiuk explained that he wanted the comic to move so far ahead in order to prevent it from being an extended grieving process, to ensure that the next generation of students he followed were related to the original cast of characters, and that he wanted to bring the ages of his original characters closer to that of his current target audience. After the flash forward, all of the strip's prominent adult male characters – Funky, Les, Bull and Crazy Harry – are 46 years old. Though it has been revealed on FunkyWinkerbean.com that he will be appearing in the future in a storyline aimed at helping veterans returning from the current conflicts.
Wally Winkerbean — who had returned to Iraq before the relaunch — is not in the core cast as shown on the Funky Winkerbean website, and it was also revealed that Becky had remarried sometime in the 10 years between Lisa's death and the flash-forward. For nearly two years after the relaunch, Wally's fate remained unknown, although early on, Batiuk wrote on his blog that what happened to Wally "may not be what you think happened." Batiuk also revealed that a "clue" to Wally's fate could be found in the October 11 strip which features Les getting mugged in New York after Lisa's death after walking past a newspaper vending machine with a headline saying "Soldiers Taken Hostage".
Several strips made allusions to Wally's disappearance, including one featuring Becky Howard's car having a POW/MIA bumper sticker
and her placing a U.S. flag on an unidentified grave. In the July 12, 2009, strip, it is finally shown that Wally is alive and in full military uniform; a backstory revealed that Funky had gotten a call from his ex-wife, Cindy, informing him that Wally was alive and that she had conducted an interview that was to air on the news that evening. It was revealed that Wally had been held as a prisoner of war in Iraq for the past decade (possibly taken hostage around the time of Lisa's death), and — unaware that he was presumed dead and that Becky had remarried — stated during that interview that what kept him sane during his time in captivity was thinking about his wife and family. Funky visits the Howards to reveal that Wally was alive and in good health. In the August 9, 2009, strip, it was revealed that the grave Becky had visited all these years was that of Wally's assumed remains. Wally has made occasional appearances since his return to Westview, and made his first appearance as a central character in a storyline that began February 1, 2010, strip.
Darin Fairgood, another prominent character who appeared in the strip throughout the 1990s and 2000s, had also been unseen since the 2007 relaunch, but has recently reappeared in the strip helping his old high school buddy Pete Roberts move back into town. Pete is the latest resident of the apartment above Montoni's (Les and Lisa lived there before buying their home. Becky and Wally took it over, and then apparently during the time jump John and Becky lived there together before John turned it into a storage space for his comics, probably since the basement shop has flooded in the past).
During 2010, Funky became the central character in a storyline in which he has a flashback to his high school days 30 years earlier in Westview. The flashback ran concurrently with a storyline where Funky was seriously injured in a car accident, caused by a young woman whose car veers into the path of Funky's car while she was talking on a cellular telephone while driving
. During several flashback scenes, Funky had seen (and in some cases, visited with) teen-aged versions of himself, Crazy Harry and Holly Budd (Funky's wife-to-be), and a younger Mr. Dinkle - all as they appeared in Funky Winkerbean strips in the early 1980s. Although the recovery aspect of the accident storyline continued into the fall, the flashback scenes ended when Funky regained consciousness at the hospital.
The continuity of the Crankshaft
strip is as much as twenty years behind that of Funky Winkerbean
; strips in both comics in August and September of 2011 show Cayla Williams, a high school teacher and Les' fiancee, with a teenage daughter of her own, to be a high school-age student in the former.
(which turned out in the next strip to be him playing a computer game), including two papers that ran the strip receiving irate phone calls and letters to the editor, led to Batiuk issuing an apology soon after the strip ran.
Reactions to the most recent chapter of Lisa's Story led to further complaints over the comic's gloomy content, and Batiuk has mentioned in interviews about the storyline that he has received complaints about the current direction of the storyline. Web comic Shortpacked produced a satirical strip in which most of the words of Funky Winkerbean characters' dialogue are replaced by the word "cancer." The Comics Curmudgeon also makes frequent reference to the seemingly unremitting gloom of the strip, calling it "a black hole of bleakness and depression and cancer from which no joy or laughter can escape."
A Crankshaft
strip from May 23, 2007, sarcastically addresses the more recent controversies from Batiuk's perspective, with a character remarking of newspaper comic strips that "everyone knows they're supposed to be funny". In the Funky Winkerbean strip published on September 30, 2007, Les essentially echoes the Crankshaft comment.
In a September 2009 storyline which many readers also interpreted as Batiuk's addressing of the strip's latter-day bleakness, a group of parents protested a school production of Wit
because the themes of cancer and death offended them. In her defense of the play, the character of Susan Smith, a Westview High teacher and drama director, was viewed by critics as a mouthpiece for Batiuk's views on the importance of dramatic entertainment.
Over the week of July 7, 2008, Pearls Before Swine
parodied the tendency of Funky Winkerbean towards killing off main characters when it killed off Rat and the strip's own author, Stephan Pastis
(the two would later be returned to the strip via the intervention of United Feature Syndicate), even utilizing Batiuk's representation of the Angel of Death. A year earlier Pastis had drawn a strip parodying the seemingly revolving door of changes in Lisa Moore's condition in Funky Winkerbean and actually got the blessing from Batiuk to run it, but pulled the strip before it was supposed to run because he did not want to cause any more controversy than the storyline itself was already creating.
in 1987 and the talk show host John Darling
in 1979. The latter caused a sensation in 1990 when Batiuk had Darling murder
ed in the penultimate strip. In Funky Winkerbean, Les Moore wrote a book on Darling's murder and solved the case in a 1997 storyline.
, occasionally appears in the strip as himself. Another comic book creator, super-hero artist John Byrne, drew ten weeks of the strip while Batiuk was recovering from foot surgery, and has appeared in the strip himself as a character. Batiuk also occasionally parodies covers of classic Silver Age comics to comment on storyline elements in the strip itself.
The character Harry L. Dinkle, the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Band Director," is based on the director of The Ohio State University Marching Band
. Professor Dinkle is based on a composite of past and current directors Dr. Paul Droste and Dr. Jon Woods. In addition, a 2006 article from the Cleveland Free Times that is published on the FunkyWinkerbean.com website asserts that Harry L. Dinkle is based on Harry Pfingsten, a retired band director from Avon Lake, Ohio, who was the band director of the junior high school that Tom Batiuk attended. "Dinkles", a brand of shoe designed for marching bands, is named after the character and claims to have been endorsed by Dinkle since 1986.
After the second time skip, Batiuk designed the comic book store around the shop he frequents, Ground Zero Comics and Cards in Strongsville, Ohio
. Captain America's shield
that is frequently shown in the background is a real mantlepiece in the shop.
Montoni's Pizza is modeled after Luigi's - an Italian restaurant and pizzeria in downtown Akron, Ohio
. There is a framed and signed Funky Winkerbean strip hung in the restaurant. The band box frequently shown in the interior of the shop above the entrance is an actual fixture in the restaurant.
, and has published several Funky Winkerbean collections dedicated to the character of Harry L. Dinkle.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
created by high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
Tom Batiuk
Tom Batiuk
Tom Batiuk is an American comic strip creator. His best-known comic strip is Funky Winkerbean.Batiuk attended Kent State University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in painting. He went on to teach art in junior high school...
, which debuted on March 27, 1972.
The strip is centered on Westview High School and initially focused on several of its students: the title character, Funky Winkerbean, Crazy Harry Klinghorn, Barry Balderman, Bull Bushka, Cindy Summers, Junebug, Roland, Livinia, Leslie P. "Les" Moore, majorette Holly Budd (daughter of Melinda Budd, original majorette for Westview High) and Lisa Crawford.
Since its inception, the strip has gone through several format changes. For the first twenty years of its run, the characters did not age, and the strip was nominally episodic
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
as opposed to a serial, with humor derived from visual gag
Visual gag
In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humor visually, often without words being used at all.There are numerous examples in cinema history of directors who based most of the humour in their films on visual gags, even to the point of using no or minimal dialogue...
s and the eccentricity of the characters. In 1992, Batiuk rebooted the strip, establishing that the characters had graduated high-school in 1988, and the series began progressing in real time. In 2007 a second "time warp" occurred, this time taking the strip ten years in the future, ostensibly to 2017, although the events of the strip still reflect a contemporary setting. Since the 1992 reboot, and especially since the 2007 time jump, the strip has been recast as a drama, featuring story arcs revolving around such topics as terminal cancer, prisoners of war, drug abuse, and post traumatic stress.
Original form
From 1972 to 1992, the strip was highly gag oriented, with humor coming from physical and prop comedyProp comedy
Prop comedy is a comedy genre that makes use of humorous objects, or conventional objects used in humorous ways. The stage and film term "prop", an abbreviation of "property", refers to any object handled by an actor in the course of a performance. Although some form of prop comedy has likely...
and surreal situations: Running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
s included the school's computer having become sentient and subjecting the students to its obsession with Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
; student "Crazy" Harry's ability to play pizzas like records; the school's winless football team; and band director Harry L. Dinkle's attempts to win each year's "Battle of the Bands," despite the contest always coinciding with a natural disaster.
Though the titular everyman Funky Winkerbean was the ostensible main character, nerds Les Moore and Lisa Crawford became breakout character
Breakout character
A breakout character is a fictional character in different episodes, books or other media that becomes the most popular, talked about, and imitated. Most often a breakout character in a television series captures the audience's imagination and helps to popularize the show, sometimes inadvertently...
s and the primary focus of the strip. Supporting characters included obsessive majorette Holly (who never removed her costume), "Crazy" Harry (who lived in his locker), "Bull" Bushka (the school's star athlete and Les' bully), and popular girl Cindy. Rounding out the cast was the Westview High staff, including Principal Burch, counselor Fred Fairgood, secretary Betty Reynolds (who actually ran the school), football coach John "Jack" Stropp and band director Harry L. Dinkle.
The 1992 relaunch
In 1992, Batiuk changed the strip's format. It was established that Funky, Les, Cindy and all the rest of the previous cast had graduated from Westview in 1988; their college years were skipped, and the story continued in their adulthood. Subsequently, the characters started to age in real time and undergo significant life changes. Funky married Cindy in 1998; they are now divorced. Les and Lisa married in a HalloweenHalloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
-themed 1996 story which saw them dressed as Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
and Robin. Funky now co-owned the local pizza parlor with Tony Montoni, Les taught English at Westview, Crazy Harry was the local mailman
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
, Bull was the Scapegoats' coach, and Cindy was a national-level television newscaster. The strip followed their stories as well as those of a new generation at Westview, including Wally, Becky, Darin and Monroe. Overtly whimsical elements were now downplayed in favor of more grounded real-life incidents and stories, and some of the series' running gags from the '72-'92 years were recast in a more serious light. For instance, Bull's bullying of Les became the focus of a storyline on domestic violence when it was revealed that Bull tormented Les to cope with being beaten by his own father.
Though humorous storylines remained mainstay, Batiuk also examined real-life contemporary issues not normally seen on the comics page, such as:
- teen pregnancy — Lisa became pregnant as a teenager; she placed the child for adoptionAdoptionAdoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
. Her son was, unknown to her, adopted by the Fairgoods, was named Darin, and is a current character in the strip. In July 2007, the two (unbeknownst to each other) filed paperwork in an attempt to contact one another. The two meet shortly before Lisa's death. - suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
— A student named Susan Smith becomes deeply enamored with Les, but the crush on her teacher is unrequited due to his commitment to Lisa. Susan then attempts suicide, but she gets medical attention in time. Later, Susan — apparently accepting the fact that Les was unavailable — would later help Les get his marriage license when he fails to obtain it in time. - teen dating violenceDating abuseDating abuse or dating violence is defined as the perpetration or threat of an act of violence by at least one member of an unmarried couple on the other member within the context of dating or courtship. It is also when one partner tries to maintain power and control over the other through...
— After her appearance in the suicide storyline, Susan began dating Westview High star quarterback and "big man on campus" Matt Miller, who is abusive and possessive with her. Les and Lisa are able to intervene and empower Susan to end the relationship. It was also revealed that Lisa's ex-boyfriend, Frankie, had abused a teen-aged Lisa during their relationship before he got her pregnant. - censorshipCensorshipthumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
— John Howard, owner of the Comic Book Emporium, was persecuted by moralizers who accused him of corrupting children. Lisa successfully defends John in court. - dyslexiaDyslexiaDyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
— Westview's top student, Barry Balderman once failed to take his exams, and thus failed to graduate. Barry was required to enroll in summer school, where he realized one of his classmates was having trouble. Being dyslexic himself, Barry was able to diagnose the problem correctly. - gun violenceGun violenceGun violence defined literally means the use of a firearm to threaten or inflict violence or harm. Gun violence may be broadly defined as a category of violence and crime committed with the use of a firearm; it may or may not include actions ruled as self-defense, actions for law enforcement, or...
— A student brings a gun to school, where the firearm accidentally discharges. Principal Fairgood refuses to accept the student's "it was a mistake" rationale and suspends him. - steroidSteroidA steroid is a type of organic compound that contains a characteristic arrangement of four cycloalkane rings that are joined to each other. Examples of steroids include the dietary fat cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.The core...
s — Les is frustrated and exhausted at his efforts at weightlifting, and has a sudden dream of himself becoming instantly strong by using steroids. While he has some benefits such as being able to rip the infamous gym rope from the ceiling, his attempts to join the football team are rejected when the coach says it is obvious Les has been using steroids, and he starts seeing the side effects such as acneAcneAcne is a general term used for acneiform eruptions. It is usually used as a synonym for acne vulgaris, but may also refer to:*Acne aestivalis*Acne conglobata*Acne cosmetica*Acne fulminans*Acne keloidalis nuchae*Acne mechanica...
, which then scares him enough to wake up. - capital punishmentCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
- alcoholismAlcoholismAlcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
— The story of Funky's struggle with alcoholism and recovery was compiled by Tom Batiuk in the book My Name is Funky and I'm an Alcoholic. The book also provides information on how to help someone suffering with alcoholism. - drunk driving — A teen-aged Wally Winkerbean and his girlfriend, Becky Blackburn, get drunk at a party. While driving home, Wally drives his car off the road and the car rolls over. Becky is critically injured and eventually has her arm amputated, as part of a story arc exploring the consequences of Wally's actions.
- land mineLand mineA land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
s in AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
— In 2005, Batiuk sent newlyweds Wally and Becky to AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
as a part of an anti-landmine effort by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation; Wally nearly dies after stepping on a landmine. He is saved when his Afghan companion Kahn manages to knock the mine away (which was a design that launches the explosive to chest level), only to be punched out for selling the StingerFIM-92 StingerThe FIM-92 Stinger is a personal portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile , which can be adapted to fire from ground vehicles and helicopters , developed in the United States and entered into service in 1981. Used by the militaries of the U.S...
that killed his fellow troops. The couple returns with an adopted daughter, Rana, who was left orphaned after her family was killed by a suicide bomber.
Lisa's story
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
and a mastectomy
Mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. Mastectomy is usually done to treat breast cancer; in some cases, women and some men believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operation prophylactically, that is, to prevent cancer...
, Lisa's cancer went into remission. Lisa would later use her law practice to defend a client who was wrongfully fired from her job due to disability, and still later, a client unjustly charged with selling pornographic comic books to children.
In March 2006, Lisa's cancer returned in a more serious form. Following another round of chemo, her cancer appeared to go into remission again in early 2007, but on May 9, 2007, her doctor revealed that her medical charts had gotten mixed up and her disease was not only progressing, but had become inoperable. In a King Features press release, it was revealed that "Lisa will start chemo again, learn that her long-range prospects aren't hopeful, stop chemo, deal with telling her daughter about her cancer situation, [and] testify before Congress about the need for cancer research and cope with friends and family." Batiuk was very open about the fact that Lisa's latest ordeal would end with her death and some of the events that would take place as a result.
The series polarized the comics community, with Batiuk being both praised for dealing with the topic and criticized for his graphic depiction of Lisa's slow deterioration and ultimate death.
The entire storyline, which did culminate with Lisa's death in the October 4, 2007, strip (excerpt at right), was collected and published in a book entitled Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe. This book, which includes the strips from Lisa's initial battle with cancer (which had itself been collected in book form in 2004), was in fact published before the series had finished running in syndication.
After the May 2007 strip ran, Tom Batiuk discussed his reasoning for pursuing the plotline, stating that he was inspired by his own personal battle against prostate cancer.
The second time jump
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
about events that immediately followed Lisa's passing, which are then depicted in flashback form. The strip on the 21st showed a younger Les talking with Summer about death in general to help her understand that of Lisa's, before switching to the new-look Moores in the closing frames, and the first week of strips that followed, following the Moores participating in a Making Strides
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...
walk, had a banner saying "Act III: Ten Years Later" in the first frame (an "Act III" statement directing readers to the official website would be discretely included in fine print for some time afterwards).
The relaunched Funky, Batiuk claimed, "is going to be a different strip, a little bit quieter." He also promises that despite Lisa's death, she will remain a presence in strip through flashbacks, remembrances, and a series of videos she recorded for daughter Summer just before she died. Montoni's will have opened several locations, including in New York City, Summer will have grown into a popular 15-year-old basketball star (in contrast to her geeky father), and Bull's adopted daughter Jinx, as well as Becky's adopted daughter Rana, are high-school aged. Batiuk explained that he wanted the comic to move so far ahead in order to prevent it from being an extended grieving process, to ensure that the next generation of students he followed were related to the original cast of characters, and that he wanted to bring the ages of his original characters closer to that of his current target audience. After the flash forward, all of the strip's prominent adult male characters – Funky, Les, Bull and Crazy Harry – are 46 years old. Though it has been revealed on FunkyWinkerbean.com that he will be appearing in the future in a storyline aimed at helping veterans returning from the current conflicts.
Wally Winkerbean — who had returned to Iraq before the relaunch — is not in the core cast as shown on the Funky Winkerbean website, and it was also revealed that Becky had remarried sometime in the 10 years between Lisa's death and the flash-forward. For nearly two years after the relaunch, Wally's fate remained unknown, although early on, Batiuk wrote on his blog that what happened to Wally "may not be what you think happened." Batiuk also revealed that a "clue" to Wally's fate could be found in the October 11 strip which features Les getting mugged in New York after Lisa's death after walking past a newspaper vending machine with a headline saying "Soldiers Taken Hostage".
Several strips made allusions to Wally's disappearance, including one featuring Becky Howard's car having a POW/MIA bumper sticker
Bumper sticker
A bumper sticker is an adhesive label or sticker with a message, intended to be attached to the bumper of an automobile and to be read by the occupants of other vehicles - although they are often stuck onto other objects...
and her placing a U.S. flag on an unidentified grave. In the July 12, 2009, strip, it is finally shown that Wally is alive and in full military uniform; a backstory revealed that Funky had gotten a call from his ex-wife, Cindy, informing him that Wally was alive and that she had conducted an interview that was to air on the news that evening. It was revealed that Wally had been held as a prisoner of war in Iraq for the past decade (possibly taken hostage around the time of Lisa's death), and — unaware that he was presumed dead and that Becky had remarried — stated during that interview that what kept him sane during his time in captivity was thinking about his wife and family. Funky visits the Howards to reveal that Wally was alive and in good health. In the August 9, 2009, strip, it was revealed that the grave Becky had visited all these years was that of Wally's assumed remains. Wally has made occasional appearances since his return to Westview, and made his first appearance as a central character in a storyline that began February 1, 2010, strip.
Darin Fairgood, another prominent character who appeared in the strip throughout the 1990s and 2000s, had also been unseen since the 2007 relaunch, but has recently reappeared in the strip helping his old high school buddy Pete Roberts move back into town. Pete is the latest resident of the apartment above Montoni's (Les and Lisa lived there before buying their home. Becky and Wally took it over, and then apparently during the time jump John and Becky lived there together before John turned it into a storage space for his comics, probably since the basement shop has flooded in the past).
During 2010, Funky became the central character in a storyline in which he has a flashback to his high school days 30 years earlier in Westview. The flashback ran concurrently with a storyline where Funky was seriously injured in a car accident, caused by a young woman whose car veers into the path of Funky's car while she was talking on a cellular telephone while driving
Mobile phones and driving safety
Mobile phone use while driving is common, but dangerous. Due to the number of accidents that are related to cell phone use while driving, some jurisdictions have made the use of a cell phone while driving illegal. Others have enacted laws to ban handheld mobile phone use, but allow use of a...
. During several flashback scenes, Funky had seen (and in some cases, visited with) teen-aged versions of himself, Crazy Harry and Holly Budd (Funky's wife-to-be), and a younger Mr. Dinkle - all as they appeared in Funky Winkerbean strips in the early 1980s. Although the recovery aspect of the accident storyline continued into the fall, the flashback scenes ended when Funky regained consciousness at the hospital.
The continuity of the Crankshaft
Crankshaft (comic strip)
Crankshaft is an eponymous comic strip about an elderly, curmudgeonly school bus driver which debuted on June 8, 1987. Written by Tom Batiuk and drawn by Chuck Ayers, Crankshaft is a spin-off from Batiuk’s comic strip Funky Winkerbean....
strip is as much as twenty years behind that of Funky Winkerbean
Funky Winkerbean
Funky Winkerbean is a comic strip created by high school teacher Tom Batiuk , which debuted on March 27, 1972.The strip is centered on Westview High School and initially focused on several of its students: the title character, Funky Winkerbean, Crazy Harry Klinghorn, Barry Balderman, Bull Bushka,...
; strips in both comics in August and September of 2011 show Cayla Williams, a high school teacher and Les' fiancee, with a teenage daughter of her own, to be a high school-age student in the former.
Controversy
The more dramatic turns of the storyline have led to mixed responses from readers. Negative reaction to a 2007 strip featuring Wally getting blown up by an I.E.D.Improvised explosive device
An improvised explosive device , also known as a roadside bomb, is a homemade bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action...
(which turned out in the next strip to be him playing a computer game), including two papers that ran the strip receiving irate phone calls and letters to the editor, led to Batiuk issuing an apology soon after the strip ran.
Reactions to the most recent chapter of Lisa's Story led to further complaints over the comic's gloomy content, and Batiuk has mentioned in interviews about the storyline that he has received complaints about the current direction of the storyline. Web comic Shortpacked produced a satirical strip in which most of the words of Funky Winkerbean characters' dialogue are replaced by the word "cancer." The Comics Curmudgeon also makes frequent reference to the seemingly unremitting gloom of the strip, calling it "a black hole of bleakness and depression and cancer from which no joy or laughter can escape."
A Crankshaft
Crankshaft (comic strip)
Crankshaft is an eponymous comic strip about an elderly, curmudgeonly school bus driver which debuted on June 8, 1987. Written by Tom Batiuk and drawn by Chuck Ayers, Crankshaft is a spin-off from Batiuk’s comic strip Funky Winkerbean....
strip from May 23, 2007, sarcastically addresses the more recent controversies from Batiuk's perspective, with a character remarking of newspaper comic strips that "everyone knows they're supposed to be funny". In the Funky Winkerbean strip published on September 30, 2007, Les essentially echoes the Crankshaft comment.
In a September 2009 storyline which many readers also interpreted as Batiuk's addressing of the strip's latter-day bleakness, a group of parents protested a school production of Wit
Wit (play)
Wit is a play written by American playwright Margaret Edson. Edson used her work experience in a hospital as part of the inspiration for her play. Wit received its world premiere at South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California, in 1995...
because the themes of cancer and death offended them. In her defense of the play, the character of Susan Smith, a Westview High teacher and drama director, was viewed by critics as a mouthpiece for Batiuk's views on the importance of dramatic entertainment.
Over the week of July 7, 2008, Pearls Before Swine
Pearls Before Swine (comic strip)
Pearls Before Swine is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Stephan Pastis, who was formerly a lawyer in San Francisco, California. It chronicles the daily lives of four anthropomorphic animals, Pig, Rat, Zebra, and Goat, as well as a number of supporting characters...
parodied the tendency of Funky Winkerbean towards killing off main characters when it killed off Rat and the strip's own author, Stephan Pastis
Stephan Pastis
Stephan Thomas Pastis is an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip Pearls Before Swine.-Background:...
(the two would later be returned to the strip via the intervention of United Feature Syndicate), even utilizing Batiuk's representation of the Angel of Death. A year earlier Pastis had drawn a strip parodying the seemingly revolving door of changes in Lisa Moore's condition in Funky Winkerbean and actually got the blessing from Batiuk to run it, but pulled the strip before it was supposed to run because he did not want to cause any more controversy than the storyline itself was already creating.
Spinoffs
Two minor characters have been spun off into their own strips: the bus driver CrankshaftCrankshaft (comic strip)
Crankshaft is an eponymous comic strip about an elderly, curmudgeonly school bus driver which debuted on June 8, 1987. Written by Tom Batiuk and drawn by Chuck Ayers, Crankshaft is a spin-off from Batiuk’s comic strip Funky Winkerbean....
in 1987 and the talk show host John Darling
John Darling
John Darling was a comic strip, created by Tom Batiuk, about a talk show host. It appeared from March 25, 1979 to August 4, 1991.John Darling was originally a supporting character in Batiuk's strip Funky Winkerbean. Popular with readers, he was spun off into his own strip...
in 1979. The latter caused a sensation in 1990 when Batiuk had Darling murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
ed in the penultimate strip. In Funky Winkerbean, Les Moore wrote a book on Darling's murder and solved the case in a 1997 storyline.
Comic connections
Batiuk's neighbor, comic book writer Tony IsabellaTony Isabella
Tony Isabella is an American comic book writer, editor, artist and critic, known as the creator and writer of Marvel Comics' Black Goliath, DC Comics' first major African American superhero, Black Lightning, and as a columnist and critic for the Comics Buyer's Guide.-Marvel Comics:Before he joined...
, occasionally appears in the strip as himself. Another comic book creator, super-hero artist John Byrne, drew ten weeks of the strip while Batiuk was recovering from foot surgery, and has appeared in the strip himself as a character. Batiuk also occasionally parodies covers of classic Silver Age comics to comment on storyline elements in the strip itself.
The character Harry L. Dinkle, the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Band Director," is based on the director of The Ohio State University Marching Band
The Ohio State University Marching Band
The Ohio State University Marching Band performs at Ohio State football games and other events during the fall quarter...
. Professor Dinkle is based on a composite of past and current directors Dr. Paul Droste and Dr. Jon Woods. In addition, a 2006 article from the Cleveland Free Times that is published on the FunkyWinkerbean.com website asserts that Harry L. Dinkle is based on Harry Pfingsten, a retired band director from Avon Lake, Ohio, who was the band director of the junior high school that Tom Batiuk attended. "Dinkles", a brand of shoe designed for marching bands, is named after the character and claims to have been endorsed by Dinkle since 1986.
After the second time skip, Batiuk designed the comic book store around the shop he frequents, Ground Zero Comics and Cards in Strongsville, Ohio
Strongsville, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 43,858 people, 16,209 households, and 12,383 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,779.6 people per square mile . There were 16,863 housing units at an average density of 684.2 per square mile...
. Captain America's shield
Captain America's shield
Captain America's shield is a fictional item, the primary defensive and offensive piece of equipment used by the Marvel Comics superhero Captain America; he is seldom seen without it. Over the years, Captain America has had the use of several different shields of varying composition and design...
that is frequently shown in the background is a real mantlepiece in the shop.
Montoni's Pizza is modeled after Luigi's - an Italian restaurant and pizzeria in downtown Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
. There is a framed and signed Funky Winkerbean strip hung in the restaurant. The band box frequently shown in the interior of the shop above the entrance is an actual fixture in the restaurant.
Musical
Batiuk assisted in the writing of a musical based on the strip, called Funky Winkerbean's Homecoming and set in the era while Funky was still a student at Westview High. This musical is still popular among high school drama groups. The musical was co-written by Andy Clark, who appeared as himself in the comic strip in December 2006. Clark is also a publisher of the C. L. Barnhouse CompanyC. L. Barnhouse Company
The C. L. Barnhouse Company is an American music publishing firm. It was founded in 1886 by Charles Lloyd Barnhouse. It has been headquartered in Oskaloosa, Iowa since 1891....
, and has published several Funky Winkerbean collections dedicated to the character of Harry L. Dinkle.
External links
- Official Funky Winkerbean Website
- Funky Winkerbean at King Features
- Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers
- Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe by Tom Batiuk
- Batiuk and the "Dinkle's" band-accessory store
- Toonopedia entry
- Free Times profile on Batiuk and upcoming changes in Funky Winkerbean
- Son of Stuck Funky, a blog offering a daily critique and commentary on the Funky Winkerbean comic strip