Funky Winkerbean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Funky Winkerbean is a comic strip created by high school teacher Tom Batiuk (pronounced "BAT-ick"), which debuted on March 26, 1972.
The strip is centered on Westview High School and initially focused on several of its students: the title character, Funky Winkerbean, Crazy Harry, Barry Balderman, Bull Bushka, Cindy Summers, Junebug, Leslie P. "Les" Moore, majorette Holly Budd (daughter of Melinda Budd, original majorette for Westview High) and Lisa.
Contents |
[edit] Original form
While the strip's namesake was a visible character, the one whose misadventures began to make him the focus was all-around hapless nice guy Les Moore. Batiuk reserved some of his best visual gags for Les, such as his serving as Hall Monitor while sitting at a desk with a vintage machine gun bolted to it (his symbol of authority). Les, not an impressive physical specimen, had a few battles with rope-climbing in Gym class; once, he made it to the top, was afraid to try to climb down, and had to hang on while an entire Westview varsity basketball game was played below him. When Les began dating the equally nerdy Lisa, their first kiss resulted in their orthodontic braces locking together.
Other students had their own comic twists. Crazy Harry, who lived in his well-equipped school locker at Westview, was able to play frozen pizzas on his record player – and enjoy the music they produced. Holly, regardless of the scene or surroundings, was seen in her majorette costume (sequined leotard, with a bright grin and hands on hips holding her baton). Barry was the most successful student at Westview, while Bull, with his hulking frame, was its dominant athlete, and oftentimes made hapless Les his punching bag. Cindy, the stereotypical "most popular" one, had a hairstyle featuring a sweeping forward point that seemed to extend a foot in front of her.
Characters who served as the school faculty included its Principal, Mr. Burch; typical teacher (and future Principal) Fred Fairgood; teacher (and Fred's future wife) Ann Randall; Coach Jack Stropp (now retired); Cliff, the security guard; and, the still-famous, always-uniformed band director Harry L. Dinkle (who refers to himself as "The World's Greatest Band Director," and is featured in a running gag whereby every "Battle of the Bands" except the first one occurs during a monsoon).
Probably the strangest school staff member in the strip's early years was its Computer, which developed a mind of its own and a taste for being a fan of Star Trek. It even organized Star Trek fan conventions to be held at the school. In another strip, Mr. Burch was informed that the Computer was playing Star Trek games; when he asked how that was evident, he was told that there were several Klingons now signed up for a Math class.
Batiuk frequently puts real-life elements into the strip. For instance, there really was a "Montoni's Pizza" restaurant near Kent State University, from which Batiuk graduated in 1969. Elements from real life Star Trek conventions where he had been either an attendee or a special guest were also included in the strip. After a convention where he had been a guest, the club/clubs who had put on the event would wait in anticipation for "their" special Funky Winkerbean Star Trek convention nod.
The school is also known for their winless football seasons (the school mascot is The Scapegoats, and their perennial losing led to the coach having a nightmare in which he was burned at the stake for that reason). However, one series had Westview winning the state championship as a result of every team having to forfeit their game with Westview. The teams forfeited each game beforehand with the exception of Westview's rival, Big Walnut Tech. Tech obliterated Westview in the championship game, but later forfeited due to using an ineligible player.
[edit] The 1992 reboot
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 the present day. 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 Halloween-themed 1996 story which saw them dressed as Batman and Robin. Funky now co-owns the local pizza parlor with Tony Montoni, Les teaches English at Westview, Crazy Harry is the local mailman, Bull is the Scapegoats' coach, and Cindy is a national-level television newscaster. The strip follows their stories as well as a new generation at Westview, including Wally, Becky, Darin and Monroe. Overtly whimsical elements (such as the sentient computer described above) have been downplayed in favor of more grounded real-life incidents and stories.
In its original form a traditional gag-based strip, Funky is now driven just as often by ongoing narratives with frequent moments of introspection, drama and even tragedy. Though humorous storylines are still a mainstay, Batiuk has 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 adoption. Her son was, unknown to her, adopted by the Fairgoods, was named Darin, and is a current character in the strip.),
- suicide (a student became enamored with Les; when he spurned her interests for Lisa, she attempted suicide, but would later help Les when he fails to obtain his marriage license in time to marry Lisa as the student's father was a judge),
- censorship (a local comic book shop owner was persecuted by moralizers who accused him of corrupting children, and was successfully defended in court by Lisa)
- dyslexia,
- gun violence,
- The death penalty,
- bullying and child abuse (in the early strip format, Bull would constantly torment the very non-athletic Les; in the later strip it was revealed that Bull's father was abusive)
- alcoholism (Funky is a recovering alcoholic), and
- breast cancer (Lisa is a breast cancer survivor, as is Holly Budd. Lisa would later use her law practice to defend a client who was wrongfully fired from her job due to disability. Her cancer returned in a more serious form in March 2006, before going into remission).
In 2005, Batiuk sent Wally and new wife Becky (who herself has only one arm) to Afghanistan as a part of an anti-landmine effort by the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation; he nearly dies after stepping on a landmine. He is saved when his Afghani companion 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 RPG that killed his fellow troops. The couple returns with an adopted daughter left orphaned after her family was killed by a suicide bomber.
[edit] Spinoffs
Two minor characters have been spun off into their own strips: the bus driver Crankshaft in 1987 and the talk show host John Darling in 1979. The latter caused a sensation in 1991 when Batiuk had Darling murdered in the penultimate strip. In Funky Winkerbean, Les Moore wrote a book on Darling's murder and solved the case in a 1997 storyline.
[edit] Comic Connections
Batiuk's neighbor, comic book writer Tony Isabella, 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.
[edit] 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 Funky Winkerbean comic strip in December, 2006. Clark is also a publisher of the C. L. Barnhouse Company, and has published several Funky Winkerbean collections dedicated to the character of Harry L. Dinkle.
