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Funky Winkerbean: "Could Be A Book Deal Here"
Book by Batiuk, Tom
- GenresComics
Paperback
First published November 21, 2000
11 people want to read
About the author
Tom Batiuk
43 books24 followersTom 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. He put his experiences to use in his gag-a-day Funky Winkerbean, which first appeared in print in 1972. With the success of the strip, he abandoned his teaching career, occasionally returning to the classroom to refresh his sources. He authored two spinoff strips, John Darling, which ran from 1979 through 1990, and Crankshaft, which began syndication in 1987. These strips sometimes experience crossovers.
Over the years, Batiuk's strips have taken on an increasing narrative continuity. Starting in 1986, Funky, and to a lesser extent Crankshaft, sometimes abandoned humor to explore serious, even tragic subject matter.
His stories often involve strong drama elements combined with generally rosy outcomes. They also show a strong belief in God, as well as sympathies for the American military. On the other hand, Funky Winkerbean dealt very critically with Intelligent Design, and two students in the strip even did a pro-evolution take-off on Johnny Hart's BC.
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. He put his experiences to use in his gag-a-day Funky Winkerbean, which first appeared in print in 1972. With the success of the strip, he abandoned his teaching career, occasionally returning to the classroom to refresh his sources. He authored two spinoff strips, John Darling, which ran from 1979 through 1990, and Crankshaft, which began syndication in 1987. These strips sometimes experience crossovers.
Over the years, Batiuk's strips have taken on an increasing narrative continuity. Starting in 1986, Funky, and to a lesser extent Crankshaft, sometimes abandoned humor to explore serious, even tragic subject matter.
His stories often involve strong drama elements combined with generally rosy outcomes. They also show a strong belief in God, as well as sympathies for the American military. On the other hand, Funky Winkerbean dealt very critically with Intelligent Design, and two students in the strip even did a pro-evolution take-off on Johnny Hart's BC.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 12, 2025
Almost loved it, after waxing rhapsodic over Batiuk's collaboration in the making of that cranky old codger, Crankshaft! This sure was Us during the rise of the Me-Geners.
Baffled by The Greatest Generation's stoic fortitude during WWII, we Boomers of the Fifties were benficiaries of their hard-gained wealth, and turned their libidos into Flower Power.
So subsequent generations got the receipt for our guilty deceit and our indulgent munificence! From us they took life as a free lunch. So that explains our easy-going attitude as exemplified in later generations.
We all sometimes think life's a gimme.
Well, it's NOT. Or not really, as evinced by the antsy guy on the cover, in the process of being gulled by his therapist.
Hmmm... that shrink looks SO much like mine in the eighties, for while not gulling me, he convinced me I was socially acceptable!
No intense neurotic is socially acceptable. That's why I loved this book. I'm not OK/You're Not OK?
My Mom was like that too... a classic spade is a spade type, like Funky!
So I think, with that, I have nailed the generation gap...
For each new generation is a variation on a theme:
Of Round pegs forcing themselves into Square holes -
Or accelerated "evolutionary" postmodern psychological conditioning making each subsequent generation...
Either Squarer; or more Radically Out of Joint.
Baffled by The Greatest Generation's stoic fortitude during WWII, we Boomers of the Fifties were benficiaries of their hard-gained wealth, and turned their libidos into Flower Power.
So subsequent generations got the receipt for our guilty deceit and our indulgent munificence! From us they took life as a free lunch. So that explains our easy-going attitude as exemplified in later generations.
We all sometimes think life's a gimme.
Well, it's NOT. Or not really, as evinced by the antsy guy on the cover, in the process of being gulled by his therapist.
Hmmm... that shrink looks SO much like mine in the eighties, for while not gulling me, he convinced me I was socially acceptable!
No intense neurotic is socially acceptable. That's why I loved this book. I'm not OK/You're Not OK?
My Mom was like that too... a classic spade is a spade type, like Funky!
So I think, with that, I have nailed the generation gap...
For each new generation is a variation on a theme:
Of Round pegs forcing themselves into Square holes -
Or accelerated "evolutionary" postmodern psychological conditioning making each subsequent generation...
Either Squarer; or more Radically Out of Joint.
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April 10, 2023I read this strip for a long time but missed many years too. This story is from the mid 90's and includes Les and Lisa's marriage and Susan Smith's attempted suicide.
May 11, 2010
this book has the crazy Susan Smith storyline!!
August 28, 2016
A collection of the newspaper strips. Storylines include Les' student Susan having a dangerous crush on him, and Les chases Lisa all over Italy in order to propose to her.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews