Funky Winkerbean: Difference between revisions

In the beginning, namely, [[The Seventies]], this was a simple gag-per-day strip set at a [[High School]] in "Westview," a [[Where the Hell Is Springfield?|nondescript suburb]]<ref>Westview High School was modeled primarily after Midview High School in [[wikipedia:Grafton Township, Lorain County, Ohio|Grafton Township]], of which [http://www.newsnet5.com/news/local-news/oh-medina/comics-crankshaft-and-funky-winkerbean-come-from-mind-and-talent-of-northeast-ohio-cartoonist Batiuk graduated from in 1965] and [http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/2012/04/19/creator-of-popular-comic-strip-tackles-gay-rights/ still visits regularly]. Montoni's Pizza was based off of Luigi's Pizza in Akron, and the town square has loosely been modeled after the town square in [[wikipedia: Medina, Ohio|Medina]].</ref> of [[Cleveland Rocks|Cleveland, Ohio]]. With [[Hurricane of Puns|a literal hurricane]] of [[Punny Names]], [[Lame Pun|corny jokes]] that would rival ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'', and all characters locked in [[Comic Book Time]], this strip was a dependable, if not remarkable, fixture on the comics page.

Regular gags/stories during "'''Act I'''" involved, among other things, silly answers to test questions, Les Moore's incompetence at gym, [[AI Is a Crapshoot|a sentient school computer]] with [[Teleporters and Transporters|a transporter beam]], Holly Budd's ability to [[Doing the Impossible|burst into flames whenever she performed her routine]], the follies of the perpetually winless high school football team -- nicknamed the ''[[Failure Is the Only Option|Westview Scapegoats]]'' -- and Harold Dinkle's attempts to win the Battle of the Bands (which was generally rained out). As ''Funky'' primarily had the most appeal in the Cleveland area, cameos by celebrities from the region occasionally took place. Basically, it was light-hearted fare, even when Lisa became pregnant in [[Very Special Episode|a 1986 teen-pregnancy storyline]].

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* [[Age Cut]]: [[Time Skip]] II officially began with a [http://www.chron.com/apps/comics/showComick.mpl?date=20071021&name=Funky_Winkerbean Sunday strip]. Les began to say "You know your mother would be proud..." while young Summer and he hold hands. The next panel is a much older Summer's hand still holding his. Les finishes with "...of the young woman you've become" as the final panel shows the teenaged Summer and middle aged Les.

* [[Always Someone Better]]: Keisha, Summer's basketball rival whose great talent overshadows her and thus deprives her of her love for athletics. And now Keisha and Summer are step-sisters.

* [[Business as Unusual]]: Funky took over the town pizzeria from founder Tony Montoni. For unexplained reasons, during the second time skip, Funky was able to build a chain of Montoni's pizzerias, and even launched one in New York City. After Funky instituted cost-cutting measures that cut down on the quality of the pizzas made, the franchise collapsed with all the locations - excluding the one in Westview - closed in early 2010. Les and Funky's dialog following the failure of Montoni's - in which they blame "greedy, amoral morons" - could be considered as a [[Take That, Critics!|thinly veiled attack at the comics' critics by Batiuk]].

* [[Call Back]]: Funky's time traveling is real since he's the "old geezer" who told his younger self to save the comic book.

* [[Cerebus Retcon]]: Several sitcom-y plot points were retconned into something significantly ''less'' funny.

** The most recent retcon (as of October 2010) has Les reminiscing about the book tour and lectures he gave after the publication of his book about John Darling. In the original strip, however, Les lost the Darling manuscript; although it was later found, he never published or promoted it. Bizarrely, Les looks the same age in the reminiscences as he does now, even though the Darling book was supposedly published before the [[Time Skip]].

* [[Failure Is the Only Option]]: The principle this universe runs on.

* [[Fan Nickname]]: "Masky McDeath", "Funky Cancerbean," "Funky Cancercancer". Occasionally, the comic is called the Chunkyverse as the readers noticed how most the cast put on considerable weight during the [[Time Skip]], some to the point of being unrecognizable (''especially'' Funky and his new wife).

* [[Fully-Absorbed Finale]]: The ''Funky Winkerbean'' spin-off ''John Darling'' ended very suddenly in August of 1990 with the title character's [[Go Out With a Bang|murder on panel]], as sort of a [[Take That]] to his syndicate during a heated battle over the strip.

** The murder was never solved in ''Darling'' itself, as John was murdered [http://newspaperarchive.com/us/ohio/elyria/elyria-chronicle-telegram/1990/08-03/page-12 in the penultimate strip], with [http://newspaperarchive.com/us/ohio/elyria/elyria-chronicle-telegram/1990/08-04/page-10 the final strip] showing his funeral. At the time, Batiuk had not intended to ever solve it and had not originally planned who the killer was. In the later 90s, Batiuk returned to the storyline when Les wrote a book about the murder and through the writing process solved the mystery.

* [[Karma Houdini]]: In Crazy Harry's case, it's escaping the ''bad'' karma the rest of the original cast soaks up. But even '''he''' lost his job as a postman and had to sell off his comic book collection<ref>Which would have possibly been unnecessary, as being a former federal employee, Harry would have been entitled to a reasonable pension of some sort. [[YMMV]] here.</ref> to John Howard, owner of the comic book store in town, who later employs Harry on a part-time basis. And yet, Crazy Harry is both at peace and relatively happy with his life in comparison to everyone else.

* [[Love Triangle]]: Between the post-[[Time Skip]] II Les, his former suicidal student turned colleage Susan, and fellow post-[[Time Skip]] II teacher Cayla. The latter of whom seems to have been given the approval of Lisa's ghost.

*** As most storyline arcs go in Funky Winkerbean, this storyline did not have any denouement or conclusion. Moreover, Owen and Cody somehow remain as sixth-year juniors at Westview, and the unnamed blonde has not been seen or heard from since.

* [[Motifs]]: Several exist:

** No one knows how to properly use adhesive tape in Westview. Any and all signs that are affixed to a wall or window that uses the tape are put up in a haphazard, messy manner.

** The gag-a-day era featured the regular thoughts of inanimate objects like trees, rocks covered with graffiti, and a sentient computer.

* [[New Media Are Evil]]: Or at least stupid, as parodied [https://web.archive.org/web/20130618200342/http://weblogtoolscollection.com/b2-img/Funky_Winkerbean.gif in this strip].

* [[Off the Wagon]]: Teased in a 2010 strip, though subverted - while the Saturday strip showed him ordering a drink, the next day's strip showed him simply chatting up the bar tender about his horrible life, then leaving the full glass behind. ''Because that is how depressing this comic is.''

** And then there's Nate Green, the principal of Westview High School, who is either oblivious to, or condoning of, multiple instances of dalliances and obvious violations by his teachers that would get them fired in more realistic surroundings.

* [[Prom Is for Straight Kids]]: A spring 2012 storyline featured a gay couple wanting to attend prom together. When town activist Roberta Blackburn (mother of the school's music teacher, Becky Blackburn Winkerbean-Howard) finds out, she launches a demonstration to force the school officials' hand and stop the couple from attending. However, the gay couple find unexpected support from their classmates who begin a counter-demonstration and even the principal who holds an assembly to point out that there's no discrimination based on sexual-orientation in the school handbook. After the storyline ended, the couple has vanished with no explanation.

* [[Put on a Bus]]: Most of the high school students from the first time skip, despite the second time skip ostensibly being to pass the torch to the younger generation. That generation initially focused solely on Summer Moore, but is strictly limited now to occasional appearances by Cody, Owen and Alex.

* [[Reality Is Out to Lunch]]: For a comic-strip that ''claims'' on its' site description to be "[[I Reject Your Reality|a reality-based comic strip]] that depicts [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|contemporary issues]] affecting [[Sarcasm Mode|young adults]] in a [[Blatant Lies|thought-provoking]] and [[Crapsack World|sensitive manner]]..."

* [[Running Gag]]: Dating back to the gag-a-day era, the strip has featured annual fundraisers by the marching band. Regardless if the item is band candy, band turkeys, a novelty item, or a Harry Dinkle autobiography, they are all sold for the same goal: to raise money for new band uniforms.

** Les in general, really. He clearly has an unhealthy obsession with his late wife's death and is using his writing career as a platform for talking about it. ''[[Author Avatar|Kind of like Tom Batiuk.]]''

* [[You Look Like You've Seen a Ghost|You Look Like You've Just Seen A Ghost]]: When Funky encounters his pre-[[Time Skip]] I self.

** From internal evidence (the day his birthday party ran in the papers), Funky was born on March 29, 1964 and is therefore the same age to the day as Elle MacPherson, but he looks like Elle MacPherson's father. For point of comparison, Tom Batiuk was still a junior in high school when Funky was born.