Funky Winkerbean: Difference between revisions
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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.
Lead character [[Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?|Funky Winkerbean]] was a happy-go-lucky student, [[Butt Monkey|Les Moore]] was the lovable loser nerd, "Crazy" Harry was the [[Class Clown]], Holly Budd was the marching band majorette, and [[Jerkass|"Bull" Buska]] was the class bully. Other regulars were principal Fred Fairgood, football coach Jack Stropp, band director [[The Neidermeyer|Harold Dinkle]] and pizzeria owner Tony Montoni. Lisa Crawford also appeared as a nerd equally as socially awkward as Les. And there were [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|minor characters Roland and Candice Cane]].
Regular gags/stories 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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** John's daughter Jessica - who ''always'' [[Full-Name Basis|identifies her late father as "My Father, John Darling"]] - later emerged to marry Darin Fairgood (Lisa's first child) and attempted to film a documentary about John's life and career. The documentary went nowhere after all the interviews she conducted were almost [[Hated By His Own Men|universal in their disdain and hatred towards John]]; then again, it served to the reader as an affirmation for how pompous and arrogant John was in the first place.
* [[Hatedom]]: Many of the strip's older readers only hang on to know what they're complaining about.
* [[Hide Your Gays]]: After the principal's speech about no sexual discrimination in the student handbook, he's later seen talking to someone who's very awkwardly hidden by props in the foreground. Speculation is that it's either a known character or the personification of gay teens everywhere (but just the light-skinned ones). Most notably, after the storyline ended, the couple that was at the center of the controversy [[Put on a Bus|has no longer appeared in the comic]].
* [[Hope Spot]]: Lisa's cancer going into remission. Psyche! Turns out the hospital mixed up her paperwork with someone else and because she lost months of valuable treatment time, her cancer is now terminal. Of course, since recurrent breast cancer is always terminal (the best she could hope for, even if detected in a timely manner, would be a few more years at most), the [[Hope Spot]] was rather pointless - not to mention her doctor doesn't bother telling her this. Or that the therapy they're giving her can't cure her cancer. ''Did we mention Lisa was a lawyer?!''
* [[Hot for Teacher]]: Susan, as a teenager, had a crush on Les, her teacher during the post-Time Skip 1 era. When he married Lisa, she tried to kill herself. She returned as a teacher - still with a crush on him - and eventually told him she loves him, throwing herself into his arms and kissing him. When a photo of the kiss spreads throughout the school, she immediately resigns and leaves, Les [[Dude, Not Funny|making jokes about her obsession]] and [[Smug Smiler|smirking smugly]] all the while.
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*** His reaction of joy when an attempt to adapt his book on Lisa into a cable TV movie failed, mainly because [[Screwed by the Network|the network demanded a rewrite from Les]] that Lisa live at the end.
*** His reputation for making [[Incredibly Lame Pun|lame puns]] and [[Smug Smiler|smirking]] regardless of the nature of the situation. While Les is far from the only character who does this, Les engages in it the most.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: In Crazy Harry's case, it's escaping the ''bad'' karma the rest of the original cast soaks up. And yet, even '''he''' lost his job as a postman and had to sell off his comic book collection 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.
** Summer Moore (Les and Lisa's daughter) is liked by both a nerdy boy who looks suspiciously like Les and his slacker best friend who's defined by his goofy hat -- however there's no proof she likes either (critics were thankful that [[Generation Xerox]] was avoided... for now). Complicating matters is an unnamed blonde girl who likes the nerd but he doesn't know she exists even after she texts him thanks to a prank by the slacker.
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** Falling leaves are bountiful in ''Funky'' strips published during the autumn months.
** 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.
* [[The Neidermeyer]]: The gag-a-day incarnation of Harold L. Dinkle, the self-titled "World's Greatest Band Director." [[Played for Laughs|Played almost exclusively for laughs back then.]]
* [[New Media Are Evil]]: Or at least stupid, as parodied [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.''
* [[Off-Model]]: [[John Byrne]]'s infamous stint as a guest artist was notorious for this. Even Batiuk has failed to properly follow the model sheets for his own characters, and those model sheets were at one point ''posted on his own website''.
* [[Out of Focus]]: Funky himself hasn't been the strip's central character in a long time; see Secondary Character Title, below.
* [[Parent with New Paramour]]: [[Time Skip]] II has had two instances of this:
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** The 1996 bombing of the Westview Post Office (a [[Very Special Episode]] drawn in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing) was never really solved. Or if it was solved, the culprit was never publicly apprehended, as the strip focused on the trauma of [[Chew Toy|Lisa]] as a victim of the attack.
** It should also be noted that the upcoming crossover with ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' will be the first portrayal of a law enforcement officer of any kind in ''Funky Winkerbean''.
** 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.▼
* [[Punny Name]]: The vast majority of the strip's original cast. Les Moore, Holly Budd, Crazy Harry, Tony Montoni, Candice Cane, Fred Fairgood, John Darling, Ed Crankshaft, "Bull" Buska, Harry Dinkle, Jack Stropp<ref>That would now be the late Jack Stropp, since he recently passed away from... wait for it... {{spoiler|prostate cancer}}.</ref>...
* [[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.
▲* [[Prom Is for Straight Kids]]: A spring 2012 storyline featured a gay couple wanting to attend prom together. When town activist Roberta Blackburn 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.
* [[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 contemporary issues affecting 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.
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** One of Les' former students (during the post-[[Time Skip]] I era), Pete, went on to become a writer for [[Marvel Comics]] after the second [[Time Skip]].
** Current ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' artist Joe Staton drew a cover of [http://skyfutonsockfun.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/1311101.gif the fictitious comic book "Starbucks Jones"] for ''Funky'' -- [http://www.gocomics.com/dicktracy/2013/03/24 which wound up in ''Dick Tracy'' as well]. Staton and ''Tracy'' writer Mike Curtis have [http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=55896 publicly mentioned] that [[Crossover|a crossover between both strips]] will occur in Feburary of 2015.
* [[Show, Don't Tell]]: Completely averted when it comes to any storyline involving high school football. Batiuk has rarely, if ever, portrayed a proper high school football game unless it involves unrealistic situations like putting the costumed mascot in as a wide receiver for the final seconds of the game. Westview only plays two games a year, and both involve rival Big Walnut Tech. In almost every situation, the game is avoided as the characters discuss what happened off-panel.
* [[Smug Smiler]]: Les Moore is the prime offender. Bonus points if his smirks are accompanied with an [[Incredibly Lame Pun]].
* [[Spin-Off]]: Two in ''John Darling'' and ''[[Crankshaft]]''.
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* [[Take That, Critics!]]: Batiuk has used this comic and his other strip, ''[[Crankshaft]]'', to dish out some lumps of his own over criticism that the strip was overly dramatic.
* [[Teen Pregnancy]]: Lisa went through this, giving birth to Darrin Fairgood, whom she gave up for adoption.
* [[Teens Are Monsters]]: Funky's stepson Corey steals Lisa's cancer charity money and it's implied it's just his latest brush with the law. Funky covers for him by replacing the money himself...while appearing as a "good guy" because he makes a grand gesture of apparent generosity without telling Les ''where'' the money went.
* [[The Merch]]: Yes, [http://www.dinkles.com Dinkles Marching Band Shoes] do exist.
* [[Theme Initials]]:
* [[Time Skip]]: Two of them!
* [[Time Travel]]: Funky travels back in time after crashing his car. [[All Just a Dream|Maybe.]]
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