Funky Winkerbean - dead or alive? - Forum 2.0

Doc Beechler (mod-MD) July 1, 2010 at 4:04pm

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/07/01/depressing-funky-winkerbean/

ClarkKent_DC July 1, 2010 at 4:11pm

None of the local papers carry Funky Winkerbean any more ... I haven't seen it in years. But I have to agree that it hasn't been much fun ever since Tom Batiuk move the strip forward in time so all the main characters are middle-aged rather than high schoolers.

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) July 1, 2010 at 6:46pm

What's the 900 number? I want to vote!

Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man July 1, 2010 at 7:52pm

That's just depressing. Funky is definitely in a funk. Batiuk needs to get his groove back.

Ana Canino-Fluit (Anacoqui- mod) July 2, 2010 at 6:36am

And last year he moved it forward again...for extra depression potential....

ClarkKent_DC said:

None of the local papers carry Funky Winkerbean any more ... I haven't seen it in years. But I have to agree that it hasn't been much fun ever since Tom Batiuk move the strip forward in time so all the main characters are middle-aged rather than high schoolers.

Alan M. July 2, 2010 at 7:39am

I have never understood what Funky Winkerbean...is. It's never been in any newspaper I've gotten regularly, so I've only read the occasional strip, and I've never been able to make sense of it: not the premise, or the intent (comedy? serial? satire?), or...well, anything, really.

Ana Canino-Fluit (Anacoqui- mod) July 2, 2010 at 8:02am

I think it was supposed to be documentary comic...follow a group of people thru life...but somewhere along the line it became a slo-mo tragedy.

Alan M. said:

I have never understood what Funky Winkerbean...is. It's never been in any newspaper I've gotten regularly, so I've only read the occasional strip, and I've never been able to make sense of it: not the premise, or the intent (comedy? serial? satire?), or...well, anything, really.

Randy Jackson July 2, 2010 at 8:37am

I don't know if Batiuk is having much fun at all these days. I stopped reading Tank McNamara when it became obvious that it wasn't funny and that he really didn't like sports at all.

Jeff of Earth-J July 2, 2010 at 9:11am

I subscribe to the Dallas Morning News Sunday edition. I was recently informed that the Wednesday paper will now be included in my subscription, so I've been following Funky et al on Sundays and Wednesdays. that makes it difficult to keep up with the serial elements, especially on strips such as Funky Winkerbean and Doonsebury. Luckily, collections such as "Tee Time in Berzerkistan" keep me up-to-date with the ongoing narrative of the characters I've been following for so long. But I digress...

Alan, Funky started as a gag-a-day strip set against a high school backdrop, but Batiuk aspired to tell ongoing continuities with deeper meaning and when he jumped the strip ahead it became more serious in tone. I think his intention is for Funky to be more like Gasoline Alley. I would have once counted For Better of for Worse among that ever-decreasing number, but when Lyn Johnston reset the clock I lost interest in the characters. But again, I digress...

Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) July 2, 2010 at 11:24am

Randy Jackson said:

I don't know if Batiuk is having much fun at all these days. I stopped reading Tank McNamara when it became obvious that it wasn't funny and that he really didn't like sports at all.

That is why I quit reading comic strips in general, the not funny part, I don't if every artist dislikes sports as well. The ones in the paper anyways, there are a few online that I really enjoy.

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