Tom Batiuk

Tom Batiuk showcases his roots as the Funkyverse expands In this latest volume, Tom Batiuk continues to explore the roots of comic books and newspaper comic strips and provides unique insight into the evolution of his own creative process. Beginning five years after the strip's most recent time-jump, the Funky gang are now in their late forties and raising teenagers of their own. Batiuk continues the Starbuck Jones storyline from the previous volume, as Holly searches for the final five issues of the comic book to send to Cory in Afghanistan. Elsewhere, there is a memorable class reunion, the character of Mason Jarr is introduced, and the cast decamps to Hollywood as Lisa's Story is about to be adapted into a movie.

The characters of the Funky cartoon universe deal with the challenges of middle age This latest installment of The Complete Funky Winkerbean presents the comic strips from 2008, 2009, and 2010 and ushers the original Funky characters into middle age. In true Funky fashion, the characters have to grapple with very serious issues: nearly fatal car crashes, a war abroad, and a tanking economy at home. These years also mark the first appearance of Cayla, and her arrival on the scene is where cartoonist Tom Batiuk's new time-jump era begins to coalesce and take on its unique identity.

Since its newspaper debut in 1972, the comic strip Funky Winkerbean has chronicled the journey through life of a group of students from the fictitious West View High School. This twelfth volume presents strips from 2005, 2006, and 2007.Mixing humor with serious, real-life issues, this volume of The Complete Funky Winkerbean demonstrates that comics that entertain us can also help us comprehend and navigate life's most difficult challenges.This volume includes the story arc dealing with Lisa Moore's heartbreaking battle with breast cancer, which became a finalist in the cartooning category of the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes. Other stories include Lisa defending comic shop owner John Howard in an obscenity lawsuit, Wally's struggles with PTSD upon returning from the war in Afghanistan, and his return to Afghanistan with his wife Becky as part of a project to clear landmines. Marriages, graduations, births, and even the building of a new school all weave around and through Lisa's story.

Long-running character Funky Winkerbean reminds us that we all have to grow upRelationships move to the front of the stage in this eleventh volume of The Complete Funky Winkerbean as the lighthearted dalliances of the past segue to the more mature partnerships of the adult world. Marriages are tested as Funky and Cindy's relationship begins to break apart, and Becky and Wally are separated by the war in Afghanistan. At the same time, Lisa and Les begin a family and go house hunting, while Crazy Harry meets an unlikely soulmate from his high school video gaming days. In Tom Batiuk's introduction to this volume, the curtain is pulled back on the art of Funky to show what was happening behind the scenes artistically as the work over these years was being created.

Balancing humor with sensitivity to tell stories we need to hear .Funky Winkerbean, a newspaper staple since 1972, is one of the few comic strips that allows its characters to grow and age. With this ninth volume of the collected Funky Winkerbean, containing strips from 1996–1998, time continues to pass and events take place that will forever alter the lives of the core characters, even as new characters take the stage with stories to tell.Tom Batiuk's narrative humor style now grows to encompass such diverse events as retirement, weddings, the treatment of immigrants, dating abuse, and post office bombings. Some of the stories can be told over a cup of coffee, while others require a full-on Roman feast. As the stories become more universal, the humor in Funky continues to become an integral part of the ongoing narrative.

Follow award-winning cartoonist Tom Batiuk as he chronicles Funky's evolution from gags to situational humor to behavioral humor In this eighth volume, Funky Winkerbean continues to move forward in real time, tackling issues of relevance and substance with characters whose lives are increasingly fateful and destined. Funky has placed Batiuk at the forefront of a new genre in comic art history as the strip pursues stories ahead of their time: guns in schools and teen suicide. The humor in Funky continues to grow as it evolves from sitcom gags to a deeper and more engaging behavioral style of humor.

In this seventh volume, we see the changes in tone that now characterize Funky Winkerbean. Funky becomes more of a reality-based comic strip that depicts contemporary issues in a thought-provokingand sensitive manner. In 1992 Tom Batiuk did something even more radical: he rebooted and restructured the strip, establishing that the characters had graduated from high school. From then on the series progresses in real time.Funky Winkerbean placed Batiuk at the forefront of a new genre in comic art history. His bold characterizations and dramatic plots are engaging for his readers—teens, parents, and educators alike—because they are universal stories that people can identify with. Realizing there are many comic strips for readers interested in a fantasy world, Batiuk provides an alternative by creating stories that are powerful, real, and inspiring.“My job is to present stories that will interest and engage readers,” he says. “In doing so, I try to make the humor authentic and natural so that my characters are reacting just as the reader might. I think that mixing humor with serious and real themes heightens the readers’ interest.” Following his own muse has roused a fervent following for Batiuk. Funky has “become an untouchable comic strip,” even if its creator “does do work that’s different from the other comics on the comics page,” said Brendan Burford, general manager, syndication, at King Features.

Prelude is a collection of the early comic strips that bring Lisa and Les together. Introduced to readers of Funky Winkerbean in late 1984 as she experiences SAT test anxiety, Lisa becomes Les Moore's best friend and a pivotal character. Les and Lisa go to the prom, begin steady dating, and then break up. Over the summer, Les realizes how much he misses Lisa. When he gathers his courage and goes to her house, he is stunned to discover Lisa is pregnant with a child fathered by a jock from Walnut Tech. Lisa asks Les to be her coach in childbirth classes, and their friendship explodes from there. Prelude takes fans from the early days of their deep friendship through the birth of Lisa's baby and the baby's adoption.

Prelude is a collection of the early comic strips that bring Lisa and Les together. Introduced to readers of Funky Winkerbean in late 1984 as she experiences SAT test anxiety, Lisa becomes Les Moore's best friend and a pivotal character. Les and Lisa go to the prom, begin steady dating, and then break up. Over the summer, Les realizes how much he misses Lisa. When he gathers his courage and goes to her house, he is stunned to discover Lisa is pregnant with a child fathered by a jock from Walnut Tech. Lisa asks Les to be her coach in childbirth classes, and their friendship explodes from there. Prelude takes fans from the early days of their deep friendship through the birth of Lisa's baby and the baby's adoption.To be published simultaneously with Prelude, The Last Leaf is the sequel after Lisa's death from breast cancer in Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe. The Last Leaf recounts how Les and family cope with Lisa's death and continue their lives. Creator Tom Batiuk brings Lisa back in Les's imagination, and she helps him work out difficulties and decisions in his life and in the life of their daughter Summer. Fans will recognize Batiuk's gentle mix of humor and more serious real-life themes that heighten the reader's interest.

Prelude is a collection of the early comic strips that bring Lisa and Les together. Introduced to readers of Funky Winkerbean in late 1984 as she experiences SAT test anxiety, Lisa becomes Les Moore's best friend and a pivotal character. Les and Lisa go to the prom, begin steady dating, and then break up. Over the summer, Les realizes how much he misses Lisa. When he gathers his courage and goes to her house, he is stunned to discover Lisa is pregnant with a child fathered by a jock from Walnut Tech. Lisa asks Les to be her coach in childbirth classes, and their friendship explodes from there. Prelude takes fans from the early days of their deep friendship through the birth of Lisa's baby and the baby's adoption.

Prelude is a collection of the early comic strips that bring Lisa and Les together. Introduced to readers of Funky Winkerbean in late 1984 as she experiences SAT test anxiety, Lisa becomes Les Moore’s best friend and a pivotal character. Les and Lisa go to the prom, begin steady dating, and then break up. Over the summer, Les realizes how much he misses Lisa. When he gathers his courage and goes to her house, he is stunned to discover Lisa is pregnant with a child fathered by a jock from Walnut Tech. Lisa asks Les to be her coach in childbirth classes, and their friendship explodes from there. Prelude takes fans from the early days of their deep friendship through the birth of Lisa’s baby and the baby’s adoption.To be published simultaneously with Prelude, The Last Leaf is the sequel after Lisa’s death from breast cancer in Lisa’s Story: The Other Shoe. The Last Leaf recounts how Les and family cope with Lisa’s death and continue their lives. Creator Tom Batiuk brings Lisa back in Les’s imagination, and she helps him work out difficulties and decisions in his life and in the life of their daughter Summer. Fans will recognize Batiuk’s gentle mix of humor and more serious real- life themes that heighten the reader’s interest.

Prelude is a collection of the early comic strips that bring Lisa and Les together. Introduced to readers of Funky Winkerbean in late 1984 as she experiences SAT test anxiety, Lisa becomes Les Moore’s best friend and a pivotal character. Les and Lisa go to the prom, begin steady dating, and then break up. Over the summer, Les realizes how much he misses Lisa. When he gathers his courage and goes to her house, he is stunned to discover Lisa is pregnant with a child fathered by a jock from Walnut Tech. Lisa asks Les to be her coach in childbirth classes, and their friendship explodes from there. Prelude takes fans from the early days of their deep friendship through the birth of Lisa’s baby and the baby’s adoption.To be published simultaneously with Prelude, The Last Leaf is the sequel after Lisa’s death from breast cancer in Lisa’s Story: The Other Shoe. The Last Leaf recounts how Les and family cope with Lisa’s death and continue their lives. Creator Tom Batiuk brings Lisa back in Les’s imagination, and she helps him work out difficulties and decisions in his life and in the life of their daughter Summer. Fans will recognize Batiuk’s gentle mix of humor and more serious real- life themes that heighten the reader’s interest.

In this sixth volume, we see the changes in tone that now characterize Funky Winkerbean. The story arcs increasingly intertwine to mark the shift from the simple sitcom mode to a more complex narrative with subplots. At this point in its evolution, Funky Winkerbean is resonating with readers and its popularity is growing. Ed Crankshaft, the irascible and curmudgeonly school bus driver, has become a fan favorite—so much so that cartoonist Tom Batiuk spins off Crankshaft into his own comic strip. Westview High School band director Harry L. Dinkle, the World's Greatest Band Director, takes the band to New York City for a gig at Carnegie Hall, and drum majorette Holly Budd performs her acclaimed flaming baton trick with catastrophic results for the hallowed hall.New characters continue to appear. Cindy Summers, the most popular girl in school, and Bodean, Westview High's resident hood, join the cast as the polar opposites of the high school continuum. Big hair was beginning to come in, and Cindy's hair was the biggest of the big. Crossovers between Funky and John Darling continue, and with the introduction of Crankshaft, new crossover opportunities emerge. Change is becoming a palpable part of Funky, and some big changes unfold in this volume.

Volume 5, 1984–1986By this point in its evolution, Funky Winkerbean is resonating with its readers and its popularity is growing. Crankshaft, the irascible bus driver, and Betty, Westview High School's secretary, are introduced. Crankshaft quickly became a fan favorite, with many readers responding to the trauma-inducing, surly old curmudgeon. Not since the introduction of band director Harry L. Dinkle had a new character received such a positive response. Betty soldiers on at Westview until Batiuk finally sends her off to the cartoon character's retirement home.Almost unnoticed, another new character appears quietly and without fanfare. She didn't have a name at this point but is little by little insinuated into the strip. The students at Westview High have reached their junior year, and the prom is looming. Les needs a date, and this new character is perfect. Lisa and Les go to the prom together and continue to date. Eventually they break up when Lisa transfers to another school. It turns out that this is only the beginning of the journey with Lisa in Funky Winkerbean. Lisa returns to the strip, and when Les sees her again, she is pregnant. With this teen pregnancy story arc, Funky starts on its path to becoming an outlier on the comics page.

Since its debut in 1987, Crankshaft has engendered reader loyalty and affection with its wry wit, engaging storylines, and identifiable characters. Created by Tom Batiuk and drawn by Chuck Ayers, the strip offers plenty of humour but also tackles serious issues like adult literacy, school violence, and the challenges of aging.Roses in December is a touching collection of two Crankshaft storylines of characters who find themselves dealing with the incurable condition of Alzheimer’s disease. First, Ed Crankshaft’s best friend Ralph is confronted with the trauma of his wife Helen’s worsening Alzheimer’s. He never knows if the love of his life will recognize him on those days that he visits her at Sunny Days Nursing Home. Ralph and Helen’s love story unfolds with humour and heartbreak.In the second story arc, Crankshaft’s neighbour Lucy McKenzie also exhibits symptoms of Alzheimer’s and eventually is moved to Sunny Days Nursing Home by her sister Lillian. The fourteen year struggles of Lucy, Helen, and their loved ones are elegantly told, preserving their dignity and reminding us that sometimes a sense of humour can be our greatest possession during life’s trials.Through the deceptively simple medium of the daily comic strip, Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers address the profound effects of Alzheimer’s disease in a thoughtful and occasionally humorous way. Roses in December includes a resource guide for caregivers, patients, and practitioners.

Since its debut in 1987, Crankshaft has engendered reader loyalty and affection with its wry wit, engaging storylines, and identifiable characters. Created by Tom Batiuk and drawn by Chuck Ayers, the strip offers plenty of humour but also tackles serious issues like adult literacy, school violence, and the challenges of aging.Roses in December is a touching collection of two Crankshaft storylines of characters who find themselves dealing with the incurable condition of Alzheimer’s disease. First, Ed Crankshaft’s best friend Ralph is confronted with the trauma of his wife Helen’s worsening Alzheimer’s. He never knows if the love of his life will recognize him on those days that he visits her at Sunny Days Nursing Home. Ralph and Helen’s love story unfolds with humour and heartbreak.In the second story arc, Crankshaft’s neighbour Lucy McKenzie also exhibits symptoms of Alzheimer’s and eventually is moved to Sunny Days Nursing Home by her sister Lillian. The fourteen year struggles of Lucy, Helen, and their loved ones are elegantly told, preserving their dignity and reminding us that sometimes a sense of humour can be our greatest possession during life’s trials.Through the deceptively simple medium of the daily comic strip, Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers address the profound effects of Alzheimer’s disease in a thoughtful and occasionally humorous way. Roses in December includes a resource guide for caregivers, patients, and practitioners.

It was the best of times, it was the OK of times In this fourth volume, award-winning cartoonist Tom Batiuk continues to chronicle the lives of the students and teachers at the fictitious Westview High School.By the 1980s Batiuk's talent for character- and story-driven work comes into its own. Harry L. Dinkle, the World's Greatest Band Director and Funky's first breakout character, is still marching along happily. He makes the first of two visits to the Tournament of Roses Parade, and his ego grows even larger. Harry proves a good match for the sitcom style of writing into which Batiuk's work on Funky is developing, and Crazy Harry thrives as the repository for the more outré ideas and situations. Whether it is living in his locker and playing frozen pizzas on his stereo, battling the Eliminator at Space Invaders, announcing that he is an air guitar player, or inviting Carl Sagan and ET to the Star Trek Convention that he and the school computer would host, Crazy becomes Funky Winkerbean's natural-born outlier. Meanwhile, Les Moore continues his angst-filled journey as the leader of the school's out crowd. He's still at his machine-gun-fortified hall monitor's post, trying to avoid getting beaten up by Bull Bushka, and generally dealing with school life as best he can.The strip-within-a-strip about John Darling and his bottom-of-the-ratings-barrel TV station, Channel One, which had spun off into its own strip called Darling, remains popular. And Batiuk introduces readers to a new character - the school mascot, a vest-wearing scapegoat that can speak its thoughts directly to the reader.In the 1980s we begin to see hints of the change in tone that will come to characterize Funky Winkerbean's later years. Starting with the coach's heart attack and his reflections on life and relationships, then shifting to teacher Ann Randall and her job loss, these story arcs intertwine with others to mark the shift from a simpler sitcom mode to a more complex narrative with subplots.Fans will enjoy each variety of comedy in Funky's subtle evolution from gags to situational humor to behavioral humor.

The Toledo Mud Hens - a farm team for the Detroit Tigers - once had a budding pitcher named Ed Crankshaft. At least that’s how partners in cartooning, writer Tom Batiuk and artist Chuck Ayers, scripted the main character in Crankshaft. This enjoyable volume collects all of Crankshaft’s baseball-themed exploits. Fans will enjoy revisiting Crankshaft’s reminisces about his minor league pitching career and his comic attempts to recapture his youthful successes on the diamond.Strike Four! portrays Crankshaft’s greatest triumph when, on a sultry summer night in 1940, the Tigers came to town for an exhibition game against the Mud Hens. Pitching for the Mud Hens, Ed faced the top of the Tigers lineup—Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, and Rudy York—and struck out all three. The next year, the Tigers called Ed up to the major leagues, but unfortunately, so did Uncle Sam. After his service, Crankshaft returned home, but not to play baseball. He married and had two daughters. His grandson Max was his last chance to reprise his baseball career, but it was not meant to be.Strike Four! The Crankshaft Baseball Book allows Batiuk and Ayers to explore a man’s life and humorously and touchingly to examine how only barely touching the brass ring shaped it—and left him a little cranky.

The Funkyverse continues to expand In this third volume, award-winning cartoonist Tom Batiuk continues to chronicle the lives of a group of students from the fictitious Westview High School. Funky Winkerbean fans are introduced to a host of new characters, including black cheerleader Junebug Jones; Melinda Budd, Holly Budd's ambitious stage mother; Jerome the drum major; Nancy the school librarian; Ron the tennis pro; Irma, Rita Righton's tennis partner; Channel One reporters Brenda Harpy and Minnie Cameron; talk show host John Darling; news anchor Charlie Lord; Phil the Forecaster; and program director Reed Roberts. Batiuk also features a troupe of inanimate forms achieving sentience, such as talking trees, clouds, school desks,video games, and a talking tennis ball machine that goes on to play at Wimbledon.Not only does Batiuk grow his Funkyverse" through its cast of characters, but he adds a number of recurring set pieces, too, such as "The Guide to Taking Tests," course descriptions from the student curriculum guide, final exams on "Shakespeare the Hard Bard," Les's Record Roundup, plus Crazy Harry's "Secret Cases of Sherlock Holmes and His Monstrous Limericks." Volume 3 will entertain readers with Arab sheiks buying the oil rights to the football field, an exploding nuclear power plant, and the school's computer playing Star Trek and beaming people around the building.By the late 1970s Batiuk's talent for character- and story-driven work was coming into its own. Not only was Funky Winkerbean evolving but the strip-within-a-strip about John Darling and his bottom-of-the-ratings-barrel TV station, Channel One, spun off into its own strip called Darling. With life imitating art, Batiuk even found himself as a guest on The Today Show, following his story arc about Darling filling in for the vacationing Tom Brokaw.

Funky, Les, and the gang pun their way through Westview High Since its debut on March 27, 1972, Funky Winkerbean has chronicled the lives of a group of students from the fictitious Westview High School. This second volume, which presents strips from 1975, 1976, and 1977, sees the comic strip rounding into the form that will carry it into its middle years. With gentle humor and not-so-gentle puns, Les, Funky, Crazy Harry, and the gang comment on life's little absurdities.Funky begins to ponder why there are cloakrooms in elementary schools when no one wears cloaks. Crazy Harry, firmly ensconced in his locker-as-living-quarters, moves out because his row of lockers has gone condo. Les Moore blossoms as a character and replaces Funky as the leader of the school's out crowd when he is seen alone on his bicycle at the local drive-in movie. The computer at Westview High becomes sentient and subjects the students to its obsession with Star Trek, including holding Star Trek conventions at the school. Westview's principal and teachers cope with it all with irony or Zen-like detachment.In Volume 1, we met Harry L. Dinkle, the band director at West-view High. The self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Band Director," Dinkle is based on a retired band director from Avon Lake, Ohio, who was also the band director at the junior high school that Tom Batiuk attended. Band camps, the Fall Battle of the Bands, and the annual torrential downpours become fixtures in the strip. Other familiar themes are the turkeys and fruitcakes that show up through the years as band fund-raisers. The Westview Scapegoats go national and march off to the 1976 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Harry L. Dinkle marches into real life, lending his name to a line of Dinkles band shoes, actual band candy, and the "Harry L. Dinkle March" composed by Andy Clark. He even shows up on scoreboards at college football games.Volume 2 includes an introduction in which Tom Batiuk shares the creative and evolutionary processes in his development of these characters. Subsequent volumes will each contain three years of Funky strips and will be published annually. Batiuk has been recognized for his humorous and entertaining portrayals of the students and staff at Westview and acclaimed for his sensitive treatment of social and educational issues.