Writing for The Star-Ledger, Kathleen O’Brien looks at the aftermath of Funky Winkerbean following Lisa Moore’s death from cancer and creator Tom Batiuk’s decision to jump forward in the timeline 10 years:
The time-traveling will be completed by Oct. 23, when the label “Act III — Ten years later” appears atop the strip. The label will continue to be displayed for the rest of the year.
The time-warping technique allows Batiuk to show readers grief does fade and a different kind of happiness can eventually be experienced.
“I didn’t want the strip to go through an intensive grieving process. But I didn’t want to ignore it, either, ” said Batiuk in a telephone interview from his Ohio studio.
By aging all his characters this way, Batiuk now has a new crop of high-schoolers to draw: the children of his original Westview High School crowd. For example, Lisa’s daughter, Summer, will be 15.
In the meantime, though, readers may want to keep their motion-sickness pills close at hand. The strip will hop back and forth between flashbacks of the aftermath of Lisa’s death and the new “present.”
October 12th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Anyone know where I can find Funky on the web or through an RSS feed?
October 12th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Try the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Web site.
Don’t have the link with me this sec though sorry. Should come up if you Google it.
October 12th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I’ll give that a try. Thanks!
October 19th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I’ve been an avid reader of the Funky Winkerbean strip (and Crankshaft) for years and seen the changes, topics, storylines whether light or dramatic, issues and growth of characters. I’ve seen the format changes, from when time stood still until 1992, when time was fast-forwarded to having Funky and the gang graduate Westview High in 1988, skip the college years and having the cast enter the real world in the year 1992 (the change-over time), where the strip had been in real-time ever since.
A major storyline and subject of controversy is Lisa’s Story, where character Lisa Moore unfortunately battles breast cancer, where it has advanced and spread and it was announced it will lead to the character’s untimely death, which occuredon October 4, 2007.
I have a burning question regarding this storyline: After Lisa’s death, it was said that the story/format is to advance ten years hence. Does this mean that the year it will take place is 2017, the near future, or will it still be in 2007 which would have Lisa’s passing take place in 1997? The latter would be similar to Funky & crew graduating, storyline written and released in 1992, the changeover year, but the graduation revealed to have taken place in 1988. Another reason I question this is because current events within the last 10 years have appeared within the strip, such as September 11, 2001 tragedies with Cindy Sommers-Winkerbean (pre-divorce) reporting on those, and Wally WInkerbean in the armed forces (two times) and serving in Afghanistan and Iraq, even adopting an Iraqi girl who’s family was lost in a terror-bombing.
I just was curious how the format would be, along with many other readers, I gather. Also, I understand that Lisa Moore will still appear through flashback scenes and via video she prepared prior to her anticipated death to she can advise her daughter.
I kindly thank the creator Tom Batiuk for all the decades of entertainment through the powerful strip and I’ll anticipate much more.
Regards,
Michael