Farewell to Funky: Cartoonist Tom Batiuk says goodbye to ‘Winkerbean’ comic strip

The end has arrived for “Funky Winkerbean.”

The syndicated comic strip, which appeared in more than 400 newspapers at its peak, concludes Saturday after a 50-year run.

Cartoonist Tom Batiuk was 25 years old when the strip debuted in 1972. Now he’s 75 and bidding farewell to some old friends.

“Those characters have been so good to me over the past 50 years that I really kind of owed it to them to wrap up the strip in a good way and tie a neat bow on it,” Batiuk said.

It hasn’t been easy saying goodbye, though.

“I miss the characters,” he said. “I love working with them.”

The son of a B.F. Goodrich engineer, Batiuk was born in Akron in 1947 and spent his early years on Herman Avenue near Sherbondy Hill. When he was in the third grade, the family moved to Elyria.

His alma mater, Midview High School, became the model for Westview High School in “Funky Winkerbean.”

Batiuk studied fine art at Kent State University and graduated in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree and a certificate in education. He returned to Elyria to teach art at Eastern Heights Junior High.

In 1970, he began drawing a single-panel feature, “Rapping Around,” for the teen page of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. The weekly cartoon, which dealt with high school hijinks, evolved into “Funky.”

“I needed a name for the lead character,” Batiuk recalled. “So I went to my art classes, handed out sheets of paper and had the kids write down what they thought was a funny name. I took all those things home and my wife, Cathy, and I sat at our kitchen table in our apartment.

“We went through everything and ‘Funky’ was there and ‘Winkerbean’ was there. And in a brilliant, creative stroke, we called it Funky Winkerbean.”

‘Funky Winkerbean’ began in 1972

The comic strip, which debuted March 27, 1972, would introduce readers to such high school characters as Funky, Les Moore, Crazy Harry Klinghorn, Bull Bushka, Holly Budd, Lisa Crawford, Principal Burch, counselor Fred Fairgood and band director Harry Dinkle.

Initially distributed by Publishers-Hall Syndicate and later King Features Syndicate, it amassed an audience of more than 80 million people.

Batiuk quit his teaching job to concentrate on “Funky.”

The comic strip emphasized zany humor during its first decade, but Batiuk gradually introduced more serious themes. In 1986, the character of Lisa got pregnant in high school, the first time that newspaper comic pages had ever dealt with such a topic.

“That story and that character sort of opened the door for me and showed me other areas that I could get into,” Batiuk said. “I didn’t get into them right away. I took my time moving forward with that.

“But after the teen pregnancy story, it was pretty obvious to me that my characters were going to have to grow up. And that led to the first time jump.”

In 1992, Batiuk reintroduced the youthful characters as adults and allowed them to age in real time. The strip mixed humor with contemporary issues such as alcoholism, violence and censorship.

‘Lisa’s Story’ is Pulitzer finalist

Lisa again proved to be a pivotal character after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. Batiuk chronicled her struggles with the disease that ultimately claimed her life in 2007. The devastating story arc, later compiled into a book, earned Batiuk a Pulitzer nomination.

Batiuk called it “a special piece of work.”

“ ‘Lisa’s Story,’ of anything I’ve done, probably had the most impact — on the strip, on me, on my readers,” Batiuk said. “It was one of those great moments. You peek into a certain moment like that and you can’t stay there forever. It’s like running your hand through a candle flame. You can do it, but you can’t keep it there.”

The strip’s timeline jumped ahead another 10 years after Lisa’s death. The former youthful characters settled into middle age and their children took over storylines. The cast continued to grow.

“It’s a ridiculous amount of characters to create for a strip, but for some reason, it worked,” Batiuk said. “I don’t know why, but ‘Funky’ really became more of a large repertory company.”

Two “Funky Winkerbean” characters, talk-show host John Darling and cantankerous school bus driver Ed Crankshaft, were spun off into their own comic strips. “John Darling” was published from 1979 to 1990 while “Crankshaft” debuted in 1987 and continues today.

That was a whirlwind time for their creator.

“At one point, I did three comic strips,” Batiuk said. “I don’t quite know how that happened.”

Over the years, Batiuk has incorporated recognizable Ohio landmarks into “Funky Winkerbean.” Akron readers were quick to realize that Montoni’s pizzeria, complete with its distinctive awnings, bandbox and celebrity photos, is based on Luigi’s restaurant, where Batiuk has been a regular customer since the 1980s.

Batiuk said he decided to end “Funky Winkerbean” because he had no succession plan. His longtime collaborator Chuck Ayers, the former Beacon Journal editorial cartoonist, wanted to retire from penciling the strip, but agreed to stay four more years to wrap up the 50th anniversary.

“It just wouldn’t be the same working with someone else,” Batiuk said.

He’s had plenty of time to think about the ending. When he started working on the finale, he and Ayers were about a year ahead on the strip.

“That’s the nice thing about being that far ahead,” he said. “It gives you time to let it gestate and you can correct any anomalies and make everything work.”

A resident of Medina, Batiuk said he began developing the final storyline during long walks in the country. He decided to focus on the recollections of Westview janitor Harley Davidson, who had been in the background since the early years of “Funky” but had never played a major role until now.

“He made a perfect witness,” Batiuk said.

The final Sunday strip, published on Christmas Day, featured a church concert with more than 50 characters visible. Sharp-eyed readers noticed Batiuk and Ayers seated in the audience along with Batiuk’s wife, Cathy, and son, Brian, and the Pizza Monster from Luigi’s.

This week, readers were surprised when “Funky” made its final time jump — into the far future. Batiuk enlisted comic-book legend John Byrne, famed for his work on ‘X-Men,” “Fantastic Four” and “Superman,” to give a sci-fi treatment to the final panels.

“I love what he did,” Batiuk said.

The final reveal will be Saturday.

‘Crankshaft’ will continue

Meanwhile, “Crankshaft,” which has a succession plan with artist Dan Davis, will continue as usual.

“I’m just going to go down swinging,” Batiuk said. “We’ll see where everything goes.”

Batiuk stopped working on “Funky” about six months ago

“Doing two comic strips is a lot of work, so having some of that pressure disappear is always good,” he said.

The carousel isn’t going to stop, but it’s slowing down for a bit, he said.

Fans can expect some fun things in 2023.

“I’ve already written ‘Crankshaft’ stuff for next year where some of the characters from ‘Funky’ have started to slip in,” he said.

He also hopes to post new stories on tombatiuk.com from time to time.

Until then, readers can get reacquainted with the past.

In November, the Kent State University Press released Volume 12 of “The Complete Funky Winkerbean,” a 506-page compilation of strips from 2005 to 2007. Five more volumes are planned to complete the series.

“They’re beautiful books,” Batiuk said. “They’re doing a terrific job with them.”

It’s been an incredible ride, and Batiuk feels honored that fans have stuck with “Funky Winkerbean” through the decades.

“They gave me the room to grow, and I think that’s the greatest gift you can get from your readers,” Batiuk said. “So I would just like to thank them for doing that.”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cartoonist Tom Batiuk says goodbye to ‘Funky Winkerbean’ comic strip