# Funky Winkerbean Kills Again!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 30, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061 "2019-09-30T20:05:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/1 "2019-09-30T20:05:37Z")
Anyone familiar with the eternal strip about life in Westview knows that creator/writer Tom Batiuk has never hesitated to go dark. From Lisa’s teenage pregnancy in the original timeline, to her death from breast cancer in the first time jump, to Funky’s battle with alcoholism, to the murder of spinoff character John Darling, the strip has flirted with turning into a soap opera that even\* Mary Worth\* can’t fix.
The latest turn came in[Sunday’s strip](https://www.comicskingdom.com/funky-winkerbean/2019-09-29), which showed an unidentified driver deliberately guiding a car off a cliff. Was it Bill Bushka, who’s been battling the effects of CTE, or his wife Linda, who’s been suffering from caregiver depression? Someone else?
And will Farley from _For Better Or For Worse_ die again while trying to save them?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/2 "2019-09-30T20:15:17Z")
I’m guessing it was Linda.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2019, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/3 "2019-09-30T20:52:23Z")
[NYT article](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/08/business/media/funky-winkerbean-comic-strip.html).
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/4 "2019-09-30T23:38:38Z")
I do not subscribe for various reasons. Was there anything particularly interesting about the article that you could share here? Thank you.
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### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/5 "2019-09-30T23:42:59Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#):
>
> Anyone familiar with the eternal strip about life in Westview knows that creator/writer Tom Batiuk has never hesitated to go dark. From Lisa’s teenage pregnancy in the original timeline, to her death from breast cancer in the first time jump, to Funky’s battle with alcoholism, to the murder of spinoff character John Darling, the strip has flirted with turning into a soap opera that even\* Mary Worth\* can’t fix.
Have you never heard of spoiler tags?
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/6 "2019-10-01T13:32:14Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#):
>
> Have you never heard of spoiler tags?
He didn’t spoil anything.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/7 "2019-10-01T14:11:30Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#):
>
> I do not subscribe for various reasons. Was there anything particularly interesting about the article that you could share here? Thank you.
The New York times article relates that Bull drove of the road and died.
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### Author:  [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/8 "2019-10-01T14:30:14Z")
Thank you. The post goes well with your sig. 😃
(Full disclosure: no actual illusions were shattered)
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/9 "2019-10-01T16:56:22Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#):
>
> Thank you. The post goes well with your sig. 😃
>
> (Full disclosure: no actual illusions were shattered)
That involved [Randolph Scott.](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/randolph-scott-and-cary-grant-poolside-everett.html?product=art-print)
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/10 "2019-10-03T16:28:53Z")
Wow, I haven’t thought about this strip in a long time. It’s somehow comforting to know that Tom Batiuk is still out there, merrily slaughtering his characters.
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### Author:  [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2019, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/11 "2019-10-04T23:08:43Z")
I’m glad I don’t read it anymore.
The only parts I ever looked for and read dealt with the marching band. Harry L. Dinkle lives forever in the hearts of band fags.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/12 "2019-10-05T00:01:09Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#):
>
> I’m glad I don’t read it anymore.
> The only parts I ever looked for and read dealt with the marching band. Harry L. Dinkle lives forever in the hearts of band fags.
Fans?
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/13 "2019-10-05T00:20:11Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Fans?
Nah, he means band members who also ride Harleys.
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### Author:  [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/14 "2019-10-05T04:42:01Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Fans?
No. It’s a derogatory name given to band members by the “cool” kids.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2019, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/15 "2019-10-05T12:26:46Z")
[Moderating]
**CelticKnot** , I assume that you were yourself in marching band, and that at your school, the band members used that term for themselves as a point of pride. But times have changed, not everyone will interpret the term the same way you will, and it’s based on a slur for a group that (I think) you’re not a member of, and so it would be really preferable not to use that term, or similar ones, on the board.
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### Author:  [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2019, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/16 "2019-10-05T16:07:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> [Moderating]
> **CelticKnot** , I assume that you were yourself in marching band, and that at your school, the band members used that term for themselves as a point of pride. But times have changed, not everyone will interpret the term the same way you will, and it’s based on a slur for a group that (I think) you’re not a member of, and so it would be really preferable not to use that term, or similar ones, on the board.
Cochrane was right.
Accepting slurs takes the sting out of them. I have been called many insults in my life, and I don’t want to give name callers power over me by allowing myself to be wounded by their attempts to demean me. If I wanted the approval of the “cool” kids, I wouldn’t have joined the band in the first place.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/17 "2019-10-05T17:45:01Z")
Yes, I understand that. That’s why you didn’t get a Warning there for slurs. It’s still not a good idea to use that term here.
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### Author:  [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/18 "2019-10-05T21:03:31Z")
I read FW daily on Comics Kingdom. The strip sucks, but some of the comments are hilarious.
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### Author:  [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2019, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/19 "2019-10-15T01:28:20Z")
> [@Fleetwood](#):
>
> I read FW daily on Comics Kingdom. The strip sucks, but some of the comments are hilarious.
That’s nothing.
Also, somebody pointed out that this incident happened at pretty much the same spot where, years ago, a drunk Wally drove himself and Becky off the cliff, resulting in Becky (who had been accepted to Juilliard) losing an arm.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2019, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-kills-again/841061/20 "2019-10-15T02:45:34Z")
I also noticed that Summer and Keisha came back for the funeral. Haven’t seen much of them for quite a while.
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