# Funky Winkerbean spoiler question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 28, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841 "2010-06-28T21:04:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/61 "2010-07-06T13:37:47Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Batiuk supposedly did a 10-year jump, about three years ago, I think.
There were 2 time jumps. The strip started out in the '70s as a gag-a-day strip set in a high school. It didn’t move in real time – all the characters stayed high-school age.
This changed with the first time jump in the early '90s, which brought them all to around age 26 or 27, skipping their college years and restarting the action with them all at the beginnings of what would be their careers. The strip switched to real-time after the time jump and became a lot darker, dealing with a variety of traumatic stuff. The strip carried on for 10 years in real time, with the characters getting married and divorced, having and adopting children, attempting suicide, becoming addicted to alcohol, losing limbs in drunk-driving incidents, etc. etc. etc. The final capper is when Lisa dies of beast cancer, when the character was in her mid-30s.
After Lisa dies (around '03, I think), the strip took another time jump – this one 10 years – bringing the core characters up to 45 or 46 years old. The strip has continued on in more-or-less real time so Funky should be around 50ish now, I suppose.
---
### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/62 "2010-07-06T13:49:45Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
>
> Not to mention her being torn between her love for a Nazi officer who has a great singing voice (McEldowney’s “good” characters value Art above all those common, everyday jobs and duties) versus the American officer - who punched out a British officer who’d called her a whore and was sent to the D-Day invasion front lines for that attack, and was lost in combat. She was actually devastated to find out that this nice American officer had turned up alive, because she’d had Herr Nazi all to herself and a happy little future planned out, and someone decided to shower a little guilt on her parade.
>
> (Oh, but he’s not a bad Nazi of course, just following orders and all that - they made just anyone a higher-ranking officer, right? He has a lovely singing voice and such beautiful blond hair. And McEldowney actually published a strip of her schtupping the enemy on Memorial Day. Thanks, WWII vets!)
The worst part for me is that we already know that she ends up with the American guy. But the whole thing has still been dragging on and on and on for what feels like eons.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/63 "2010-07-06T15:09:03Z")
> [@SkeptiJess](#):
>
> The worst part for me is that we already know that she ends up with the American guy. But the whole thing has still been dragging on and on and on for what feels like eons.
Yup. And apparently she turns into a bitter old harridan because she was so mad that she had the luxury of choosing between two guys who loved her. Admittedly, the American military officer involved in keeping the secret about her American soldier’s survival was kind of a jerk in that he helped set up the whole draaaaaahma as a result of the secrecy. At least he was theoretically doing something honorable in the process, at the start if arguably not as honorable later on.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/64 "2010-07-06T17:34:19Z")
> [@SkeptiJess](#):
>
> After Lisa dies (around '03, I think), the strip took another time jump
'07. I remember it because it coincided with Lynn Johnston’s first attempt to “end” Better or Worse.
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/65 "2010-07-06T17:56:41Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#):
>
> '07. I remember it because it coincided with Lynn Johnston’s first attempt to “end” Better or Worse.
The first Time Jump was '92. The jumped over their college years, The only reason I remember is that the jump involved them graduating in 1988, which made them the same age as me.
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### Author:  [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/66 "2010-07-06T19:43:13Z")
> [@devilsknew](#):
>
> I remember when I was in High School, Funky was kind of like the “Archie of the '80’s”. It had a lot of relatable stuff to the typical Ohio High School age teen- Funky really appealed to the geekier kids, and especially the Band geeks, a lot of inside band jokes. Kind of grown up with it and well, it’s dealing with age appropriate topics to Tom Batiuk, now… It’s just like small town life in Ohio, growing up and dying there, very realistic, very current, very “Ohio” and weirdly prescient.
As a fellow Buckeye, I agree with this assessment, and it’s nice to see at least one kind word amidst all the dismissive comments.
I guess I’m the wrong guy to offer any critical assessment, as I still read every single comic in my paper…including the dreadful _Mary Worth_ and _Mark Trail_. Just force of long-time habit.
It should be pointed out that _Funky Winkerbean_ was not always light-hearted, even in its original high school incarnation. In fact, I did a radio interview with Batuik at the time of the first Lisa story arc.
You’ll recall she was originally a rather dumpy, unattractive girl who is impregnated by the high school football star.
Les, as a friend, stands by her through the subsequent ordeal, and is ultimately rewarded down the road when she becomes a lot better-looking and marries him.
At this time (early to mid-80s, I believe), no newspaper comic strip – humorous or dramatic – had ever dealt with the subject of an unwed teenage mother, so this was seen as a rather courageous thing to do.
In more recent years, Batuik caught a lot of flack from the strip’s fans for allowing Lisa to succumb to cancer. He’ll continue to pursue his own vision for his characters, I’m sure, despite the criticism.
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### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/67 "2010-07-06T20:31:56Z")
Right you are, **Rilchiam** – I knew I should have Googled the dates. For some reason, I thought the second jump was right after we bought our house… ANyway, you are right and it was 2007.
And, **DChord568** , I had forgotten that Lisa’s unwed mother-hood was actually from before the time-jump. For some reason, I was thinking that, although it obviously _happened_ while the characters were in high school, it wasn’t revealed until Lisa and Les met up again after the first time jump. I just read the original strips online and I don’t remember them at all, except as flashbacks after the time jump. Maybe my hometown paper didn’t carry them.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/68 "2010-07-06T21:02:25Z")
> [@SkeptiJess](#):
>
> And, **DChord568** , I had forgotten that Lisa’s unwed mother-hood was actually from before the time-jump. For some reason, I was thinking that, although it obviously _happened_ while the characters were in high school, it wasn’t revealed until Lisa and Les met up again after the first time jump. I just read the original strips online and I don’t remember them at all, except as flashbacks after the time jump. Maybe my hometown paper didn’t carry them.
Didn’t Batiuk kind of retcon the circumstances, though? Like, originally Lisa and her baby’s father were on the same page with having sex, and the only problem was lack of/insufficient birthcontrol? And then when we heard about it the second time, after the jump, suddenly Lisa had been pressured into sex much against her will? It’s entirely possible that I’m wrong about this, but I think I remember it in terms of “Batiuk decided a pregnant teenager wasn’t dark enough; now it’s gotta be a date rape – hasn’t he beat up on Lisa enough already?!”
Because that was the problem with Lisa’s death. It’s not that she had cancer and it’s not that she died of it. It’s that she **beat** cancer in the '90s. Then Batiuk got cancer, and decided he hadn’t portrayed cancer correctly the first time; I think that’s what he said. So Lisa’s cancer came back. Then it was supposedly in remission. **Then** it came out that the doctor had read the wrong files (can that happen?). And the cancer was back in full force, and it was fatal, and it was a matter of months.
That’s why people are irritated with Batiuk. Because Funky now seems to consist **only** of bad things happening to the characters. It’s not one tough storyline; it’s an endless parade. Everyone seems to have been hit at least once, and some of them several times. Rex Morgan, Mary Worth et al are positively lighthearted in comparison.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/69 "2010-07-06T21:40:48Z")
> [@devilsknew](#):
>
> I remember when I was in High School, Funky was kind of like the “Archie of the '80’s”. It had a lot of relatable stuff to the typical Ohio High School age teen- Funky really appealed to the geekier kids, and especially the Band geeks, a lot of inside band jokes. Kind of grown up with it and well, it’s dealing with age appropriate topics to Tom Batiuk, now… It’s just like small town life in Ohio, growing up and dying there, very realistic, very current, very “Ohio” and weirdly prescient.
Wow. Remind me to stay the hell away from Ohio!
---
### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/70 "2010-07-07T00:01:49Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#):
>
> Didn’t Batiuk kind of retcon the circumstances, though? Like, originally Lisa and her baby’s father were on the same page with having sex, and the only problem was lack of/insufficient birthcontrol? And then when we heard about it the second time, after the jump, suddenly Lisa had been pressured into sex much against her will? It’s entirely possible that I’m wrong about this, but I think I remember it in terms of “Batiuk decided a pregnant teenager wasn’t dark enough; now it’s gotta be a date rape – hasn’t he beat up on Lisa enough already?!”
>
> Because that was the problem with Lisa’s death. It’s not that she had cancer and it’s not that she died of it. It’s that she **beat** cancer in the '90s. Then Batiuk got cancer, and decided he hadn’t portrayed cancer correctly the first time; I think that’s what he said. So Lisa’s cancer came back. Then it was supposedly in remission. **Then** it came out that the doctor had read the wrong files (can that happen?). And the cancer was back in full force, and it was fatal, and it was a matter of months.
Your recollections are correct, to the best of my memory as well. Add on top of the “doctor read the wrong scans” thing that they never did anything about the doctor’s error, IIRC.
Funky: almost went back to being an alcoholic after taking his dad (suffering from Alzheimer’s) to the nursing home, had to close all but the original Montoni’s due to the economy (and probable mismanagement), is betting on selling an old comic book to save the last Montoni’s, got in the current car accident. His son Cory is a horrible student and a juvenile delinquent.
Wally: captured in the Gulf War, held captive, meanwhile his wife was informed of his death by the military (which didn’t bother to check what remains of some poor unidentified soldier’s body were sent to her as supposedly Wally’s) and eventually remarried. He’s rescued, and is returned to town without any debriefing - not to mention a formal apology - and learns of her remarriage. He sleeps on the floor of his little apartment, next to his bed, because that’s how he slept when he was a captive. This time he keeps a gun under his pillow, though. He’s washing dishes in Montoni’s because Funky pitied him, and suffering from PTSD flashbacks even from things like a post high school basketball game celebration.
Les: still haunted (literally and figuratively) by Lisa’s ghost, and once he finally tentatively tries to date (the mother of his daughter’s biggest basketball rival), he is oblivious to the attempts to sabotage and horn in on the budding relationship by Susan Smith, who tried to kill herself back in the day due to obsessing over him when she was a student.
I have a hard time thinking of anything going on in the strip that’s actually happy.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/71 "2010-07-07T00:32:01Z")
Great Og Almighty. I stopped reading Funky (and a lot of other comic strips) in early 2008. What you’ve outlined is so horrifying that…I just now looked for an archive. And found one, so I can see all the strips laid out in their macabre glory.
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### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/72 "2010-07-07T00:41:41Z")
Like I said, I never saw the original strips, so I’m only familiar with the post-jump version, which I just reread this afternoon. The post-jump version uses Batiuk’s flashback method with the ‘old’ panels drawn to look like snapshots on a scrapbook. The flashback panels are either the originals or, if they really are retconned, are drawn in the style of the old originals. [Here](http://www.funkywinkerbean.com/pregnancy.html) is the link. Anyway, in this series of strips, Lisa doesn’t seem to indicate date rape, at least as regards force. She does admit that there was drinking at the party and says that the experience was ‘lousy.’ But she doesn’t seem traumatized by the encounter, really; just upset/ worried about the outcome.
I do kind of remember that the baby’s father would show up from time to time later in the strip and was presented as stalkerish, at least. Maybe the situation was retconned later (after those flashback strips) to make Lisa’s date with Frankie more violent?
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### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/73 "2010-07-07T00:44:06Z")
The thing with Wally, btw, is really just fucking depressing. He’s even _drawn_ in a depressing way. Seeing his hang-dog face in the mornings is enough to put you off your cheerios, that’s for sure.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/74 "2010-07-07T01:10:22Z")
Gads. Well, regarding Lisa, maybe I’m remembering wrong. I do remember those strips, and you’re right: they don’t seem to indicate force. Even so, this is more beating up! Lisa already had self-esteem issues and a lackluster social life. Why did he choose her for the pregnancy arc instead of Cindy or Holly? I mean, in terms of “gotta grow up, life is responsibility” introspection.
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### Author:  [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/75 "2010-07-07T02:04:44Z")
I had read the strip back when everyone was still in high school, then lost track of it when I changed papers. I didn’t pick it up again until I moved to NC in late '06, and had no idea what had happened to everyone until I finally thought to try to check online. And then everything jumped ahead ten years, confusing me even further.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/76 "2010-07-07T02:37:58Z")
Is Les “daughter” his daughter or step daughter, then?
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/77 "2010-07-07T02:52:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Is Les “daughter” his daughter or step daughter, then?
Summer is Les and Lisa’s bio daughter. Lisa gave up her previous baby for adoption, and as I recall he turned out to be the blond teenager Darin. (I’m willing to be corrected if my memory is faulty.)
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### Author:  [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/78 "2010-07-07T02:53:25Z")
Yeah, you’ve almost got to assume that Batiuk really had it in for Lisa.
Crappy first sexual experience (even if it wasn’t rape)? Check! Teenage pregnancy? Check! Courageously give your baby up for adoption and don’t reconnect with him until the very end of your life? Check! Cancer, with all the nasty and invasive treatments possible? Check! A recurrance of cancr that actually kills you this time, in the prime of life, leaving your toddler half-orphaned? Big fat check!
The only character Batiuk seems to like _less_ is poor old Wally. Wally maims his high school girlfriend in an at-fault drunk driving incident, joins the Army just in time for a freaking war, gets held captive in said war zone for 6 freaking _years_, comes back to discover his family has been sublet in his absence, and suffers from a gruesome case of PTSD…
Nobody in the Funkiverse is exactly free from pain, but Lisa and Wally definately seem to get more than their share.
---
### Author:  [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/79 "2010-07-07T03:40:52Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#):
>
> Didn’t Batiuk kind of retcon the circumstances, though? Like, originally Lisa and her baby’s father were on the same page with having sex, and the only problem was lack of/insufficient birthcontrol? And then when we heard about it the second time, after the jump, suddenly Lisa had been pressured into sex much against her will? It’s entirely possible that I’m wrong about this, but I think I remember it in terms of “Batiuk decided a pregnant teenager wasn’t dark enough; now it’s gotta be a date rape – hasn’t he beat up on Lisa enough already?!”
I don’t know how he may have told the tale differently in flashback, but my recollection was that in the original story arc, Lisa (who really was drawn as a rather dumpy, unattractive teen with glasses at the time) was thrilled to be asked out by the star football player…and being somewhat bedazzled by him, acceded to having sex with him. It was implied that she was pressured into this rather than having it in her own mind to do so. So while “against her will” and “date rape” may be putting it too strongly, “on the same page” would certainly be too far in the opposite direction.
She certainly regretted her actions after the fact, though, and very much appreciated Les’s loyalty and support.
> [@](#):
>
> Because that was the problem with Lisa’s death. It’s not that she had cancer and it’s not that she died of it. It’s that she **beat** cancer in the '90s. Then Batiuk got cancer, and decided he hadn’t portrayed cancer correctly the first time; I think that’s what he said. So Lisa’s cancer came back. Then it was supposedly in remission. **Then** it came out that the doctor had read the wrong files (can that happen?). And the cancer was back in full force, and it was fatal, and it was a matter of months.
>
> That’s why people are irritated with Batiuk. Because Funky now seems to consist **only** of bad things happening to the characters. It’s not one tough storyline; it’s an endless parade. Everyone seems to have been hit at least once, and some of them several times. Rex Morgan, Mary Worth et al are positively lighthearted in comparison.
Maybe people have just never become reconciled to a comic strip that reflects stuff that happens to people in real life. It’s inaccurate to portray _Funky Winkerbean_ as featuring “ **only** of bad things happening to the characters.” There are still individual strips that strive for humor, and still characters to whom GOOD things happen (i.e., Les’s budding romance with Cayla, the recent acceptance of his book about Lisa by a publisher, Harry Dinkle’s mellow retirement, Becky successfully taking his place despite the loss of one arm, etc.).
---
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/funky-winkerbean-spoiler-question/544841/80 "2010-07-07T03:46:20Z")
> [@DChord568](#):
>
> There are still individual strips that strive for humor, and still characters to whom GOOD things happen
Ahem…
> [@](#):
>
> (i.e., Les’s budding romance with Cayla,
Soon to be seriously messed with by Les’s colleague-teacher/stalker/obsessive…
> [@](#):
>
> Harry Dinkle’s mellow retirement,
necessitated in part by his growing deafness…
> [@](#):
>
> Becky successfully taking his place, etc.).
With her single arm (Thanks, Wally!)…
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