Month: September 2014

Bullying is Batiuk’s New Breast Cancer

While we wait for Wednesday’s comic to appear at midnight eastern, here’s an update from the official Funky Winkerbean blog:

Awhile back I was asked by Kurt Kolka to write a preface for a book featuring his character the Cardinal and a story dealing with bullying. Almost from the first week in Funky, I’ve been taking on this topic in the strip (empahsis added) so I was more than happy to add to Kurt’s take on the subject.

Here’s Tom Batiuk “taking on this topic” in 1983:

It’s just one of many Act I strips in which “Bull” Bushka physically and mentally abuses meek, hapless Les Moore. This was a regular occurrence during their high school days, and Batiuk always played it for laughs.

As they time-jumped into middle-aged adulthood, Les still seemed excessively intimidated by Les. He even panicked at the thought of Bull being Summer’s driver’s ed teacher (2009):


In April 2011, TB “revealed” that Bull had only pretended to abuse Les, so that the “real” school bullies would leave him alone.

More recent bullying arcs have centered around Cody and Owen (Act III’s Les and Crazy Harry) and goth gurl Alex enduring non-funny taunts from Wedgeman, and the realization of Bull’s transformation into an anti-bully:


Batiuk’s “got a lot of make up work to do” too…he’s more than happy to crow about “touching on the issue of bullying since the comic strip’s beginning in 1972,” but he should cop to using bullying for comic fodder for most of that time.

But that’s not the really interesting part…from the Medina Gazette:

In addition to contributing his work to the book, Batiuk also wrote a preface to a full-length issue of Kurt Kolka’s “The Cardinal,” a superhero who deals with bullying and other social issues affecting teens.

The Cardinal comic reads almost like a religious tract. It’s surprising that Batiuk, whom I’ve always taken as a solid secularist, would lend his imprimatur to a explicitly Christian enterprise. In fact, Batiuk’s lone entry on IMDb is acting the role of “Art professor” in a straight-to-cellphone video adaptation of The Cardinal vs. the Wrath of the Warthog!

TB’s doesn’t appear in this clip, but enjoy the spectacularly cheezy trailer. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available!

Stretching the Truth

After summertime stops in such locales as Hollywood, San Diego, and Centerville, the Funky Train has returned to familiar Westview. Today’s stop: the Fitness Center, where once again Funky endures the scorn of his still-nameless trainer, whom we call Fitness Girl.

These Fitness Girl arcs get me to wondering where Mr. “Write What You Know” works out. Maybe at the Medina Tone Fitness Center (motto: “Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever”)? I mainly wonder because of the way he draws fitness equipment: Funky is ensconced in what looks like a giant infant swing.  His submissive attitude in panel 3, under Fitness Girl’s disdainful gaze, infantilizes him further still. Here is a guy who at least tries to get fit: we see him run–well, jog; play tennis, and put up with this sneering witch of a “personal trainer.” He should be looking and feeling a little better, but Batiuk persists in portraying him as an elderly, hapless schlub.

What’s a Hemingway?

Major props as always to Beckoning Chasm, and to David O, Epicus Doomus, and Oddnoc, for helping me keep the snark fires burning every day!

As the first autumn leaf drops, Les and Cayla pack up the old porch swing.  What is surely intended to be romantic small talk could be read as icy, dismissive sarcasm with the addition of some quotation marks:

I’m glad you’re home, “Hemingway”…I missed you while you were “doing your Hollywood thing.”

After all, Les’ ultimately doomed movie project once promised big bucks and dreams of stardom. Instead, he’s back in Ohio with nothing to show for his time in LaLa Land.

On a side note: every Sunday strip since August 3 has had these black borders around the panels…is Batiuk finally copping to how morbid and depressing his strip is?

Up in the Atiuk

Link to today’s strip.

Again, we are lacking any of our regular Funky Winkerbean cast…which is fine by me.  Young Blonde is watching what the youth of today are always watching–caterwauling blondes.  I mean, look at the mouth on that TV woman.  Did someone just hand her a comic book?

Meanwhile, Jff is up in the atiuk, transported by joy.  Much as I criticize, it is nice to see someone in any Batiuk work enjoying life.  And if “enjoying life” means reading comics, eating cookies and drinking milk, well, I’m not going to make trouble.  (By the way, if you’re wondering what’s going on anatomically, I think Jff is holding the cookie with his right hand, not holding both cookie and comic in some twisted left hand.) It’s also refreshing to see someone enjoy a comic book as a story being told, rather than just a handful of old pulp pages stapled together and intended to be stored for future worship.

Enjoy your comic, Jff!  Don’t let the fact that you’ll probably die tomorrow spoil the mood.   Whoops!  I didn’t mean that.  Whew!  Almost won a Pulitzer there!

Starting tomorrow, Fearless Leader returns.  Thanks for your indulgence!