Author: ComicBookHarriet

My life has been a chaotic mess lately. Last weekend saw the passing of the mother of my dearest best friend, roommate, soul sister, and the Blue Beetle to my Booster Gold. So much of the week was tied up in funeral and funeral reception planning.

Now planting is in full swing, and my Dad has decided he completely feels up to putting the corn in as long as someone else is loading the planter for him. So those lower on the farmer pecking order than him are getting really up close and personal with 50 pound bags of seed corn a half a dozen times a day.

Still, didn’t want the day to go unremarked upon. So a little snapshot of a momentous time in the story of the most complex, fraught, and toxic relationship in the Funkyverse. Jeff’s relationship with Rose. Someday, when the world calms down a bit, the crazy old bat is due for a deep dive!

First of all.. that Sadie Summers breakdown will go down in history as one of, if not THE, greatest introductory series of posts by a new host ever. Narshe…we stand in line!

Been so out of the loop the last couple months I didn’t even clock that the Ohioana Book Festival had been cancelled for 2026. Anyone else hear about this? Any one else comment about this already and I was so gassed out on rotten silage fumes I blocked the memory?

So I guess Batiuk can scratch 40% of his hard cover book sales for the year. What he’ll do with the surplus three volumes of The Complete Funky Winkerbean that he manages to pity sell to footsore festival goers, I have no idea. But I’m sure some door in his home will need propped open sooner or later.

But the strips were already written and pasted together a year in advance, so Ohioana Book Festival 2026 exists only in Crankshaft form.

Channeling my inner Iansdrunkenbeard…

On the family and farm front, my dad is recovering well. To the point I literally had to throw him out of a cattle sorting pen by pointing at the gate and barking ‘GO ON! GIT!’ at him like a misbehaving dog. Weather has been too cold and wet for planting, but the cows and calves are mostly out to pasture.

Son of Stuck Funky turns 16 years old this week!!! Celebrate with me that a child born when this shitposting haven started would now be legally allowed behind the wheel of a vehicle without adult supervision!!!

And what an auspicious start to our 16th year of nonsense. A brand new driver to take the wheel on posting duties and guide us through a scenic bus tour of Sadie Summers. Amazing, that this late in the game we’re still adding new crew to our roster. Narshe, we look forward to whatever you have in store for us.

Four years ago, when Funky Winkerbean was ending and Epicus and TFH were indicating they’d said pretty much everything they wanted to post about Batiuk’s silly universe, I had a big decision to make. I knew they’d let me truck on, but did I feel up to continuing?

I decided to keep the ball rolling, and I’m glad I did. You all have made it worthwhile, with your comments and engagement. New people keep finding this place. Old friends check in from time to time and make me smile. It is undoubtedly worth it.

But, let it be said, that I would have burnt out long ago if it weren’t for Banana Jr. 6000 stepping up to the plate and taking an equal, and sometimes outsized share of the workload. He’s the best. The bad cop to my good cop when it comes to prosecuting Batiuk. And taking the lead on some behind the scenes tech stuff I’m too analog brained to understand.

Thank you all for being here. And thank you all for the well wishes in the comments about my dad. He had a minor setback this week, a micro stroke which put him back in the hospital and made his projected road to recovery a bit longer. In some ways I’m back to where I was four years ago, with a big, long-running operation I have to keep rolling and decide what the future will bring.

But until all the grumpy old men in my life are ready to retire: Batiuk, Dad, Sorial Promise, I’ve decided I’m gonna keep it rolling, keep it Funky, keep it Cranky, and nitpick on!

Thanks for being here for the journey!

Many topics to cover today. And not enough brain cells to do it with!

First of all, Happy Easter to all who celebrate! May your plastic eggs be as full of sweet goodness as the tomb was empty of Messiah corpses.

Second of all, many thanks to commenter unabashedlyscrumptiousb3ecbcf7cb who has the breaking Akron News!

Hey CBH…hope you can read this article about Luigi’s band box I’ve attached from today’s Akron Beacon Journal. I tried to find a way to get it to you directly, but kept coming up empty. Maybe you might be able to get a blog post from it.

Check out this article from Akron Beacon Journal:

What happened to Luigi’s bandbox?

https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/local/2026/04/03/what-happened-to-luigis-bandbox/89410589007/

Not to worry folks, the band box is just out for repairs again. But I wish Mark J. Price had come to me to research his article, as there are numerous factual errors.

Error one. That’s obviously Crazy Harry talking to Funky Winkerbean, not Tony Montoni.

Error two. Ayers penciled that art, though at the time Batiuk was still taking full credit for the strip he inked, because…

Error three. That cartoon wasn’t drawn in March 2026. That was part of a Sunday strip that ran on July 28, 2013.

And now, third topic of the day.

On Monday my dad suffered a heart attack and needed emergency triple bypass surgery. I have been farming solo all week long, barring some assistance by the neighbors, which has been exhausting. While my dad is recovering well, he’s still in for more hospital time, followed by a recovery at home that will probably involve him puppeting me as his mindless millennial muscle while he sits with his feet up. Which, given the alternative, I’ll gladly accept.

While I fully intend to continue shitposting and snarking here, don’t expect anything super structured, coherent, or well researched from me for a few months. Banana Jr 6000 will have to handle the high effort posts for the foreseeable future. My posts are probably going to be more spontaneous and silly.

Love to all!!!

In my tedious dissection research currently ongoing of the stupid Skip and Batton interview, I nearly let an important anniversary pass us by! So thanks to CSRoberto for reminding me that this week we are celebrating 54!

No, not that one.

No, not that one either.

Instead, the 54th Anniversary of the first Funky Winkerbean Strip!

And, since things have been so unbearable on the Crankshaft front, I thought I’d throw up some choice 1972 material.

I MEAN CHOICE 1972 FUNKY WINKERBEAN MATERIAL!!!

Covering a wide range of topics Batiuk would never touch now! Like…

Cannibalism.

Cultural Appropriation.

Body Shaming.

Trad Wives.

Or Livinia in general.

And who can forget that there was once a time Batiuk dared to pretend he didn’t deeply revere Baseball and Comic Books.

But of course…some things never change.

54 years later and he still won’t shut up about climate change.

And the levy will NEVER pass.

And Tom will always find a way to insert himself into his comic.

And Les Moore is an unbearable human tumor no one wants to see. At least we can be greatful we’ve had more than a year of his absence!

Funny to think about how the ‘Kid’s These Days’ this strip was originally about are now all pushing 70. World leaders, congresspeople, CEO’s, generals and admirals.

“I mean, this is surely the generation that will figure out that whole Middle East thing, right?”

But at least you can look back and see where old Funky Winkerbean predicted the future.

Yeah, that is pretty far fetched and ridiculous.

Funky Winkerbean, if only we knew what we had when we had it.