Category: Son of Stuck Funky

Was It Good for You, Too?



“So Coach took care of me.” On more than one occasion, too, judging by the wordless exchange in panel 1. So Bull turns out not to be a bully at all, but rather someone who goes to great lengths to protect meek Les while keeping his tough jock cred.

Why? What’s in it for Bull? Is Les doing Bull’s homework? Looking the other way as Bull moseys past his hall monitor machine gun nest? Has Les hacked into Westview’s sentient computer and hiked up his grades?

Oh, who the hell cares! Today’s the first anniversary of Son of Stuck Funky! Without making too big a deal of it, I’d just like to thank each and every one of you who reads this blog, and most especially the ones who contribute comments and ideas that keep things lively and make it worth coming back! It’s been a fun and interesting year…the highlight, of course, was logging in one Feburary morning to find that WordPress had shut us down!

Proof at last that Mr. Tom Batiuk (and his lawyers) know we exist. But the Snarkoalypse was short lived, and SoSF was back up and running in less than a day. A number of readers sent encouraging emails at that juncture. The biggest surprise was an email from the original Stuck Funky author! SF gave a little background on why the original blog petered out, and gave me his blessing in carrying on the snark. He also expressed some interest in guest-blogging. So I’m very pleased to announce that for the next seven days, I’m hopping into the rumble seat and turning over the keys to the original Stuck Funky!

Tom Batiuk responds to Funky blog take down order at The Daily Cartoonist

Tom Batiuk responds to Funky blog take down order The Daily Cartoonist

Let me tell ya, snarkers, it’s not as dramatic as the headline makes it sound, but TB is officially on the record regarding last Friday’s legal action, with a rather terse, two-sentence comment. It’s linked above, but I might as well share this bit of intellectual property right here:

“When asked why he felt he needed to take legal action to take down the blogs, Tom [Batiuk] responds:

‘I fought a lawsuit to regain ownership of my creations and, as a result, I take my intellectual property rights including trademark and copyright very seriously, and will enforce my rights when I find them being infringed. That includes someone reprinting the work in total without permission or compensation.’”

The man has spoken. And without admitting any guilt on my part, I will say I respect and understand what TB (and his lawyers) have to say. This whole affair has been quite an education for yours truly. At the Daily Cartoonist site, comics luminaries including Comics Curmudgeon’s Josh Fruhlinger and My Cage cartoonist Ed Power have weighed in, with most of them (Ed excluded, bless his heart) have come down on TB’s side. “Caricaturist” Dave Stephens, whose work includes a cartoon of JFK getting his head blown off, calls me a “bad egg”.

A number of folks are following this turn of events and wondering if this may have a “chilling effect” on other comics blogs. I hope it will not, and I don’t expect that it will. It’s time to get back to the business of snarking. Let me offer my thanks once more to everyone who has voiced their support for Son of Stuck Funky: most especially Sgt Saunders for his intellectual property expertise, and to David O for covering the cost of the domain name, and everyone who emailed me when the heat came down. Lastly let me welcome those who’ve discovered this blog as a result of all the fracas! Stick around and enjoy Westview through our eyes.

Stay Funky, y’all!

TFHackett

Cease and Desist

Read it and weep. I did. Click to enlarge

Well, now we know why sonofstuckfunky.wordpress.com (and stuckfunky.wordpress.com) got the plug pulled. Here is the letter that Batiuk’s lawyers sent to the WordPress.com folks. They are not happy with the “unauthorized use of the Funky Winkerbean name, trademark, or comic strips” on the site. They go on to ask the WordPress people to provide them with my name, address, and email address.

I’m still reeling from having the plug pulled, then was feeling great about being able to move the blog so quickly. Now I’m feeling pretty anxious. I don’t have a lawyer, I (obviously) don’t have a deep knowledge of copyright, and really don’t need to get sued.

This turn of events ought to tell you everything you need to know about Tom Batiuk’s sense of humor.

I will collect my thoughts and decide on the course of action going forward. In the meantime, thank you, friends, for your support.

Stay Funky.

TFH

Man’s Best Buddy

So what’s Robbie’s story? Does he have any issues, or is Batiuk just incapable of drawing appealing children? For now, Robbie exists as a prop. He hasn’t been given any lines…can he speak? How old is he? Who’s his daddy? Was he conceived in the back of a van? Are his tiny arms a clue to some type of irregularity? Let’s have some backstory here! Robbie’s issues aside, I must admit that it’s a nice change to see Pvt. Winkerbean finally “at ease”.