Tag: media

Funky News: New Tom Batiuk Interview

I just stumbled upon a fresh interview with TB on an “entertainment industry analysis” website called The Trades, occasioned by the upcoming 40th anniversary of Funky Winkerbean.

A lot of the interview is taken up with the biographical information we’re all pretty familiar with: how the strip got its start as a feature on the “Tuesday Teen Page” of an Elyria, Ohio newspaper…how TB first applied to (and was rejected by) Marvel and DC…and a couple reminiscences of Batiuk’s own high school days and his personal experience as a cancer survivor. He also talks about retconning, I mean, “filling in the gaps” left by two time jumps, and he again states that Crankshaft is now 10 years behind the Funkiverse. Also included are gems like TB’s comment about Les: “I guess I always kind of gravitated to him. I identify with him a lot.” (Real shocker there!)

Best of all is the conclusion of the article where TB gives a preview of upcoming plotlines, including fulfillment of a “bold-ass prediction” that snarker and guest-blogger David O made here nearly one year ago, and a special sneak peek at the March 27, 2012 40th anniversary strip!

The Way We Were

Sigh. I don’t want to pick on TB’s 9/11 effort…but I must.

Remember in Act II when the Westview High School Band performed at Carnegie Hall? Me neither. But let’s just say it happened. So excited  are Wally and Becky that their faces have become frozen masks of maniacal glee! Of course, that was before shit got real. Flash-forward to — today? Or sometime in the past ten years. Sgt. Wally (we assume) in his dress uniform, is going to or returning from Iraquistan, by way of New York City…looking glumly at the “new normal” skyline, his smirk turned upside-down.

Meanwhile, over at Crankshaft:

More careless time-jerking from Batiuk. Late last month TB posted on his “blogs“:

“I jumped everyone in the Funkyverse ahead in time in 2007 and I didn’t do the same with the cast of Crankshaft [emphasis mine].”

But in today’s CS, Cranky sits in  front of the TV, watching a news program entitled “9•11: TEN YEARS LATER”. The reporter is none other than Cindy Summers, reporting from Ground Zero; apparently following the attack, since she’s surrounded by the ruins and ashes of the Twin Towers. Cindy must work for the only U.S. news outlet using pink and yellow in their 9/11 onscreen graphics instead of red, white and blue.

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

SoSF in the News (Updated)

The Daily Cartoonist site reports (sort of) on the recent legal kerfuffle:

Batiuk lawyers force down Funky commentary blog

By “sort of” reporting, I mean that they couldn’t be bothered to email me to comment, but instead lifted their quotes from my post. They didn’t reach out to Batiuk for his thoughts either. I was extremely humbled, however, to have SoSF described as being “similar to Comics Curmudgeon”

UPDATE: I take back the “sort of”. Alan Gardner of the Daily Cartoonist not only emailed me for comment, but posted my reply to the site mere minutes after I hit “send”. A tip of the SoSF Stetson to the Daily Cartoonist! Alan also has contacted Batiuk, who probably will reply through his legal team.

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