Funky Winkerbean Ended it's Run

I wrote a blog about this comic strip in February 2021. I didn’t remember this comic being as famous as Peanuts or Cathy or For Better or Worse back in the 1980s. Funky was consistent. It didn’t take long breaks or have a season of reruns. After that blog, I got a lot of likes and conversions about Funky. There was a big devoted following that I never knew about. There were Funky websites, Facebook groups and Twitter hashtags.

Funky wasn’t just about one person. The comic was a large cast of characters and multiple storylines and fans followed them all. I’ve read comments in the daily strip where readers remember these characters from years earlier.

In November 2022, the creator, Tom Batiuk, announced that he was ending the strip in December 2022. It would be the end of a 52 year run.

As I noted in that first blog, it debuted when I was born. I read about these high school students when I was in grade school. I followed the same high schoolers when I was in high school. I graduated high school and lost track. Batiuk did a time jump and the characters were the same age as me again. I was a little older when characters went to war, faced illness, and some characters died.

I’ve seen comics end during my life. I vaguely remember Agatha Crumb. Cathy got married. For Better or Worse ended, but is still found in newspapers. There were comics that were huge and blew out quick like Bloom County, Boondocks, or Calvin and Hobbes. Funky outlasted them all. Some Funky storylines dragged, some had me hooked everyday. There was humor and mystery. This hasn’t been a stagnant comic.

The demise of this comic will leave a big hole in the comic world. I’m not talking on just the King World website. This was a trusty- always-there comic and it will pass.

I hope the new comic that will replace it, brings its readers all the joys and friends that Funky Winkerbean brought us. Crankshaft has replaced Funky in many papers.

What comic replaced Funky in your newspapers?