Funky Winkerbean Turns 50

2003: Several Northeast Ohioans fill the funny pages of newspapers, and Akron Life paid tribute to many including Funky Winkerbean and then-Crankshaft collaborators Chuck Ayers and Tom Batiuk. In 1972, Batiuk, a longtime Medina resident, launched Funky Winkerbean, and in the mid-’80s, he took it from daily gags to explorations of deeper issues such as teen pregnancy. In a rare turn for a comic strip, Batiuk aged his characters in a time jump in the early ’90s, taking them out of high school and into young adult life. “I started writing more about human beings,” he says. “I wanted to challenge my characters. Probably the most prominent was Lisa’s story.” She endured a breast cancer diagnosis, with strips depicting harrowing chemotherapy sessions and a mastectomy while still finding reasons to laugh.

Today: Funky Winkerbean celebrates 50 years, and Ayers and Batiuk are still collaborating. Lisa died in a shocking move for a comic, and Batiuk was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her story in 2008. The strip underwent another time jump, covering challenging issues like chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and now the characters are older adults like Batiuk, who is 75. New syndicated strips continue to run today, showing characters navigating an uncomfortable high school reunion and the woes of aging on the pages of 300 newspapers. Fans can find volumes of Funky Winkerbean in books sold through Kent State University Press. As passionate as always, Batiuk doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon or easing up on challenging storylines. “Having my characters grow up,” he says, “allowed me to find a different style of humor.” funkywinkerbean.com

Update: Batiuk is retiring Funky Winkerbean at the end of 2022. He will publish stories on his website, tombatiuk.com, and will continue its Crankshaft spinoff strip.