Fifty Funky Years

March 26, 1972 saw a new comic strip appear about a group of high school students
created by school teacher Tom Batiuk who also happened to be a cartoonist.

The Funky Winkerbean cast spent 20 years in high school until Tom decided to move them on to a different arrangement, advancing them 4 years after their 1992 graduation, which instantly became their 1988 graduation, and then began aging them in real time.

With the more adult cast came adult situations, some controversial.

The same month that Lisa died Batiuk did the time warp again, jumping ahead ten years.

The characters have continued aging from that 2007 jump and can be read daily at Comics Kingdom (with archives going back to 1998). While The Kent State University Press is collecting The Complete Funky Winkerbean, currently up to 2001 – Making all of Funky Winkerbean available.

Along the way Tom has had some art assistance by Gerry Shamray, Chuck Ayers, John Byrne, and Rick Burchett, plus a number of others on his occasional Atomik Komix covers.

Tom Batiuk regularly posts to his Funky Winkerbean Blog about all his comics.

Funky then and Funky now

 

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