Negative reaction to a 2007 strip featuring Wally getting blown up by an I.E.D. [32][33][34], Over the week of July 7, 2008, Pearls Before Swine parodied the tendency of Funky Winkerbean towards killing off main characters when it killed off Rat and the strip's own author, Stephan Pastis (the two would later be returned to the strip via the intervention of the head of United Feature Syndicate), with Tom Batiuk even allowing Pastis to use his representation of the Angel of Death in the second to last strip in the series. The author made it clear almost a year before the plot line resolved that it was going to end with her death, so, Bull's encephalopathy from a history of football injuries has recently been fodder for awkward "jokes" about him being forgetful or quirky, which would possibly be chuckle-worthy if not for the fact that they're the direct result of, In real life, Batiuk is a huge fan of comics and has a few friends in the comic book industry, such as his neighbor Tony Isabella and, From time to time, Batiuk will devote an entire Sunday strip to a replica of a Silver Age. [37] [38]. The most recent example featured Superboy Volume 1, #57. For unknown reasons, Les never bothers to use a cellphone (or. Funky married Cindy in 1998; they are now divorced. In reality, the massive amount of smoke this sort of fire would spew out would be visible for miles around, and would immediately (and very noticeably) affect the air quality over a very wide area of LA county. Since the 1992 reboot and especially since the 2007 time jump, the strip has been recast as a serialized drama, though most strips still feature some humor, often based on wordplay. Dick Tracy has a concurrent crossover with Funky Winkerbean concerning the comic book auction. Rather than follow the story through to its end and explore the effects her death had on her friends and family, it's promptly dropped in the form of a ten-year, Likely as a result of the above, this has now become the norm in Act III. [17]. [18]. [31] In her defense of the play, the character of Susan Smith, a Westview High teacher and drama director, was viewed by critics as a mouthpiece for Batiuk's views on the importance of dramatic entertainment. Compilations of Family Circus comic strips have sold over 13 million copies worldwide. The idea started close to home. Dismiss Visit. After the principal's speech about no sexual discrimination in the student handbook, he's later seen talking to someone who's very awkwardly hidden by props in the foreground. In the end, the trope kicks in when it is revealed ... that Les, who helped organize the event, had passed out during the reunion (for unexplained reasons) and was having a dream. “Funky Winkerbean” appears in about 350 newspapers and can also be read online. In January 2013, Fred Fairgood—now retired as principal of Westview High—suffered a major stroke and was barely alive at the hospital; he is later shown to be recovering at home, although he is disabled. Batiuk was very open about the fact that Lisa's latest ordeal would end with her death[7] and some of the events that would happen as a result. Their relationship blossoms into love and in the fall of 2012, the two were married. Distributed by North America Syndicate, a division of King Features Syndicate, it appears in more than 400 newspapers worldwide.