Funky Winkerbean takes on ID

Posted 30 August 2004 by Richard B. Hoppe

↗ The current version of this post is on the live site: https://pandasthumb.org/archives/2004/08/funky-winkerbea.html

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out over time. (I don’t know how long that archive will last. If it slides out of view I’ll look for a deeper archive.)

(URL courtesy of Roland98 on II)

RBH

21 Comments

John Y. Jones · 30 August 2004

I got the following message:

Item Not Found

The article or page you requested was not found. If this link was sent to you via e-mail or posted on another website, it was probably incorrectly formatted.
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Richard Heritage · 30 August 2004

Try this:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fcomics%2FFunky_Winkerbean.dtl

Russell · 30 August 2004

FW's creator, Tom Batiuk, is a fellow Ohioan, which probably figures in his cognizance of this issue.

Bill Gascoyne · 30 August 2004

Also found at:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/funky.asp?date=20040830

RBH · 30 August 2004

John Y. Jones wrote

I got the following message: Item Not Found

That's apparently a weird URL. I've fixed it so it's available again, but I don't know how long it'll last. The alternatives people have posted still work. RBH

Aaron · 30 August 2004

Weird... Mr. Winkerbean was always such a banal, inoffensive fellow. I don't envy the person who answers Tom Batiuk's fan mail right now...

Michael · 30 August 2004

Yes, Tom shouldn't have insulted science fiction by comparing it to "intelligent design"...

Mike Hopkins · 30 August 2004

Yes, Tom shouldn't have insulted science fiction by comparing it to "intelligent design" . . .
— Michael

I would say he should have compared it to fantasy, but that insults the many excellent works in the fantasy genre in print and on the screen. It is bad fantasy. -- Anti-spam: replace "username" with "harlequin2"

John Y. Jones · 30 August 2004

It worked! Delightful! :) I never taught high school biology (only 4th grade special ed) but evolution/creationism in public schools is my chosen dissertation topic. Surfed in here just today and found Funky's words o' wisdom... hehehe...

Out of curiosity, how does one (can one) contribute to this blog? I'd love to share some of the stuff I've found/continue to find re stuff in public schools if it's appropriate for this forum.

Thanks. And I'm glad to learn I'm not alone. :)

RBH · 31 August 2004

By the way, in case anyone missed it, the "Johnny Hart" reference in the strip is a nod to the writer of BC.

RBH

RBH · 31 August 2004

And an addendum to the Johnny Hart reference: I'm told by a correspondent on another list that BC occasionally slants in the creationist direction. I have no direct knowledge of that -- I don't follow the strip.

RBH

Savagemutt · 31 August 2004

And an addendum to the Johnny Hart reference: I'm told by a correspondent on another list that BC occasionally slants in the creationist direction. I have no direct knowledge of that --- I don't follow the strip.
— RBH

Slants? It's more like a right angle to reality. Some of Harts strips are little more than 4 panel Jack Chick tracts.

steve · 31 August 2004

How many cartoonists use their medium to insult Islam, liberals, the government, and atheists? I've seen Hart do all those things, before I quit reading in disgust.

Aaron · 31 August 2004

How many cartoonists use their medium to insult Islam, liberals, the government, and atheists? I've seen Hart do all those things, before I quit reading in disgust.
— steve

You can add Jews to the list, too. A few years ago -- around Easter, I think -- Hart published a strip that showed the branches of a menorah falling off until the menorah became a cross, which appeared as part of a crucifixion/resurrection scene in the last panel. I never read B.C. regularly before then, but now I don't read it at all...

RBH · 1 September 2004

The strip today (9/1/04) takes a strange slant, with a fish flopping out of the sea and up on the beach. The beach says "Hi, it's Sandy Beach. And here comes a fish which has just evolved from the sea and is now hoping to continue the evolutionary process on land."

The last panel has a second fish with lipstick and eyelashes flopping up on the beach, saying "Hey there, big boy."

The Beach comments "Okay ... now we're rolling."

RBH

Irrational Robot · 3 September 2004

How many cartoonists use their medium to insult Islam, liberals, the government, and atheists? I've seen Hart do all those things, before I quit reading in disgust.

Whoever draws Mallard Fillmore would fit the bill...

Irrational Robot · 3 September 2004

How many cartoonists use their medium to insult Islam, liberals, the government, and atheists? I've seen Hart do all those things, before I quit reading in disgust.

Whoever draws Mallard Fillmore would fit the bill...

Steve · 3 September 2004

Good point. MF is also a lousy comic.

Russell · 3 September 2004

I don't know where Batiuk is going with this Funky Winkerbean story, but I note that these last few (puzzling) installments have been in the "strip within a strip" mode - I think as if appearing in the school newspaper of the school in which "intelligent design" is supposed to be taught.

RBH · 3 September 2004

Russell wrote

I don't know where Batiuk is going with this Funky Winkerbean story, but I note that these last few (puzzling) installments have been in the "strip within a strip" mode - I think as if appearing in the school newspaper of the school in which "intelligent design" is supposed to be taught.

Yup, that's what's going on -- note the author squib in the "fish" panels: it's the students in the outer level panels. RBH

RBH · 4 September 2004

In today's episode of the strip within a strip, the Beach is ruminating to itself:

"Well, I'm all alone in the dark again. The two fish who had recently evolved from the sea are gone. President Bush came by and threw them back."

RBH