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By the 1980s Batiuk's talent for character- and story-driven work comes into its own. Harry L. Dinkle, the World's Greatest Band Director and Funky's first breakout character, is still marching along happily. He makes the first of two visits to the Tournament of Roses Parade, and his ego grows even larger. Harry proves a good match for the sitcom style of writing into which Batiuk's work on Funky is developing, and Crazy Harry thrives as the repository for the more outré ideas and situations. Whether it is living in his locker and playing frozen pizzas on his stereo, battling the Eliminator at Space Invaders, announcing that he is an air guitar player, or inviting Carl Sagan and ET to the Star Trek Convention that he and the school computer would host, Crazy becomes Funky Winkerbean's natural-born outlier. Meanwhile, Les Moore continues his angst-filled journey as the leader of the school's out crowd. 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With this ninth volume of the collected Funky Winkerbean, containing strips from 1996–1998, time continues to pass and events take place that will forever alter the lives of the core characters, even as new characters take the stage with stories to tell.  Tom Batiuk's narrative humor style now grows to encompass such diverse events as retirement, weddings, the treatment of immigrants, dating abuse, and post office bombings. Some of the stories can be told over a cup of coffee, while others require a full-on Roman feast. As the stories become more universal, the humor in Funky continues to become an integral part of the ongoing narrative.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51324359868689,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51324362293521,"sku":"CIN1606353926G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52957676077329,"sku":"NIN9781606353929","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1606353926.jpg?v=1773914174"},{"product_id":"complete-funky-winkerbean-book-tom-batiuk-9781606351512","title":"The Complete Funky Winkerbean","description":"Funky, Les, and the gang pun their way through Westview High   Since its debut on March 27, 1972, Funky Winkerbean has chronicled the lives of a group of students from the fictitious Westview High School. This second volume, which presents strips from 1975, 1976, and 1977, sees the comic strip rounding into the form that will carry it into its middle years. With gentle humor and not-so-gentle puns, Les, Funky, Crazy Harry, and the gang comment on life's little absurdities.  Funky begins to ponder why there are cloakrooms in elementary schools when no one wears cloaks. Crazy Harry, firmly ensconced in his locker-as-living-quarters, moves out because his row of lockers has gone condo. Les Moore blossoms as a character and replaces Funky as the leader of the school's out crowd when he is seen alone on his bicycle at the local drive-in movie. The computer at Westview High becomes sentient and subjects the students to its obsession with Star Trek, including holding Star Trek conventions at the school. Westview's principal and teachers cope with it all with irony or Zen-like detachment.  In Volume 1, we met Harry L. Dinkle, the band director at West-view High. The self-proclaimed \"World's Greatest Band Director,\" Dinkle is based on a retired band director from Avon Lake, Ohio, who was also the band director at the junior high school that Tom Batiuk attended. Band camps, the Fall Battle of the Bands, and the annual torrential downpours become fixtures in the strip. Other familiar themes are the turkeys and fruitcakes that show up through the years as band fund-raisers. The Westview Scapegoats go national and march off to the 1976 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Harry L. Dinkle marches into real life, lending his name to a line of Dinkles band shoes, actual band candy, and the \"Harry L. Dinkle March\" composed by Andy Clark. He even shows up on scoreboards at college football games.  Volume 2 includes an introduction in which Tom Batiuk shares the creative and evolutionary processes in his development of these characters. Subsequent volumes will each contain three years of Funky strips and will be published annually. Batiuk has been recognized for his humorous and entertaining portrayals of the students and staff at Westview and acclaimed for his sensitive treatment of social and educational issues.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51454742528273,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51454744166673,"sku":"CIN1606351516G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52960969621777,"sku":"NIN9781606351512","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1606351516.jpg?v=1773914624"},{"product_id":"complete-funky-winkerbean-volume-12-2005-2007-book-tom-batiuk-9781606354483","title":"The Complete Funky Winkerbean, Volume 12, 2005-2007","description":"Since its newspaper debut in 1972, the comic strip Funky Winkerbean has chronicled the journey through life of a group of students from the fictitious West View High School. This twelfth volume presents strips from 2005, 2006, and 2007.  Mixing humor with serious, real-life issues, this volume of The Complete Funky Winkerbean demonstrates that comics that entertain us can also help us comprehend and navigate life's most difficult challenges.  This volume includes the story arc dealing with Lisa Moore's heartbreaking battle with breast cancer, which became a finalist in the cartooning category of the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes. Other stories include Lisa defending comic shop owner John Howard in an obscenity lawsuit, Wally's struggles with PTSD upon returning from the war in Afghanistan, and his return to Afghanistan with his wife Becky as part of a project to clear landmines. Marriages, graduations, births, and even the building of a new school all weave around and through Lisa's story.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51499909153041,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51499909284113,"sku":"NIN9781606354483","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1606354485.jpg?v=1773917279"},{"product_id":"funky-and-friends-book-tom-batiuk-9781606353035","title":"The Funky and Friends","description":"Follow award-winning cartoonist Tom Batiuk as he chronicles the lives of the students and teachers at the fictitious Westview High School. Fans will enjoy the progression of Funky's subtle evolution from gags to situational humour to behavioural humour.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51504368517393,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51504368550161,"sku":"NIN9781606353035","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51912955298065,"sku":"CIN1606353039G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1606353039.jpg?v=1773919596"},{"product_id":"complete-funky-winkerbean-volume-15-2014-2016-book-batiuk-9781606355008","title":"The Complete Funky Winkerbean, Volume 15, 2014-2016","description":"Tom Batiuk showcases his roots as the Funkyverse expands   In this latest volume, Tom Batiuk continues to explore the roots of comic books and newspaper comic strips and provides unique insight into the evolution of his own creative process. Beginning five years after the strip's most recent time-jump, the Funky gang are now in their late forties and raising teenagers of their own. Batiuk continues the Starbuck Jones storyline from the previous volume, as Holly searches for the final five issues of the comic book to send to Cory in Afghanistan. Elsewhere, there is a memorable class reunion, the character of Mason Jarr is introduced, and the cast decamps to Hollywood as Lisa's Story is about to be adapted into a movie.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51770042253585,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51770042417425,"sku":"NGR9781606355008","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52497940807953,"sku":"NIN9781606355008","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781606355008.jpg?v=1773915407"},{"product_id":"complete-funky-winterbean-volume-1-1972-1974-book-tom-batiuk-9781606351123","title":"The Complete 'Funky Winterbean', Volume 1 (1972-1974)","description":"Tom Batiuk was a junior high school art teacher in Elyria, Ohio, when he created a comic panel aimed at teens for the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. That panel was the precursor to what became Batiuk's award-winning comic strip Funky Winkerbean.   Since its debut on March 27, 1972, Funky Winkerbean has chronicled the lives of a group of students from the fictitious Westview High School. This volume, which presents the strip's first three years, introduces the strip's title character, Funky, and his friends Crazy Harry Klinghorn, Bull Bushka, Livinia Swenson, Les Moore, Holly Budd, and Roland Mathews. Principal Burch, counselor Fred Fairgood, and band director Harry L. Dinkle also make their first appearances.  Funky fans will relive Les's misadventures in gym class and his unintentional attendance at the homecoming dance as he remains stuck on a climbing rope high above the gymnasium floor. They will remember Crazy Harry's ability to play pizzas like records and his air guitar virtuosity, and majorette Holly who never removed her uniform. They will recall the school's winless football team, and Harry Dinkle's attempts to win the Battle of the Bands despite the contest always coinciding with a natural disaster.  Volume 1 contains a charming autobiographical introduction by Tom Batiuk that shares his early attempts at cartooning, discusses his teaching career, and explains the genesis of Funky. Subsequent volumes will each contain three years of Funky comic strips and will be published annually. Batiuk has been recognized for his humorous and entertaining portrayals of the students and staff at Westview and acclaimed for his sensitive treatment of social and educational issues.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52599268868369,"sku":"CIN1606351125G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53252265738513,"sku":"NIN9781606351123","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781606351123.jpg?v=1773921587"},{"product_id":"complete-funky-winkerbean-volume-13-2008-2010-book-tom-batiuk-9781606354698","title":"The Complete Funky Winkerbean, Volume 13, 2008-2010","description":"The characters of the Funky cartoon universe deal with the challenges of middle age     This latest installment of The Complete Funky Winkerbean presents the comic strips from 2008, 2009, and 2010 and ushers the original Funky characters into middle age. In true Funky fashion, the characters have to grapple with very serious issues: nearly fatal car crashes, a war abroad, and a tanking economy at home. These years also mark the first appearance of Cayla, and her arrival on the scene is where cartoonist Tom Batiuk's new time-jump era begins to coalesce and take on its unique identity.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52958049829137,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52958049927441,"sku":"NIN9781606354698","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781606354698.jpg?v=1773916611"},{"product_id":"complete-funky-winkerbean-book-tom-batiuk-9781606351918","title":"The Complete Funky Winkerbean","description":"In this third volume, award-winning cartoonist Tom Batiuk continues to chronicle the lives of a group of students from the fictitious Westview High School. Funky Winkerbean fans are introduced to a host of new characters. Batiuk also features a troupe of inanimate forms achieving sentience, such as talking trees, clouds, school desks,video games, and a talking tennis ball machine.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53003943772433,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53003944493329,"sku":"NIN9781606351918","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781606351918.jpg?v=1773919412"},{"product_id":"complete-funky-winkerbean-volume-5-19841986-book-tom-batiuk-9781606352991","title":"The Complete Funky Winkerbean, Volume 5, 1984–1986","description":"Volume 5, 1984–1986  By this point in its evolution, Funky Winkerbean is resonating with its readers and its popularity is growing. Crankshaft, the irascible bus driver, and Betty, Westview High School's secretary, are introduced. Crankshaft quickly became a fan favorite, with many readers responding to the trauma-inducing, surly old curmudgeon. Not since the introduction of band director Harry L. Dinkle had a new character received such a positive response. Betty soldiers on at Westview until Batiuk finally sends her off to the cartoon character's retirement home.  Almost unnoticed, another new character appears quietly and without fanfare. She didn't have a name at this point but is little by little insinuated into the strip. The students at Westview High have reached their junior year, and the prom is looming. Les needs a date, and this new character is perfect. Lisa and Les go to the prom together and continue to date. Eventually they break up when Lisa transfers to another school. It turns out that this is only the beginning of the journey with Lisa in Funky Winkerbean. Lisa returns to the strip, and when Les sees her again, she is pregnant. With this teen pregnancy story arc, Funky starts on its path to becoming an outlier on the comics page.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53003943969041,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53003944460561,"sku":"NIN9781606352991","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781606352991.jpg?v=1773919420"},{"product_id":"prelude-book-tom-batiuk-9781606353233","title":"Prelude","description":"Prelude is a collection of the early comic strips that bring Lisa and Les together. Introduced to readers of Funky Winkerbean in late 1984 as she experiences SAT test anxiety, Lisa becomes Les Moore's best friend and a pivotal character. Les and Lisa go to the prom, begin steady dating, and then break up. Over the summer, Les realizes how much he misses Lisa. When he gathers his courage and goes to her house, he is stunned to discover Lisa is pregnant with a child fathered by a jock from Walnut Tech. Lisa asks Les to be her coach in childbirth classes, and their friendship explodes from there. Prelude takes fans from the early days of their deep friendship through the birth of Lisa's baby and the baby's adoption.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53014991175953,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53014991503633,"sku":"NIN9781606353233","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781606353233.jpg?v=1773914328"},{"product_id":"strike-four-book-tom-batiuk-9781606351925","title":"Strike Four!","description":"The Toledo Mud Hens - a farm team for the Detroit Tigers - once had a budding pitcher named Ed Crankshaft. 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