Crushing Despair

November's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' Strips
November's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' Strips
November's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' Strips
Over the past 40 years, Tom Batiuk’s Funky Winkerbean has transitioned from a gag-a-day comic strip about a high school to an ongoing chronicle of pure, abject misery. Thanks to the commentary on Josh Fruhlinger’s Comics Curmudgeon, I am now completely obsessed with it, which is why I spend a little time every month rounding up its finest examples of crushing despair. I've been doing these monthly roundups of Batiuk and Ayers's particular brand of smirks and sorrows for over four years now, but this month, I actually forgot I had to do it. I'm not sure if it was just the post-Thanksgiving food coma or the hectic transition into December, but for a few days, I was free. And then I remembered, and it all came crashing down. Which, coincidentally, is exactly what happens in this month's strips, so take a deep breath and read on for October's most soul-crushing newspaper strips.
FunkyWatch: October 2013's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
FunkyWatch: October 2013's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
FunkyWatch: October 2013's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
Over the past 40 years, Tom Batiuk’s Funky Winkerbean has transitioned from a gag-a-day comic strip about a high school to an ongoing chronicle of pure, abject misery. Thanks to the ongoing commentary on Josh Fruhlinger’s Comics Curmudgeon, I am now completely obsessed with it, which is why I spend a little time every month rounding up its finest examples of crushing despair. You know those episod
FunkyWatch: September 2013's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
FunkyWatch: September 2013's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
FunkyWatch: September 2013's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
Over the past 40 years, Tom Batiuk’s Funky Winkerbean has transitioned from a gag-a-day comic strip about a high school to an ongoing chronicle of pure, abject misery. Thanks to the ongoing commentary on Josh Fruhlinger’s Comics Curmudgeon, I am now completely obsessed with it, which is why I spend a little time every month rounding up its finest examples of crushing despair. Usually, Tom Batiuk p
FunkyWatch: August's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
FunkyWatch: August's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
FunkyWatch: August's Most Depressing 'Funky Winkerbean' And 'Crankshaft' Strips
Over the past 40 years, Tom Batiuk’s Funky Winkerbean has transitioned from a gag-a-day comic strip about a high school to an ongoing chronicle of pure, abject misery. Thanks to the ongoing commentary on Josh Fruhlinger’s Comics Curmudgeon, I am now completely obsessed with it, which is why I spend a little time every month rounding up its finest examples of crushing despair. As summer (jokes abou
FunkyWatch: November’s Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ and ‘Crankshaft’ Strips
FunkyWatch: November’s Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ and ‘Crankshaft’ Strips
FunkyWatch: November’s Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ and ‘Crankshaft’ Strips
Thanks to Josh Fruhlinger at the Comics Curmudgeon, I started reading Tom Batiuk's long-running newspaper comic strip, Funky Winkerbean. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, what started as a strip full of wacky high-school hijinx has slowly transitioned into being an inescapable quagmire of despair...
FunkyWatch: June’s 12 Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ Strips
FunkyWatch: June’s 12 Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ Strips
FunkyWatch: June’s 12 Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ Strips
Thanks to Josh Fruhlinger at the Comics Curmudgeon, I started reading Tom Batiuk's long-running newspaper comic strip, Funky Winkerbean. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, what started as a strip full of wacky high-school hijinx has slowly transitioned into being an inescapable quagmire of despair...
FunkyWatch:  December’s 11 Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ And ‘Crankshaft’ Strips
FunkyWatch: December’s 11 Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ And ‘Crankshaft’ Strips
FunkyWatch: December’s 11 Most Depressing ‘Funky Winkerbean’ And ‘Crankshaft’ Strips
While they're often overlooked by super-hero fans, newspaper comic strips are a vital part of the world of sequential art that reaches millions of readers and is no less worthy of examination or criticism than their long-form counterparts. Unless, of course, we're talking about Tom Batiuk's Funky Winkerbean, which started out 30 years ago as a high school comedy and evolved into a form that delive
Daredevil: It’s Time to Stop Constantly Destroying His Life
Daredevil: It’s Time to Stop Constantly Destroying His Life
Daredevil: It’s Time to Stop Constantly Destroying His Life
Anyone who's read a "Daredevil" comic in the last year knows that things are not going well for Matt Murdock. After assuming leadership of ninja death cult The Hand, the blind hero has taken one dark turn after another. And ever since the psychotic assassin Bullseye blew up an entire city block, killing 107 residents of Hell's Kitchen, it looks like Daredevil is headed off the rails for