Geek Theories: Why So Funky?

Geek Theories: Why So Funky?

Funky Winkerbean, noted foil of Comics Curmudgeon and Chris Sims, is a comic strip that asks the question-how depressing can one person’s life be? Is it creator Tom Batiuk’s attempt to inject drama into what was once a gag-a-day strip? In story, are the characters victims of an increasingly cruel god? Or is it the fault of one person? Here at Geekademia we ask and purpose the real reason Funky Winkerbean is a never ending hellscape.

It’s Jim Henson’s fault.

Now, before all you readers out there start sizing me up for a coat with extra-long sleeves, I’ll explain. Funky was not Tom Batiuk’s only creative effort. He also oversaw two spin-off strips: Crankshaft (about Funky’s bus driver that everyone hates) and John Darling (a local TV host that no one liked and who was finally murdered by a guest). Starting on June 10, 1979, John Darling is excited that he is finally getting what his show deserves, i.e. a real movie star. He is told the starlet is a blond actress who just finished her first movie and is a major player on a hit TV show. John thinks its Farrah Fawcett. The guest is Miss Piggy.

For the rest of the month John has to deal with the Muppets on his show. A year later John scores an invite to host the Muppet Show and talks to Misters Henson and Oz, although the rest of the strip plays like an episode of the show, meaning John talks to and reacts to the Muppets like they’re real instead of felt and wire.

So, how is it Henson’s fault that Funky is trapped in a perpetual Kafkaesque nightmare? It is the Ying-Yang personified. The Muppets, representing happiness, are the focal point of humor and joy thus Funky and the rest of the Westview are depression and gloom. Kermit and company bring joy to everyone they encounter while Funky drinks as his friends die of cancer and are tormented by an off-colored cat that mocks their spouses. The two extremes exist to counter each other, thus creating harmony.

Does this theory hold? I suspect not, but it’s just a rambling theory. I think it’s just something odd and makes more sense than Batiuk’s obsession with dying wives and severed limbs.