Skip to main content

Why do the Funnies Have to be Serious?






Two of my personal quirks have to do with the daily newspaper. I buy a Beacon Journal on my way to work every morning. I never take the top paper on the stack. I figure someone has messed with the top one, so I take from the middle of the stack.

The other quirk I have is the first thing I read is the comic section, or the funnies.

Two comic strips I read everyday are Crankshaft and Funky Winkerbean. Both are creations of Tom Batiuk, who lives in nearby Medina, Ohio.

This Thursday one of the main characters, Lisa Moore, will succumb to breast cancer. It seems that through the years that Lisa has suffered the most in this strip. She was introduced as the girlfriend of Les, the class nerd. They broke up and months later, she reentered the scene pregnant. Les stood by her during this pregnancy and she gave up her son after he was born. Les and Lisa were driven to the hospital by Tony Montoni in the pizza delivery van.

Lisa moved to Seattle and came back on the scene when the class had their 5 year reunion. a long distance romance blossomed and eventually Les and Lisa married. But not after a misunderstanding due to a student of Les' having a crush on Les and intercepting the proposal tape then Lisa spending a year in Paris.

When she got back, Les was in the middle of writing a book. Lisa took part of the manuscript to the post office when a car bomb went off, rendering her unconscious for days. Les and Lisa finally got married on Halloween. The wedding was also a costume party.

Next thing to happen was Lisa's first bout with breast cancer, which,was a 6 month story line that was also made into a book called "Lisa's Story." Tom Batiuk was awarded for the story line.

After Lisa was declared cancer free, she and Les decided they wanted a child. She was doing this while working part time at Montini's Pizza and going to law school. About the time she was about to give birth, Frankie, the father of the son Lisa gave up, came into the restaurant and demanded to know where their son was. Teenager Darin Fairgood(who unbeknownst to them was the son Lisa gave up) stepped in the middle and was almost punched out by Frankie. Lisa then went into labor, and Darrin drove her to the hospital in the pizza delivery car.

Their daughter, Summer, was born premature and extremely underweight. Summer eventually gained the weight she needed, and went home. Lisa started a law practice and it was thriving when cancer strikes again.
This time the prognosis wasn't good. Lisa went through chemo and was told before Christmas last year that her cancer was in remission.

But this was to be short lived. A few months later it was found out that the results were switched with another lady. After being told she had only a few months to live. Lisa decided to stop her chemotherapy because she wanted to be able to live her last few months without the side effects of chemo. Another development was when Darrin and Lisa finally found out that they were mother and son.

We readers saw her go to Washington to speak before congress, discussing her mortality to her friends, and making arrangements. The last two weeks we saw Lisa confined to bed, and her father making peace with her. This week Lisa will depart her life. But we have been promised that Lisa will be part of future story lines as part of memories and videos.

After this story line is concluded the main characters will age ten years, bringing them, in my estimation about 5 years within their real age had the gang progressively aged from their debut in 1972.

Can anyone say dark comedy.

Seriously, I hope the books will raise a significant amount of funds for breast cancer research and raise awareness of a serious problem which affects most families today.

For those unfamiliar with the strip visit the archive page.

Tom Batiuk has graciously granted permission for me to use his images in this post. Thank you Mr. Batiuk!

Comments

Stylin said…
That sounds so sad,I know its a comic strip but man you had me reach for the tissues.I hate it when people die.

On the music front:My step kids keep me updated with the latest music on all fronts.If it was not for them,I' d be listening to the oldies !
October 02, 2007 8:37 PM
Pilgrim said…
I'm hooked on Funky Winkerbean just reading your post WIXY. Now I have to find it.
October 03, 2007 8:05 AM
The Curmudgeon said…
I've been reading along every day, too, even though it's no longer in a Chicago paper (I use the Houston Chronicle site).

This latest story line has been difficult to stay with, but anyone who's ever known anyone who's gone through any cancer will see elements of truth in it.
October 03, 2007 9:37 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post 800: Time to chat

Hi Guys, It's hard to believe that this is post number 800 for this blog. I started this blog out of my desire to communicate. Since radio and television is becoming more and more automated and less and less personal, I'm glad I made the decision to go in this direction as it has given me many blessings. When I first decided to write my musings, a friend from the radio and television boards who goes by the name of newsnomore, told me not to be discouraged if I didn't get any readers. The fact that I did in the early going made me surprised and grateful that anyone was enjoying what I wrote. I've had people tell me that maybe it wasn't meant for me to ever be in radio, that maybe my calling was blogging. Nowadays I think blogging makes for better two way conversation than terrestrial radio, especially the way I do it, non confrontational. The closest I come from any confrontation is the innocent digs that Pat and I shoot at each other. On an average day I get betwee...
12 comments
Read more

Bananas and Sleep Apnea

First thing I want to do is welcome all the good folks from Australia who are checking me out as a result of Google searches. I recently wrote a post on sleep apnea , discussing my history with it and my new CPAP machine. Because of this and the name of my blog, this is the top site google lists when somebody types "bananas sleep apnea" into the search line on Google. All of the sites I have seen, that were not the usual sites that come here, ended in "dot au" which I know as Australia. Normally the only hit from down under is by my good friend David McMahon. The reason for the search is that a research team in Australia has found. as a result of a study, that drinking a banana smoothie may assist in easing conditions that cause sleep apnea. Phospholipids, or fatty acids, in bananas stay active in the mouth for six hours and may keep the throat open, therefore reducing the risk of choking. Further studies will expand to those, like myself, who need a breathing machi...
19 comments
Read more

Why?

What I'm posting now is with the blessing of Chelle. Chelle is the cousin of Suzanne's husband, Richard. I had gotten the impression from both of them that they were about as close as sisters. Suzanne had been a friend of mine since I had discovered one of her blogs in July, 2006. We would make reference to each other on our blogs and would have dialogue via email quite a bit. It was no surprise to me that she was friends to many other bloggers as well. I felt it was quite an honor to be held in as high esteem as I was. We even talked to each other on the phone on occasion. I felt as we had known each other for a long time. I also knew that Suzanne was having some personal problems, much of which had to do with a very troubled marriage. I would let her bounce things off me, and I would send her some encouragement. While she was going through some of her marital problems, she made herself available to give me a lift when I needed it. My son was having some problems of his own a...
17 comments
Read more