I gotten a number of inquiries about an apparent discrepancy in my basketball story line. The trophy that the team is holding up in last Sunday’s strip says that they are the Division III champs. The very next day, however, they are congratulated for being the Division I champs. Frankly, I don’t see a problem here. It’s obvious that the team simply got a lot better over the weekend. See how simple that was? I would like to caution my loyal, and perhaps slightly beady-eyed readers, that they’re going to ruin their eyesight squinting to read things that small. So just be careful out there.
I’ve also been getting a lot of questions about Fred and Ann and their position in the Funky firmament, so here’s a little trip in the wayback machine to bring new readers up to speed. Fred Fairgood appeared in the strip from day one as the counselor at Westview High. Ann joined the faculty as teacher a few years into the saga. When the faculty went on strike, Fred and Ann were partnered on the picket line, and, as a result, got to know each other a lot better. So much better in fact that they became engaged and were later married even though Fred neglected to get a marriage license. It all worked out when the Eliminator hacked the courthouse records and obtained a license for them. The wedding reception, of course was at Montoni’s. Still later, they adopted the baby that Lisa gave up for adoption in high school and who is now their son, Darin. As I mentioned in the intro to Volume One of The Complete Funky Winkerbean, in going over the early strips, I found that Fred had actually been married before, and so some serious retconning is currently under way.
This will all be so much easier when everyone has Volumes two and three in their hands and can just read all of this for themselves. Speaking of which, the first book signing at the Ohio Music Educators Convention was a total blast and I want to thank everyone involved for the royal treatment I received. It felt good to be a part of that again.To find out if a signing is coming up near you, just check out the Events section on this site. New signings are being posted as soon as they are confirmed. For now, that’s about the size of it.
