I just wanted to take a moment here as things wind down to thank all of the people who helped make this 40th anniversary year a very special one. I’d like to thank the gang at King Features for getting my back throughout an incredibly hectic and busy 2012. Also the folks at the Kent State University Press for their hard work in support of Volume One of the Complete Funky Winkerbean. Had I known when I started out that a collection like this would one day exist, I definetly would have spent more time on the name. A shout out as well to my long time friends at C.L.Barnhouse, my other publisher, for hosting me at the Mid-West Clinic in Chicago during the holidays. I was great to spend time with old friends and a very satisfying way to tie a bow on this special year. Finally I’d like to thank Funky’s readers for coming out to the signings and for all of their emails and good wishes during the year.
Looking ahead, this coming year promises to be just as exciting. Volume Two is at the printers and we’ll be kicking things off like we did last year with a signing at the Ohio Music Educators conference in Columbus in February. I’m also very happy to announce that the good folks at the San Diego Comic-Con International have kindly given me a raincheck and invited me back as a special guest this year. I’m especially pleased about this because Comic-Con will be an integral part of a cool story arc in Funky that starts next year and wraps-up at the con in San Diego in 2014. So I’ll have a great opportunity for some boots on the ground research which is one of the many fun things about this job. Much more about all of this later. For now, I’d simply like to wish everyone a happy new year and the very best of years in 2013. At least we don’t have the Mayan Calendar to worry about anymore.
T.B.
