With Crankshaft I didn’t waste any time before tackling ideas of substance. Both of my parents had volunteered to be reading tutors at their local library, and listening to them relate their experiences about teaching adults with reading problems started me wondering what it would be like if that were the case for Ed Crankshaft. I was even able to take the story that grew out of those thoughts and spin it back in time to make it the reason for Ed’s failure to grab the brass ring in his baseball career. Once again, as he had done with the teen pregnancy story arc, Rick Newcombe supported my efforts to raise my own game.
From The Complete Funky Winkerbean Volume Six
