The creator of the syndicated comic-strip Funky Winterbean presents a series of strips that follows the character of Lisa as she copes with a diagnosis of breast cancer, in a volume that also features a comprehensive listing of resources for breast cancer survivors and their families. Original.

Lisa's Story

Biographies & Memoirs

Batiuk, Tom

Professionals & Academics

Perigee Trade

Funky Winkerbean: Play it again, Funky!

Grosset&Dunlap

Cartoons take a humorous look at high school life including sports, band practice, homecoming, tests, and classes

Funky Winkerbean

Humor & Entertainment

Humor

Fawcett Books

"Crankshaft has touched on a raft of senior concerns with humor and often poignancy, including illness, mortality, making out a will, literacy, physical deterioration, vulnerability, security, and, recently, muggings and Alzheimer's disease." -The Telegraph, Alton, Illinois
 Cranky Ed Crankshaft is at it again, gunning his school bus so he can outdistance the little Johnson girl, backing over the Keestermans' mailbox, and holding up a record-breaking line of cars. It's just another day for the sixty-something curmudgeon who's earned a soft spot in the hearts of millions of readers.
 Originally spun off from the popular Funky Winkerbean strip, Crankshaft is an enormously popular character in his own right. Writer Tom Batiuk and artist Chuck Ayers combine their talent and insights into a strip that deals with aging in a heartfelt and funny way. "After sixty, it's just patch, patch, patch," says Crankshaft as he waits at the doctor's office.
 In this Crankshaft book, I've Still Got It!, readers can follow their beloved grandfather figure as he struggles with new challenges, from a friend with Alzheimer's disease to another friend who's been mugged. Along the way, Crankshaft continues his quest to finally read all the Popular Mechanics magazines daughter Pam has given him over the years.
 Although readers love Crankshaft because the strip makes them laugh, they also cherish the panel's honesty about issues faced by people of all ages, from literacy to illness to crime. They also appreciate the real feelings that linger just below the surface between Crankshaft and his housemates-daughter Pam, son-in-law Jeff, and their kids Max and Mindy, his stray cat, Pickles, and his girlfriend, Grace.

I've Still Got It!: A Crankshaft Collection

Comics & Graphic Novels

Ayers, Chuck

Comic Strips

Andrews McMeel Publishing

Mailboxes beware: Crankshaft's just around the corner!
 Ed Crankshaft, the lively creation of Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers, stars in this Crankshaft collection. It's a hilarious depiction of an irritable but endearing school bus driver and life with his daughter Pam, son-in-law, Jeff, and grandchildren, Mindy and Max.
 With cynical wit and biting humor, Crankshaft sees the world in absolutes. Although he comes across gruff and grumbly, Ed's really an old softy with a keen sense of humor that sometimes surprises even himself. The crafty curmudgeon isn't always tough-relationships with his grandchildren, his cat, Pickles, and the problems of growing older in a rapidly changing world show Crankshaft's more sensitive side.
 Batiuk (creator of Funky Winkerbean) and Ayers's unique portrayal of life at the wheel of a school bus has delighted readers since the strip began.

Crankshaft

Graphic Novels

A collection of Crankshaft cartoons that feature two characters who suffer from Alzheimer's disease

Safe Return Home: Inspirational Book For Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Lisa’s Story go towards cancer research and education. Visit Lisa’s Legacy Fund to learn more or to make a direct donation. A story from the comic strips that will make you laugh and cry Tom Batiuk spent several years as a middle school art teacher before creating the comic strip Funky Winkerbean in 1972. Originally a “gag-a-day” comic strip that portrayed life in high school, Funky has evolved into a mature series of real-life stories examining such social issues as teen dating abuse, teen pregnancy, teen suicide, violence in schools, the war in the Middle East, alcoholism, divorce, and cancer. In 1999, Lisa Moore, one of Funky’s friends and a main character, discovered she had breast cancer. Batiuk, unsure about dealing with such a serious subject on the funny pages, decided to go ahead with the story line. He approached the topic with the idea that mixing humor with serious and real themes heightens the reader’s interest. Lisa and husband Les faced the same physical, psychological, and social issues as anyone else dealing with the disease. After a mastectomy and chemotherapy, Lisa was cancer free. She finished her law degree, opened a practice, and had a baby daughter, Summer. Then, in the spring of 2006, the cancer returned and metastasized. Lisa’s Story: The Other Shoe is a collection of both the 1999 comic strips on Lisa’s initial battle with cancer and the current series examining her struggle with the disease and its outcome. Additionally, it contains resource material on breast cancer, including early detection, information sources, support systems, and health care.

Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe

The Kent State University Press

Nbm Pub Co

In 1972, Tom Batiuk created a comic strip about high school student, Funky Winkerbean, and his pals. Today the characters are adults and the comic strip explores sensitive, real-life issues such as breast cancer, teen pregnancy, and addiction. My Name is Funky … and I'm an Alcoholic chronicles the three-year plot line of Funky Winkerbean's slide into alcoholism and his eventual recovery. Readers see how Funky's marriage, friendships, and work begin to suffer as drinking takes center stage in his life. Readers also learn about how an intervention works when Funky's friends confront him and urge him to seek addiction treatment. Readers also get a glimpse into what happens in a treatment program, how Twelve Step meetings work, and just how easy it is to relapse. In the end, readers experience the promise of recovery by witnessing Funky's commitment to living one day at a time.

My Name is Funky... and I'm An Alcoholic: A Story About Alcoholism and Recovery

Religion & Spirituality

Hazelden

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Batiuk, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Batiuk, Tom

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Batiuk, Tom. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Lisa's Story

Funky Winkerbean: Play it again, Funky!

Funky Winkerbean

I've Still Got It!: A Crankshaft Collection

Crankshaft

Safe Return Home: Inspirational Book For Caregivers of Alzheimer's Patients

Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe

Lisa's Story: The Other Shoe

Funky Winkerbean

My Name is Funky... and I'm An Alcoholic: A Story About Alcoholism and Recovery