Funky Winkerbean - Lisa's Story; At Peace #5(all pics there); Lisa's Legacy #6
Has anyone been following this? I found the strip again the other day...
It's the character who has her second bout of breast cancer. Lisa has sparked some events regarding fundraising and support for breast cancer.
It's causing a stir here in Connecticut too....
A Comic Strip For A Cause
By JESSE LEAVENWORTH
Courant Staff Writer
October 4, 2007
Lisa Moore's time has come, but with the comic strip character's death today, a new front opens in the battle to cure cancer.
"Funky Winkerbean" creator Tom Batiuk has teamed with a hospital research center in his native Ohio to raise money for the fight against a variety of cancers. Lisa's Legacy Fund uses the name and likeness of a young wife and mother in Batiuk's strip who succumbs to breast cancer after a long struggle.
Focusing a pitch for disease research donations on a fictional character is uncommon and probably unprecedented. But Cleveland-based University Hospitals is hoping the attention and emotion that Lisa's story has attracted nationwide will spread awareness about cancer and open checkbooks.
Related links
Funky Winkerbean
Poll: Humor vs. Sad Situations Vote
Funky Winkerbean Website
"I think [the storyline is] great," said Gene Kannenberg, a former UConn professor who studies comics. "I think it's treated with respect and skill with little bits of humor. That's sort of like life - you try to work through."
That the strip's creator has survived cancer himself has probably helped a lot with the writing.
"He's gone though some of this and he knows what happens medically and emotionally," Kannenberg said.
Kannenberg said he can't remember any other creator taking this approach. He said the closest he can think of is a "Doonesbury" storyline from 2004. Over several weeks, creator Garry Trudeau's comic involved character B.D. losing his leg in the Iraq war and his struggle afterward.
The storyline was included in Trudeau's 2005 book, "The Long Road Home." Proceeds of the book's sales went to the Fisher House Foundation, which provides temporary housing to the families of wounded soldiers.
Because Lisa dies, and is a more realistic character than B.D., Kannenberg says Batiuk packs a greater emotional punch than the "Doonesbury" story.
The appeal is in the connection people have to Lisa, a central character in the strip who became pregnant as an unmarried teenager in the 1980s, earned her law degree and survived an earlier bout with breast cancer, University Hospitals spokeswoman Loree Vick said. Readers of "Funky Winkerbean" - which is printed in about 400 newspapers across the country, including The Courant - have connected to Batiuk's cast, Vick said.
"You welcome them into the family. There's a real personal connection to his characters," she said. "We even hear from spouses who relate to [Lisa's husband] Les. It's been an amazing and touching experience."
Not for everyone. Lisa's health has gradually declined, and recently she's been shown bald and gaunt in her hospice bed. While some readers across the nation have been touched and inspired by the story line, others have objected, saying the comics are no place for such gloom.
An August post on www.thecancerblog.com echoes that of many who object to the strip's storyline.
The post, from Millie Mussomeli, was addressed to Batiuk and said in part: "I just can't stand the story line about Lisa dying with cancer. I believe there is so much tragedy in this world and that sadness has affected every person's life. Comics are supposed to be interesting, funny, and relieve some sadness. They used to be called the `funnies' in the old days, because that is what the family looked forward to seeing every day. ... Believe me I am REALLY upset by your storyline. Lisa has a small child. I know this happens in real life, but why don't you write a book or do a movie instead of creating such sadness in the `funnies'?"
Batiuk said he understands his critics.
"They feel I'm violating some rule of cartooning. ... They feel I owe them a funny cartoon every day," Batiuk told The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., last month. "What I owe them is the best work I can do every day."
"Lisa is a magical character. As a writer, you hope to create characters that will connect with people," Batiuk said in a prepared statement accompanying the press release on Lisa's Legacy Fund. "Lisa connected with readers - and took me through some of the most difficult situations in the strip. Lisa opened doors for me and allowed me to challenge myself and take my work to a new place.
"I wanted Lisa's story to be both an inspirational tale and a cautionary one - to remind people to be checked for cancer," said Batiuk, who survived his own bout with the disease. "Through Lisa's Legacy Fund, Lisa will be doing real-world good in the fight against cancer. It is a real honor as a storyteller."
About 20 percent of the donations to the fund will go for breast cancer research, while the rest will be focused on other types of the disease, Vick said.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and many organizations are making a big push to raise money for education and research.
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed type of cancer among women in the U.S., and second to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death.
This year, the American Cancer Society estimates that 178,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed among American women, organization spokeswoman Joyce Sullivan wrote in an e-mail. About 40,460 women across the country will die this year of the disease. In Connecticut, the estimate of new cases is 2,510 for this year, with 490 deaths, Sullivan wrote.
Donations to Lisa's Legacy Fund benefit the Ireland Cancer Center, part of University Hospitals in Cleveland. Visit www.lisaslegacyfund.org for more information
