I have been a reader of Funky Winkerbean for 25 years. Tom Batiuk has created such a diverse cast of characters with so many story lines that a year goes by without any type of repeat. But now he has done something emotionally brutal. Wally Winkerbean is alive.
When the strip jumped 10 years in the future and it was discovered that Becky was married to John, the comic book shop owner, I assumed that Wally was killed in Iraq. But this week a hood was removed from a prisoner and it turned out to be Wally.
Wally went through a POW experience when he was sent to Afghanistan, so this is a bit of a retread. But worse than that, how can Tom do this to John and Becky?
John was prepared to propose to Becky the first time Wally was lost and presumed dead. But didn't the moment he found out that Wally was alive he stepped out of the picture, broken heart and all. In the interim he never loved anyone else. But then when Wally disappeared he was once again the man for Becky. Now his marriage will become null and void, Becky and the kids will be in turmoil, and Wally will have to realize that his wife moved on, again.
This is going to be a couple of tough months, four frames at a time.
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