The school bus driver everyone loves to hate is back with another collection of his crotchety antics. Ed Crankshaft, the man who enjoys nothing more than parking in the middle of a puddle or making kids lose their lunchboxes, is more obnoxious than ever in this new set. But he isn't all bad-underneath his crusty exterior lies a fun-loving romantic. And Crankshaft is gaining new converts even as he ages. Tom Batiuk (creator of Funky Winkerbean) and Chuck Ayers continue the saga of one of the most distinctive characters in the world of comic strips in ...And One Slice With Anchovies, a timely collection that includes Crankshaft's award-winning series on illiteracy.
Tom Batiuk is an American comic strip creator. His best-known comic strip is Funky Winkerbean.
Batiuk attended Kent State University, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in painting. He went on to teach art in junior high school. He put his experiences to use in his gag-a-day Funky Winkerbean, which first appeared in print in 1972. With the success of the strip, he abandoned his teaching career, occasionally returning to the classroom to refresh his sources. He authored two spinoff strips, John Darling, which ran from 1979 through 1990, and Crankshaft, which began syndication in 1987. These strips sometimes experience crossovers.
Over the years, Batiuk's strips have taken on an increasing narrative continuity. Starting in 1986, Funky, and to a lesser extent Crankshaft, sometimes abandoned humor to explore serious, even tragic subject matter.
His stories often involve strong drama elements combined with generally rosy outcomes. They also show a strong belief in God, as well as sympathies for the American military. On the other hand, Funky Winkerbean dealt very critically with Intelligent Design, and two students in the strip even did a pro-evolution take-off on Johnny Hart's BC.