Funky Winkerbean is a syndicated American comic strip that recounts the lives of several high school students and their teachers. Tom Batiuk, a high school teacher himself, created the comics in early seventies.FW: Official Site

He relaunched the strip in early nineties in a new format, tackling various social, political and religious themes, including suicide, use of guns, capital punishment, dealing with cancer and more. Some of the violence appearing in the comics led to controversy and objections from fans and viewers.Daily Cartoonist: Funky Winkerbean depiction (February 26, 2007)

Funky Winkerbean started as a teen comic set in high school. It gradually developed into a more serious strip, covering such social issues as school violence, divorce, alcoholism and teen pregnancy.King Features Syndicate: Funky Winkerbean

In 1999, Funky garnered attention when one of its characters, Lisa Moore, learned she had breast cancer. Creator Tom Batiuk drew Lisa going through treatments, and depicted the effect her diagnosis had on the Funky cast.

After extensive chemotherapy, Lisa thought the cancer was gone, but discovered it had returned in 2006. Despite protest from some readers, Lisa died in the strip published on October 4, 2007.AZcentral.com: Dying 'Funky Winkerbean' character angers readers (September 24, 2007) Batiuk said that Lisa's storyline was semi-autobiographical, since he battled prostate cancer while in his 50s.Houston Chronicle: Comic strip takes on disease (May 8, 2007)