Editing Funky Winkerbean (section)

===Major storylines===
While a few of the mainstay elements—most notably, storylines revolving around the Westview High School band and now-retired director Harry Dinkle, and classroom spot gags—reappear in Act III on occasion, the focus once again is on dramatic storylines with continuing story arcs:

====Return of Wally Winkerbean====
Wally Winkerbean—who had returned to Iraq before the relaunch—is not in the core cast as shown on the Funky Winkerbean Web site, and it was also revealed that Becky had remarried (John Howard, owner of the Comics Emporium) sometime in the 10 years after Lisa's death. For nearly two years after the relaunch, Wally's fate remained unknown, although early on, Batiuk wrote on his blog that what happened to Wally "may not be what you think happened." Batiuk also revealed that a "clue" to Wally's fate could be found in the October 11 strip, which features Les getting mugged in New York after Lisa's death after walking past a newspaper vending machine with a headline saying "Soldiers Taken Hostage."<ref name="fw071105"/>

Several strips made allusions to Wally's disappearance, including one featuring Becky Howard's car having a POW/MIA [[bumper sticker]] and her placing a U.S. flag on an unidentified grave. In the July 12, 2009, strip, it is finally shown that Wally is alive and in full military uniform; a backstory reveals that Funky got a call from his ex-wife, Cindy, informing him that Wally was alive and that she had conducted an interview that was to air on the news that evening. It is revealed that Wally has been held as a prisoner of war in Iraq for the past decade (possibly taken hostage around the time of Lisa's death), and—unaware that he was presumed dead and that Becky had remarried—said during that interview that what kept him sane during his time in captivity was thinking about his wife and family. Funky visits the Howards to reveal that Wally is alive and in good health. In the August 9, 2009, strip, it is revealed that the grave Becky had visited all these years was that of Wally's assumed remains. Wally has made occasional appearances since his return to Westview, and his first appearance as a central character in a storyline that began on February 1, 2010.<ref name="chron100201"/>

====Other storylines====
Darin Fairgood, another prominent character who appeared in the strip throughout the 1990s and 2000s, had also been unseen since the 2007 relaunch, but reappeared in the April 1, 2008 strip helping his old high school buddy Pete Roberts move back into town. Pete is the latest resident of the apartment above Montoni's. Les and Lisa lived there before buying their home. Becky and Wally took it over, and then apparently during the time jump John and Becky lived there together before John turned it into a storage space for his comics, probably since the basement shop has flooded in the past.

During 2010, Funky became the central character in a storyline in which he has a flashback to his high school days 30 years earlier in Westview. The flashback ran concurrently with a storyline where Funky was seriously injured in a car accident, caused by a young woman whose car veers into the path of Funky's car while she was [[Mobile phones and driving safety|talking on a cellphone while driving]]. During several flashback scenes, Funky had seen (and in some cases, visited with) teen-aged versions of himself, Crazy Harry and Holly Budd (Funky's wife-to-be), and a younger Mr. Dinkle—all as they appeared in ''Funky Winkerbean '' strips in the early 1980s. Although the recovery aspect of the accident storyline continued into the fall, the flashback scenes ended when Funky regained consciousness at the hospital.

A storyline that began in April 2012 featured a same-sex couple wanting to go to Westview High School's prom together and purchasing tickets from Jinx Bushka, a member of the Senior Prom committee. The story explored the reaction from Westview residents, most notably anti-[[LBGT]] activist and head of the Senior Prom parent volunteers Roberta Blackburn, who launches an effort to stop the couple from attending prom by forming a protest outside the school. When a group of students led by Summer Moore supporting LBGT couples attending the prom plan a counter-protest, principal Nate Green defuses the situation by calling a school assembly and announces that gay couples will be allowed to attend the prom, and that he will not have intolerance at Westview High School be a policy issue during his tenure.<ref>Truitt, Brian, "'Funky Winkerbean' comic takes a same-sex couple to prom," ''[[USA Today]]'', April 30, 2012. Accessed 05-10-2012. [https://www.usatoday.com/life/comics/story/2012-04-30/Funky-Winkerbean-prom-storyline/54618608/1]</ref>

Some time after Lisa's death, Les begins dating Cayla Williams, a black teacher at Westview High. Their relationship blossoms into love and in the fall of 2012, the two were married. Also that fall, Les's daughter, Summer, and Cayla's daughter, Keisha, begin attending college. In April 2013, a storyline began revolving around Darin Fairgood's biological father, Frankie, attempting to meet his biological son; this coincided with the release of Les's book ''Lisa's Story'', detailing her life, battle with breast cancer and events since her death. Frankie eventually meets with Darin, attempting to blackmail him into doing a reality series about their reunion, but Les, Cayla and the rest of the gang—aware that the show's only objective was to tarnish Lisa's name and character—help Darin thwart Frankie's plans.

In January 2013, Fred Fairgood—now retired as principal of Westview High—suffered a major stroke and was barely alive at the hospital; he is later shown to be recovering at home, although he is disabled. As Fred is beginning his recovery, a woman identifying herself as Fred's daughter (from a previous relationship, before he married Ann) shows up at the hospital and proves that she is indeed his biological daughter. Ann Fairgood is forced to admit that her marriage to Fred was not the happy one they had made it out to be publicly and that they shielded Darin from their unhappiness, upsetting Darin to the point he estranges himself from the family.

In 2011, before Fred Fairgood fell ill, another longtime Westview staff member—Jock Strapp, the former football coach and physical education teacher—had died of prostate cancer, although this was acknowledged only briefly.

In 2013 Funky's wife Holly—whose son Cory is in Afghanistan—finds that he has an old "Starbuck Jones" comic book collection and begins collecting missing issues to make the collection complete; she soon has issues #7; #123; #54; #104; #36 (on [[eBay]]); #216; and in July 2014 during a week-long [[cliffhanger]] searches for the rare and elusive #115. First missing it at a comic book convention and then losing it when her credit card would not work, she finally finds #115, along with an equally rare "Ashcan" version (a penciled version of a comic strip before the final printing). When a couple gives her a "Starbuck Jones" comic book Holly presents them with a "Holy Grail" of ''[[Action Comics]]'' #243.

During the summer of 2015, the present-day incarnations of the Westview gang meet up with their teen-aged selves during a class reunion; it is revealed in the storyline's finale that Les—who helped organize the event—had passed out during the reunion (for unexplained reasons) and was having a dream.

In 2019, Bull dealt with the effects of [[chronic traumatic encephalopathy]]. The storyline included Bull's death.<ref>{{cite news|first=George Gene|last=Gustines|title=A Tragedy in the Classic 'Funky Winkerbean' Comic Strip: Spoilers Within|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 9, 2019|page=B2}}</ref>