This is the first time a comic like this has run in the local newspaper. Funky Winkerbean, I’m so proud of you.
Batiuk was inspired to do a prom-centric series after reading about a parents’ group protesting at a southern Ohio high school about its policy toward gays, “which is apparently a little more tolerant and open than the parents wanted.” — from an article by Brian Truitt in USA Today (April 29, 2012)