Tom Batiuk Picks New Artists for His Comics – King Features Syndicate (original) (raw)

Dan Davis to Draw Crankshaft, Rick Burchett to Pencil Funky Winkerbean,

Chuck Ayres to Continue Selected Arcs for Funky Winkerbean

When Chuck Ayres told Tom Batiuk that he wanted to move on from drawing Crankshaft (and penciling Funky Winkerbean) to work on other projects, Tom reluctantly thanked his longtime partner-in-pen-and-ink and then sought out the only two artists he would want to replace him. Tom reveals the news today in “The Secret Sauce: The More Things Change,” his insider’s blog for fans.

Dan Davis drawing Crankshaft

Both Dan Davis and Rick Burchett are luminaries from the comic book industry. Both artists are Eisner Award nominees and Burchett is a three-time Eisner winner, the comic book industry’s “Oscars®.”

Dan’s work first appears with the April 2 Crankshaft Sunday while Rick’s work first appears with the May 25 Funky Sunday. Tom shares some samples of both comic strips and praises the way the new artists have picked up their respective duties saying, “I sincerely doubt that anyone would know that anything had changed.” And, as Tom points out, Chuck Ayres is not leaving Funky altogether. He will be working on selected story arcs down the line.

To learn more about what’s going on behind the scenes with these developments, click here.