Newspaper comic Crankshaft features Winnipeg in latest strips

Tom Batiuk, creator of Crankshaft, said characters from the comic strip will be coming to Winnipeg to watch a Blue Bombers game. Uploaded on July 23, 2025. (Zoom)

The creator of a popular U.S. comic strip is sharing his love for Winnipeg and its football team in his latest series.

As of Monday, readers might recognize familiar elements in Crankshaft over the next several weeks as characters from the comic strip come to the city for a Winnipeg Blue Bombers game.

Tom Batiuk, author of the daily comic strip that debuted in 1987, explained that his interest in the city began in 2011 which ultimately led to the comic strip setting.

“There was a lockout in the NFL. No football to watch, so I started watching Canadian football. Fell in love with the Blue Bombers … it’s the best name in football,” said Batiuk, speaking from his Ohio studio.

“And so, I just decided at one point to start putting it on the t-shirts and sweatshirts in Crankshaft.”

Batiuk said he was then contacted by the team’s football club who sent him a Bombers’ jersey with Crankshaft labelled on the back and invited him for a game, prior to the pandemic.

He said he finally took advantage of the invite last summer with his wife, even getting the chance to run out of the tunnel leading to the field.

“The Bombers treated us royally and I just took notes and references for everything,” adding that he took “tons” of reference pictures for the comic’s illustrator.

“It felt like home. We were so welcomed and everything, it was a very enjoyable experience,” he said.

“And when I got back home, I started writing a story about Crankshaft going to Winnipeg.”

Batiuk said he used to author Funky Winkerbean, a comic strip about high school kids with Ed Crankshaft as the bus driver. He said the character became so popular he spun Crankshaft off into his strip—expanding into all kinds of topics from bus driving to home life.

Batiuk said this will be the first time the strip is set in Winnipeg, which usually takes place in a mythical town called Centerville.

“My life is separated by a very thin, thin wall between the strip and what goes on. So, I basically take everything from my life and eventually move it over into the strip.”