Breast Cancer Takes Life of Cartoon Character

Oct. 15, 2007 — -- Lisa Moore is dead. She died last week from breast cancer and some people around the country are very angry about it. But there are many others who say they are buoyed by her battle against cancer. Those people claim they have found hope and encouragement in the ending of her life, a life that in fact was not even real.

Lisa Moore, wife, mother and lawyer was a cartoon character and one of the stars of the widely syndicated "Funky Winkerbean" comic strip.

"People have been incredibly kind and generous," said cartoonist Tim Batiuk about the hundreds of e-mails filling his inbox.

But not everyone has had a kind word for Batiuk's story line, especially the decision to to have Lisa stop chemotherapy and then die peacefully in a hospice, with her husband at her side.

"You are a man who seems to be without any idea of the pain [you] are inflicting," wrote one grandmother on TheCancerBlog.com a support Web site for patients and loved ones.

"You do not have the right to put this horror in a family newspaper," she said.

On the same Web site, another woman wrote: "I just can't stand [this] story line. … Comics are suppose to be interesting, funny and relieve some sadness. It is really awful that you would take up such a story in [the] comics section."

The 60-year-old Batiuk (rhymes with "attic") says he understands the ending of Lisa's strip life was not a happy one for some. But he defends the place real-life issues have in our funny papers.

"To readers who feel I owe them a funny strip, I would say I owe them the best work I can do. In order to do that, I have to challenge my expectations of myself and then I challenge my readers' expectations."

Many readers did apparently welcome that challenge.

"Thank you Tom for a powerful piece that does have a place in the daily comics," wrote Francie who describes herself as a three-year cancer survivor.

"The strip reminded me daily how beautiful and important my family and friends have been to me during my journey and makes me even more hopeful," she said in her blog posting to dailycartoonist.com.