History ComicStrip / Crankshaft

* LateSpinOffTransplant: "Mopey" Pete Reynolds, from ''ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean''. Pete basically never appeared in ''Crankshaft'' before ''FW'' ended, [[note]]Pete had been dating Crankshaft's granddaughter for years in ''FW'', but they weren't yet dating in ''Crankshaft'' because of the ten-year time difference between the two strips. Shortly before ''FW'' ended in 2023, Batiuk removed this obstacle by fudging/merging the timelines together.[[/note]] but he had multiple appearances the year after it ended, including a major storyline about him buying and re-opening Montoni's Pizza (and also [[spoiler:proposing to his girlfriend]]).

* {{Transplant}}: "Mopey" Pete Reynolds, from ''ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean''. Pete basically never appeared in ''Crankshaft'' before ''FW'' ended, [[note]]Pete had been dating Crankshaft's granddaughter for years in ''FW'', but they weren't yet dating in ''Crankshaft'' because of the ten-year time difference between the two strips. Shortly before ''FW'' ended in 2023, Batiuk removed this obstacle by fudging/merging the timelines together.[[/note]] but he had multiple appearances the year after it ended, including a major storyline about him buying and re-opening Montoni's Pizza (and also [[spoiler:proposing to his girlfriend]]).

* ComicBookTime: Apparently set in the present day, but none of the characters have aged appreciably since the strip's debut in 1987. Crankshaft's service in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII becomes more implausible every year. Since ''Crankshaft'''s [[ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean parent strip]] had a TimeSkip in 2008, characters who appear in both strips are a good decade younger in this strip... and yet, ''both'' strips seem to take place in the present day. Huh. In one 2021 strip ([[https://safr.kingfeatures.com/api/img.php?e=png&s=c&file=Q3JhbmtzaGFmdC8yMDIxLzEwL0NyYW5rc2hhZnRfaHQuMjAyMTEwMTdfMTUzNi5wbmc=%E2%80%9C 2021-10-17]]), Crankshaft discussed a '''childhood''' memory of Rocky Colavito and Vic Power playing for the Cleveland Indians, which means he was a kid in the ''late 1950s''. If this is a deliberate {{Retcon}} (not necessarily a given, due to Batiuk's increasingly faulty memory in later years of the strip) that would mean he is no longer a WWII veteran.

** The 2009 "future Crankshaft" storyline may prove that someday, Crankshaft is due for some serious suffering.

Much like its parent, the strip combines character-based humor (radically different from its parent comic, although this was made at the time before CerebusSyndrome had kicked in) with story lines about issues that affect average Americans. It should also be noted that, since the title character and many others are over eighty years of age, much use is made of the same flashback device the parent strip does.

!!''Crankshaft'' provides examples of:

* AbusiveParents: Recent strips have revealed that Jeff's mother, Rose, would hit him and destroy his possessions when he was younger. Luckily the strip also averts ThereAreNoTherapists.

* ComicBookTime: Apparently set in the present day, but none of the characters have aged appreciably since the strip's debut in 1987. Crankshaft's service in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII becomes more implausible every year. Since ''Crankshaft'''s [[ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean parent strip]] had a TimeSkip in 2008, characters who appear in both strips are a good decade younger in this strip... and yet, ''both'' strips seem to take place in the present day. Huh.
** In a recent strip ([[https://safr.kingfeatures.com/api/img.php?e=png&s=c&file=Q3JhbmtzaGFmdC8yMDIxLzEwL0NyYW5rc2hhZnRfaHQuMjAyMTEwMTdfMTUzNi5wbmc=%E2%80%9C 2021-10-17]]), Crankshaft discussed a '''childhood''' memory of Rocky Colavito and Vic Power playing for the Cleveland Indians, which means he was a kid in the ''late 1950s''. If this is a deliberate {{Retcon}} (not necessarily a given, due to Batiuk's increasingly faulty memory in later years of the strip) that would mean he is no longer a WWII veteran.
* {{Crossover}}: With its parent comic on occasion, sometime with the characters passing each other unknowingly.
** During one of said Funky crossovers in 2021, wherein Cindy Summers and her lover Mason Jarr decide to purchase Centerville's Valentine theater, the relator who sells the theater is none other than Lois Flagston of ''ComicStrip/HiAndLois'', tying the Funkyverse into the non-aging timelines of it and its own parent strip ''ComicStrip/BeetleBailey.''

* GrumpyOldMan: And how!! Most of the characters spend most of their time dealing with his sour outlook on life.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: During a family visit to Kent State University in 2000, flashbacks reveal that Pam and Jeff were on the scene of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings the May 4th, 1970 shootings]] and narrowly avoided the National Guard's gunfire. [[note]]The story can be considered particularly relevant to the strip creators, as Ayers was an eyewitness of the shootings himself.[[/note]] The final strip of the flashback sees a survivor exclaim "They just killed four kids!" moments after the shooting; while this is the accurate death toll, it being declared in that moment would've been premature, as 13 total students were shot, and one of the deceased lasted long enough to be taken to hospital.

** In a recent strip ([[https://safr.kingfeatures.com/api/img.php?e=png&s=c&file=Q3JhbmtzaGFmdC8yMDIxLzEwL0NyYW5rc2hhZnRfaHQuMjAyMTEwMTdfMTUzNi5wbmc=%E2%80%9C 2021-10-17]]), Crankshaft discussed a '''childhood''' memory of Rocky Colavito and Vic Power playing for the Cleveland Indians, which means he was a kid in the ''late 1950s''. If this is a deliberate {{Retcon}}, that would mean he is no longer a WWII veteran.

** In a recent strip ([[https://safr.kingfeatures.com/api/img.php?e=png&s=c&file=Q3JhbmtzaGFmdC8yMDIxLzEwL0NyYW5rc2hhZnRfaHQuMjAyMTEwMTdfMTUzNi5wbmc=%E2%80%9C 2021-10-17]]), Crankshaft discussed his '''childhood''' admiration of Rocky Colavito and Vic Power, who played baseball for the Cleveland Indians in the late 1950s. It's not clear what this means for his backstory.

* ComicBookTime: Apparently set in the present day, but none of the characters have aged appreciably since the strip's debut in 1987. Crankshaft's service in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII becomes more implausible every year.
** Ready for the confusing part? Since ''Crankshaft'''s [[ComicStrip/FunkyWinkerbean parent strip]] had a TimeSkip in 2008, characters who appear in both strips are a good decade younger in this strip...and yet, ''both'' strips seem to take place in the present day. Huh.

* ComicBookTime: Apparently set in the present day, but none of the character's have aged appreciably since the strip's debut in 1987. Crankshaft's service in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII becomes more implausible every year.

Much like its parent, the strip combines character-based humor (radically different from it parent comic, then again this was made at the time before CerebusSyndrome had kicked in) with story lines about issues that affect average Americans. It should also be noted that, since the title character and many others are over eighty years of age, much use is made of the same flashback device the parent strip does.

* BadFuture: One story arc has Crankshaft delivering poinsettias to a nursing home on Christmas, he enters one room and sees his older self all alone on the holidays, wheelchair bound, and practically a vegetable. He goes to the main office and questions about it only to find out the room was unoccupied all along. When raving at the front desk that he saw someone, a background character states "Maybe Ed just saw the Christmas spirit" which seems to be Batiuk hinting that some sort of [[Literature/AChristmasCarol "Ghost of Christmas Future"]] was involved.

* WringEveryLastDropOutOfHim: The slow, agonizing death of Crankshaft's former neighbor from complications of Alzheimers.

* NoMoreForMe: The [[http://tinyurl.com/mpxsaj2 strip for September 2nd, 2014]] has the RunningGag of Crankshaft lighting his barbecue and the resultant explosion because he used too much lighter fluid. One of Crankshaft's neighbors is drinking a can of beer, sees the flaming barbecue flying through the air and says "That's it! I'm wearing off the sauce for good!"

* NeverLearnedToRead: One of the first issues-based story lines was the revelation that the title character was illiterate; this led to an examination of literacy classes for the elderly as well as a flashback that depicted the grandfather of Funky Winkerbean's Coach Bushka destroying Ed's dream of playing in the Majors by switching out the line-up card (which Crankshaft had someone else read for him) just long enough to trick Crankshaft into missing a scheduled start with big league scouts in attendance.

* GrillingPyrotechnics: A RunningGag

* TheGrimReaper: He's just showed up to collect one of the characters. When Crankshaft told him that he scared him half to death, the personification of death merely stated that he got that a lot.