Comic Strips

Random Gags

Yup. This is the brand of humor in this strip. You’re in for quite a ride, folks.

Sherlock

I got THE BEST reactions to this strip from both of the newspaper proofreaders assigned that day. 😀

Pool Problems

I had an aunt who once shared her experience about a snake in the pool which stuck with me.  That memory combined with my memories of seeing if I could talk under water as a kid inspired this routine.

Cafeteria Security

A scene from college life. Apparently, someone at the campus cafeteria took this in good humor as it was posted on their bulletin board for a time.

Morning Routine

Ah, dorm life.

Radio Blastin’

Inspired by true life events.  My brother and I, who each have different musical tastes, shared a dorm room for a season.  Imagine Alan Jackson country vs. Danny Elfman scores.

Now, I don’t remember him listening to the Rolling Stones and Tchaikovsky isn’t my favorite composer, but I thought those names would better get the gag across to most readers.

The Conductor

I once had one of the other cartoonists at the paper give me the highest compliment:

“You’re the only person I know who listens to classical music in his Walkman.”

(I’d also been watching Disney’s Fantasia a lot during this time.)

Anitra’s Dance

More varied inspiration here.  Classical music introduced me to Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt suite including the selection, Anitra’s Dance. Thus that name was chosen to be given to this dancing bat character.  (This was before I knew what Peer Gynt was about. Yikes.)

I remember reading through encyclopedias (remember those?) as a kid and seeing an illustration of a bat’s skeleton which highlighted how a bat’s wings resembled the structure of a human hand, which contributed to this character’s design. Watching dancers with streamers in the Olympics sparked the ideas of a winged character dancing, and Voila!

Still, this is a comic strip, so I had to end on a gag.

BatRat II

This parody bit was published just months after watching Batman Returns when it was released in theaters in the Summer of ’92.

Though I’d been swept into the Batmania of ’89 beforehand, if it weren’t for Batman: The Animated Series debuting afterwards then the sequel film would have made me completely give up on the franchise.

Whiskers: Origins

About this time, my artwork was slowly starting to improve.  Less scratchy, cleaner, but still growing.

In this strip, I began a loose storyline to help explain the characters.  Plus, we get a sneak peek at how I used to draw our heroes.  (Zoinks.)

The Malice Theater

In an attempt to give the strip some grounding in story, I started to deptict Whiskers and his brother as aspiring actors trying to make it big on stage, though never successful.

Stage Fright

Off to a good start…

The Big Debut

Well, that could’ve gone better.

Yeah, his brother’s name was Chubs.  Though based on his habit of snacking, that’s now contrary to better judgment.  Moving on…

Working with Props

Skipping a few strips, if he’s to get anywhere in Show biz, Whiskers feels he has no choice but to hook up with a seasoned stage veteran at the Theater, Dr. Quack. (Yeah, I’m a creative genius.)

He’s quickly disappointed to learn that while his friends get to be in the performance, Whiskers has to settle for working the stage magic backstage.

Pep Talk

Doc tries to encourage Whiskers out of his moping.

The End

Aaand, that’s as far as I got with this storyline because, well, … I graduated.

I imagined the strip ending with Whiskers inadvertently causing Dr. Quack’s routine to end in shambles, but on a positive note the cast of the strip begin a friendship in which they enjoy looking for new outlets to entertain together, say, in student newspapers.

More Wordplay

Last Whiskers strip I ever drew and published was for social media.

For those of you calling these “Dad Jokes,” the proper literary term is “pun.”