So there I was sitting at my school's library. To put it in short, I was bored to death. However, that is not as bad as it may sound. Good things can happen when a person is bored. I am sure that many of the world's greatest inventions came out of boredom.
I had no books to read and no homework to do. Actually, I probably had some, but I just did not want to do it at that time. Then, a thought came into my head. "Why don't I start drawing characters?" I had no idea what I would use these characters for, but I drew them anyway. During this process, I drew the characters which you see here, one by one.
I have tweaked with some of them in terms of appearance; they did not always look like they do now. Also, Zdandie's name was formerly "The Anti-Nike." However, since I didn't want to get in trouble for trademark infringement, I gave him his present name.
During the time when I was drawing the characters or after, another thought came to me. "Why don't I start a comic strip with these characters?" This idea was not so crazy to me. I was formerly drawing comics for the school newspaper; they were called Off The Deep End. Plus, I recently began reading comics in the newspaper again. Three of my favourite comics were Dilbert, Peanuts, and Sherman's Lagoon. They are still favourites of mine, with Peanuts being my all-time fave.
From that point on, I drew a few comics from time to time. My very first one featured U.F.O. and Sur Real; it was on the subject of the federal election in 1997, where I dissed one of the parties for coming across as being racist. The best, however, was yet to come.
During the summer of 1997, I worked at Centreville, an amusement park on the Toronto Islands. There were so many things here for me to take and twist around to increase their humour appeal. Yet, the one thing which really got me started was a law on toplessness which was passed. Basically, it said that any woman could go topless if she wanted to. I'll be blunt with you, I was firmly opposed to it. However, I had to find a way to put a laugh into this. Out of that quest came my first "regular" comic, in which Moony Blue said that this law would put bra factories out of business. I had a hit right there.
I did not actually make fun of Centreville until a few comics later. I made fun of their "Suggestive Selling" tactic - basically, we entice customers to play a game or buy something. I thought, "Doesn't this seem similar to haggling in the car industry?" Moony thought the same thing and, once again, got that punchline. I also made fun of their slogan in that same comic.
Since the conception of the "Original Seven," I've added two more characters to the Frying Pan roster - Miss Poppy and Swash. Here are their pics:
Miss Poppy was put in because I wanted to have a character strictly for making fans remember the importance of Remembrance Day. It turned out that she became a regular (being female helped a lot); she'll supervise at Centreville. As for Swash, his entry was unplanned. I got kind of bored using my other characters, so I drew my take on a stickman (someone told me that he looks more like an ant). I also wanted to have a bit more action, so I teamed Swash up with Moony and they made the perfect duo for sword fights.
I'm updating this document on Tuesday June 2nd, 1998; the first anniversary of the very first comic I ever drew has already passed. I must thank God for even allowing me to start this venture. I am glad to have made others laugh with my jokes, and I will continue to do so in the future.
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