Jason Dodge: Just say Moooo!

Posted on March 31, 2011 by David Hurley

Jason Dodge

Have you ever wondered about the secret life of a cow? What goes on when no one is watching? Jason Dodge is the creator of “To Err is Bovine”, a comic about the thoughts and behavior of the surreal world of cows. Jason hails from Vermont and he graciously answered some questions for me about creating and drawing the world of cows.

David: Hey Jason, you are the creator of “To Err is Bovine”, a comic about the life of cows. Where did the idea for your comic come from?

Jason: I’ve always found that the ideas are the hardest things to come up with when drawing cartoons. The drawing is, of course, super important to the cartoon, but the joke needs to be good to support it. There are lots of cartoonists who are great at drawing, but are just not very funny. Conversely, there are some very funny cartoonists out there that can barely draw a stick figure. The funny guy is going to have a much more successful cartoon. Look at the web comics Cyanide & Happiness and The Oatmeal. These are perfect examples of very successful poorly drawn cartoons. I’d give you some examples of some wildly successful, extremely talented cartoonists that could use a new funny bone, but I can’t think of any. With my own cartoons, my goal has always been to be satisfied with the art and overjoyed with the humor.

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Most cartoonists have a place they go, or activity they do to get the creative juices flowing. For me, being in the car was always the best place to think and to come up with ideas. Around ten years ago, I was driving down a particularly quiet stretch of road in Vermont. If you’ve ever been to Vermont, you know that “particularly quiet stretch of road” is synonymous with “god-forsaken wide dirt path”. I was mulling over some ideas for a gag series when I realized that three out of the four ideas centered around cows. I didn’t know it at the time but that’s when “To Err is Bovine” was conceived.

As it turns out, cows are funny. I suppose drawing a cartoon about any animal has funny potential. Give them a personality, stick them in a situation and watch them react as their species would if they could talk… Sure, but cows have something other animals don’t. Cows have udders. Which for me just ratchets up the funny that extra little bit. Plus people like cows. You see them in just about every rural setting, and that makes the concept easy to relate to.

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When I got home from my road trip I started drawing and over the next few weeks I had done thirty or so cow themed cartoons that passed my “Refrigerator” test. That’s the test where I think, “If my mom stuck this cartoon on the fridge would I feel proud or embarrassed?” Every cartoon I do needs to pass this test before I send it out into the world. (FYI, I don’t live with my mom, the test is a conceptual exercise.)

I drew a few more, but life and other pet projects got in the way and the cartoon series ended up in a plastic storage bin under my bed. It was mid-2010 before I revisited the old drawings. They were better than I remembered. I decided that they should become a series. So, I came up with the name “To Err Is Bovine”, ran it through the Refrigerator test, and congratulated myself for being so clever.

David: Can you remember the time when you came to the conclusion, “Hey I love comics and cartoons and this is the direction I want to take with my life”?

Jason: Good question… I don’t know that there was ever a “bonk, ‘I coulda’ had a V8!’” type moment. I’ve always loved comics and drawing. One of my earliest memories was destroying one of my father’s sketch pads with crudely drawn army men. He didn’t find them very funny. In my defense, I was four.

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In high school I spent a lot of time in art classes. When I wasn’t in an art class I was doodling on the book covers of the English or Math class I was in at the moment. I guess it was then that I started dreaming about making some sort of career out of drawing. During my senior year I won a partial scholarship to art school for drawing a poster that was used in a national anti-smoking campaign.

David: What are your plans and dreams for “To Err is Bovine”?

The “Holy Grail” for most gag, and strip cartoonists has always been to get their work syndicated. Syndication would be very cool, but it’s not the end-all, be-all. Over the last few years it’s lost a bit of luster. I don’t know if it’s even possible to make a living just getting into syndication now. Print is dying out in favor of news and information anyone can get on their mobile devices. So while syndication would be a giant feather in my cap, I would be just as happy with a successful web comic.

Later this year “To Err Is Bovine” will have its own website where I hope to gather some more followers. It’s hosted on a blog right now, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the number of facebook shares and blog follows I’ve gotten in a very short time. This is partially due to another series I draw. It’s called “Fudge & Friends” and stars a couple of personable dogs. Every Sunday it appears on the “Life With Dogs” website ( lifewithdogs.tv ) . In terms of traffic the site has several million visitors a month. My weekly cartoon gets seen by lots of these people and many of them gravitate over to my blog site.

Actually David, I wouldn’t be surprised if this interview was linked to from the “Life With Dogs” site when the new “Fudge & Friends” appears this weekend.

David: We all have comics we love, what are some of your influences and some of the newer comics you like?

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If we’re talking influences, I would have to say guys like Don Martin, Berke Breathed, Gary Larson, Scott Adams, and my Junior High School teacher, a very talented cartoonist named Gary Cornelius.

As far as newer cartoonists, I tend to read web comics. Once upon a time I might have purchased a paper for its funny pages, but now I can get plenty of cartoon fun online. I don’t read many because I don’t want to inadvertently influence one of my cartoons, but I really dig “The Oatmeal”.

David: One last question, since the world of cartoons and comics is tough to break into, from your own experience, what advice do you give to anyone hoping to start their own comic?

Jason: Simple Answer… Do it because you love it and are going to do it anyway. Then put it through the “Refrigerator” test. You’ll always be your own toughest critic.

I like the “Refrigerator” test, what a great idea! Thanks so much Jason for sharing your comic “To Err is Bovine”! Good luck with your comic, the future looks very promising. It was a pleasure doing the interview. Check out Jason’s blog spot for updates at: http://jasonsdrawingboard.blogspot.com

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Brian Martin:

Posted on March 24, 2011 by David Hurley

Brian Martin is a Graphic Designer, Illustrator, and the creator of the comic-strip “Creek”, a light-hearted comic about a small community of woodland creatures. I had the privilege to speak with Brian about his world he created and where he sees it going.

David: It was a great pleasure to speak with you today. Can you tell me how you got started in the world of comics?

Brian: Thanks David. Well, I’ve wanted to be a cartoonist for as long as I can remember. My parents tell me, that when I was 3, I used to steal my Dad’s dirty magazines and copy the cartoons inside…I guess I was too young to read the articles. That was, apparently, the beginning of it all. I later moved onto copying “Garfield” in the Sunday paper which made my young portfolio a little less controversial.

I created “Creek” in high-school. That is really when I first started working on developing my writing. It was featured in the school paper which was my first experience at not getting paid for my illustrations…it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

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I had drawn the comic on and off for many years. I always took long breaks from it to work on other projects. I was never really happy with the direction the strip was going and I felt the art was really lacking so I got bored with it at times.

In college, I rediscovered some of my old High School drawings and decided to re-vamp the characters and re-build the comic. To be honest, Herman the box Turtle and Ethan the earth-worm have been the only staples in the comic. Dudley the duck was originally a salamander…who later became a beaver. I don’t know why I kept changing his character but I think I am happy with him being a duck now…I hope. I created Preston the frog when I got out of college and moved Ethan to being a background character. Of course…those who have never read the strip have no idea what I am rambling on about and none of this matters.

David: I love your comic strip Creek. I consider your comic absolutely beautiful, with fun story lines. What has been the inspiration behind Creek?

Brian: I find that my cartoon people can be awkward and weird looking so I decided to go the funny animal route. As a kid, my fondest memories are of stopping through the wooded area behind my house and playing in the creek with my siblings. We used to catch all of the frogs and turtles and climb on the fallen trees….oh…to be a young redneck again. Creek is kind of a way for me to go back to exploring the world like I used to.

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David: What are your future plans and goals for Creek?

Brian: My main goal for Creek is to get syndicated. I have a lot of passion for this strip and it would be amazing to be able to do it full time….but…as a cartoonist, I understand the reality of that happening. So, for now, I am working on selling merchandise and getting the comic out to local papers and magazines. There has been a pretty big request for a publication from fans so, now that I have a good volume of comics, I am putting together a book. I know it is possible to be successful web comic artists so I am going to give that route a shot.

I am currently competing in the Cartoonist Studio Comic Contest. There is so much talent in this one. It is very refreshing to see so much passion and desire still exists for this art.

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David: What are some of your favorite comic strips and comic artists that you’ve admired and even help shape your work?

I was fortunate enough to grow up in what I believe to be the greatest generation of comic-strips. I’m sure many will argue with me but being able to see Bloom County, Calvin and Hobbes, The Far-Side, and Peanuts all featured on the same page was a true blessing. Bloom County was my favorite. I am still awe-struck by Breathed’s work…I am always getting in trouble with my kids from stealing all of their kid’s books he has done.

Walt Kelly is an obvious inspiration. His line work and background are absolutely breath taking. I could look at his work all day. I am also a big fan on Jeff Smith. Animation wise there is none better than Tex Avery.

David: The comic industry is a hard business, but there’s a great sense of accomplishment when you’ve completed a panel or comic. There are times that you might say; I would have changed this or that. But at the end of the day, when all is said and done, what do you hope your work has accomplished?
 
I tend look back at my older work a lot to see how I can improve what I am doing. I am always striving to make my work better and learn from what others are doing…I think that really helps an artist keep their comic-fresh and new. I guess that would be what I am really striving to achieve. I want to create something that is going to inspire other artists to create. I hope to build a comic that is long-standing and will still be looked at as being good 20 years after it’s drawn….I want to be Bill Watterson.

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Thanks so much for talking with me today Brian! Your artwork is amazing!

For more fantastic comics check out Brian’s website at www.creekcomics.com

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Jim Horwitz

Posted on March 16, 2011 by David Hurley

Jim Horwitz, creator of the non-IBM “Watson.”

Jim Horwitz is the creator of the comic strip “Watson,” a strip about a talking dog who reads the newspaper and a little boy who loves texting. The premise of the strip is familiar, but Horwitz’ treatment of it is anything but common. He has lots to say about using the comic strip panel in strange new ways, and what may lie in store for comic strips on the Internet in the wake of the new digital revolution.

Hey Jim, thanks for speaking with me today. How did you get started drawing your comic “Watson?”

I’ve been drawing comics for many years. I drew several different daily strips for the student papers in college and in graduate school, and self-syndicated a strip to college papers, nationally, for several years in-between. When I was 22, Universal Press Syndicate took an interest in one of the strips I was drawing, and we were in communication about it for 6 months. Although they decided to pass on it, I think that early experience was good for me. I think those early talks with Universal helped me address the importance of connecting with an audience. At the time, drawing a strip about a talking dog was the furthest thing from my mind, probably the last thing I would’ve ever wanted to do. Compared to “Watson” my early strips were very weird. Now that I know what having a dog is really like, drawing a mainstream comic strip about a dog seems much more appealing. And, the fact that (the real) Watson is so smart makes coming up with story ideas much easier. He’s the brains of the operation.

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How would you describe the humor of the strip?

“Watson” is a one-panel strip with reoccurring characters. It’s a little different from most strips that run in the paper, because it’s neither gag-based nor solely character based; it’s right in the middle. You get a general feeling for who the characters are based on repetition, and hone in on the humor based on the strength of the gags or how the jokes reflect on the characters’ personalities. The format does have its limitations and challenges, but it’s the one that seems most “true” to me. I’ve never been comfortable drawing multi-panel strips. I’m fine with drawing and fine with writing, but for whatever reason I just have this way of thinking that takes the form of isolated moments, rather than traditional, multi-panel set-ups. The idea that the opening panels in a comic strip are there to help “set up” the joke seems disingenuous. I know that’s how most comic strips are supposed to work, but it’s a way of thinking that just seems very foreign to me. I could probably learn to write that way if I practiced, but I think that’s probably the last thing the world needs – another standard strip about dogs.

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What do you think the Internet has in store for the future of comics, and how does “Watson” fit into that?

While syndicates still control comic strips in the newspaper, I think the model of the syndicate as a financial intermediary between the artist and his or her readership is broken. The Internet is cheaper, faster, and more accessible to readers than any one paper. On the Internet, there’s really no difference between the distribution power of the syndicates and that of this new generation of web-cartoonists. If anything, web- cartoonists have more freedom because they can control their own sites, they don’t have to divide up their profits, and they’re not limited to the kind of specific, family-friendly humor that syndicates have traditionally marketed. At this point, with things in the comic strip business being as they are, I think “safe” is dead. No one’s interested in seeing the same old thing churned out; even less so if it’s in a newspaper. I think the humor in “Watson” is a bit unusual, and I think that’s a good thing. The one good thing about syndicates is that they provided a measure of quality control by assessing the writing and artwork before putting a comic strip out into the world. I think the difference now is that, rather than going to one printed comics page or syndicate website, readers may have to look harder to find that next great strip online. The downside for syndicates is that once comic strips are online, no one will want to pay to read them again. At that point, the only way for syndicates to make money will be to sell mugs, books, or shirts, which is a part of the current model. In the past, the one power that syndicates had was the power over distribution. They were the only ones who could get your comic strip into newspapers, and that was the ONLY way people could read it. But because the old model of distribution will die doesn’t mean comics will die. If anything, they’ll now have the freedom to grow and change. Over time, I suspect most comics will become more specialized, with a smaller mainstream audience and more selective readership. Rather then there being one or two multi-millionaire cartoonists, I think now there will probably be a couple hundred thousand-bucks-a-month cartoonists. It’s nothing any one company or business can control. Like the Internet, it’s in the hands of readers and artists. Maybe that’s the way it should be.

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What comic or cartoon has been your greatest influence?

While I don’t have any one “greatest” comic strip influence, there are things about certain comics that have been influential. I’ve always been an admirer of any cartoonist who can create a new world, with new voices, using a whole new kind of line. It’s not just one thing, or facet, in isolation; it’s the whole strip. It wasn’t as important to me when I was younger, but it’s certainly become more important as I’ve worked in the field longer. I admire the courage of artists who are able to stay true to their own voices and find success staying true to that vision. I think there are many artists and cartoonists like this out in the world, but, because of the problem of exposure, we only get to see the ones whose voices instinctively align with what’s marketable or successful. It may sound silly given the look of my strip, but visually I enjoy strips that are very clean and simple, as if the cartoonist knew exactly what was needed, and drew only the essentials. I think that’s the mark of a good artist. Clarity and precision. It’s the thing I look for in all art.

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How do you feel the content of humor has and will change in the future?

Listen, I love comic strips just as much as the next person, but I will say there’s a pretty definite disconnect between the content of most daily comic strips and what’s going on in the world. I think if you were to look at seventy-percent of the comics on the comic page, you wouldn’t be able to tell if they were comics that ran in 1985 or 2011, and I think that’s significant. I think humor is changing in the same way that people’s experience of the world is changing; funny will always be funny, but to be really funny something needs to be smart, too. I’m not sure if it’s any one thing an artist can do consciously to position him-/herself ahead of the curve. I think a lot of artists and writers will continue to do what they know and feel and are good at, and, low and behold, one or two of them will just happen to be doing the one brilliant, funny thing that the world didn’t know it was missing, but needed. As far as I’m concerned that’s always the best kind of art.

Thanks for talking with me Jim.

It was lots of fun. Thanks for having me.

You can read Watson at:

www.watsonstrip.com

And join him on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Watson/146883455358391?ref=ts

 

 

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David Jones: Just Say Cheese, Please!

Posted on March 9, 2011 by David Hurley

A comic strip about “warped kids”, a fake band called “Okra Pods” and a dream to be the next great cartoonist! Meet David Jones the creator of “Just Say Cheese”, the warped mind of a great Cartoonist.

David Hurley: You are the creator of the comic “Just Say Cheese”, can you tell me how the whole idea for your comic came from and how you got started as a cartoonist?

David Jones: I have been working on “Just Say Cheese” since I was in the Eighth Grade.  I worked on a strip with two of my best friends Adrian Guedin and Eric Werner for a few years prior to Cheese when the school paper wanted them to do a comic strip.  These two kids were the funniest people I ever met.  They asked me to draw up their strips and spent a few years dreaming of fame and fortune with a strip that I still feel today could be a goldmine.  Maybe one day…

A few years went by and they both dropped the idea of being cartoonists but I held on to the passion and decided to develop a strip of my own.  I developed a really wild looking kid one day in class and Jan Kimble looked at my doodle and informed me that the kid was the “fugliest” thing she ever saw.  She then explained to me what that term meant and Fug Lee Gore was born.  The next character I created was his cool sidekick Billy Hamm… so I changed Fug’s name to Cheese.  The strip was known as Hamm and Cheese for a few years.  The storyline has changed over and over again over these many years until I finally came up with what we now see.

The story revolves around Fug and Billy who both have lost a parent.  They bond and become the best of friends.  I know it sounds a bit depressing, but I did not want a “cute” comic.  I cannot write “cute” stories.  My warped sense of humor needs some pretty warped kids.  I figured that in order to get some messed up little boys, the characters would have to have something in life like a traumatic episode which they endured, causing them to be a little wild and rebellious.  So I concocted the tale of a little boy who never knew his rock star dad being forced to live with his dad following the death of his mother.  The boy, Billy, moves to the small town of Okrapolis and moves next door to Fug.

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I chose the setting because I wanted a town that was warm and inviting.  I modeled the town after my memories of Woden, Texas, where my grandparents lived.  I loved way everyone knew each other and everything about each other in the town.  There was a magical sense of compassion and simplicity that you just cannot find in the world anymore.  Woden is my happy place.  It makes the perfect site for my imagination to run amuck.

Floyd the Dragon, Willie the Mammoth, and Spazz the Unicorn were created for a second strip I was writing in High School called “Bazzle Presents…” which was a collection of tales by Sir Winston Louis Bazzle III.  All the stories revolved around these three crazy creatures.  I had decided that Fug’s dad was a famous explorer and archeologist who would be killed by a mythical beast in the Amazon.  It hit me one day that if his dad was this famous explorer who traveled all over the world, he would have possibly discovered some really rare creatures along the way like the dragon, mammoth and unicorn I had created earlier.  Once they were added, the strip was complete.

David Hurley: With that being said, what are your future plans for the “Just say Cheese”?

David Jones: I will be making my first public appearance this November at the Austin Comic Con.  I will be drawing up free drawings for anyone who wants an autographed Cheese Doodle.  I will also give away one Cheese Shirt each day of the three day event which runs November 11 -13, 2011.

As far as actual plans for my strip, I just want to get this epic into the newspapers.  Ever since I was a little boy, I have known that I would be a syndicated cartoonist.  I know that sounds odd, but I have never wanted to do anything else.  My future plans are to get this strip into the newspapers.  It may never happen.  The odds are not in anyone’s favor, but I am not going to give up. 

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I would love to follow up syndication with a few spinoff projects.  My strip has a lot of depth that could play off the success of a syndicated strip.  I have a world of superheroes that I created for Fug to follow.  I would love to cross over High Voltage and Sparky the Nuclear Boy into a comic book series.  I’ve been working on and off that project almost as long as I have been working on Just Say Cheese.

I have a great idea for an animated holiday movie for my comic strip.  I would love to create a motion picture that captivates an audience like Harold Lloyd’s “Speedy”, “Grandma’s Boy” or “The Kid Brother” mesmerized me… only with sound and color.  No one wants to see silent movies these days.

Oh!, and I would also love to get my rock band Okra Pods a recording contract!

First things first, my one goal is to get my comic strip into the newspapers.  I have my submissions sitting at all the syndicates right now.  They are sitting there with thousands of other submissions!  The chances are slim, but at least with Facebook and my blog, I have an outlet for my comic strip.

David Hurley: Tell me about your band “Okra Pod”?

David Jones: The band is a fake band I made up while working at DSI Toys.  I would write these crazy parody songs that were usually pretty wild and email them to everyone. The atmosphere at that place was insanely creative and the people I worked with were just awesome.  We found ourselves looking at layoffs so I created the band the Okra Pods and would write these Okra Newsletters that told the tale of okra.  I would make up a news story about the pod and include a recipe and a parody song by the Okra Pods.

I went so far as to create a huge discography which now includes 69 studio and live albums.  I have already released two albums this year, “Back on Crack” and “All Cracked Up”.  The first is a studio album which includes the parody songs Back on Crack (aka ACDC’s “Back in Black”) and “Put on Some Panty Hose” (aka “Autograph’s Turn Up the Radio”).  The second is a live album recorded on a rooftop where the concert is ended by police throwing tear gas at the band.

I periodically release a new, fake album.  I just enjoy the heck out of ruining perfectly good songs.  It is to the point where every time I hear a song on the radio, my brain screws up the lyrics and I find myself writing a new parody song.

The latest yarn I have spun is the news that the band is currently working on the game “Rockband Okra Pods”.  I really think their catalog of songs would make for a fun video game.  Singing the songs with those parody lyrics is not as easy as it sounds.

I would love to record a few songs, or even a few albums, one day.  I have a few friends who have already expressed serious interest in using their talents to help me bring some of these gems to life.  If I could pick one album, I would love to record “Southern Fried Okra”. This album includes some of the best parody songs I’ve written like “Mother In Law” (aka the Allman Brothers’ “Rambling Man”), “Combing Back My Mullet” (aka Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Gimme Back My Bullet”), and “Swede Mauled by a Panda” (aka Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama”).

Anyway, the band is just an extension of my comic strip.  I have spent a lot of years creating this town known as Okrapolis and the many characters that live there.  Sometimes I just get a little carried away with my imagination. The next thing you know, I create a fake rock band and 69 albums.

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David Hurley: What are your greatest influences when it comes to comics and cartoons?

David Jones: I was amazed at how the Peanuts told a story day after day for a week.  I studied Charles M. Schultz’s work as a kid.  I would go to resale shops and buy his paperbacks and read them over and over again.  Then I discovered that these resale shops also had paperback books from Mad Magazine so I started buying them and studying Don Martin, Al Jaffee, Sergio Aragones, and the rest of those icons.  These all served as my earliest influences.

Then one day I discovered Bloom County.  I was in awe at the way Berke Breathed could spin a yarn over the course of a week, or two, or even a month.  I decided that if I am ever going to have a strip I could be proud of, I would have to learn to write like him.  I would clip out his strips every day and put them in photo albums.  Then when his collected works were published, I would buy them and study them.

To be honest though, my biggest influences where the Marx Brothers, Harold Lloyd, the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and Monty Python.  How is that for a bit unorthodox?  These comedians stirred my imagination unlike anything else I had ever encountered. I would watch old Harold Lloyd movies on Saturday nights with my dad I would find myself completely sucked into his films.  Harold was a genius who made me want to do something creative that would make people laugh.  His movies and shorts made me want to achieve my cartooning dream more than ever.

David Hurley: If you could be a cartoon character for one day, what character would that be?

David Jones: Man, you have to go through me a curve ball question.  Let me think about this one.  If I was Dagwood Bumstead, I would be married to Blondie.  That would be cool.  Dagwood is a lucky man!

Seriously, I think I would be Charlie Brown because Sparky’s family is doing an awesome job of keeping that strip going.  I think Charlie Brown will live forever.  Wouldn’t it be great to know you were immortal and would live forever?

Thanks so much David! Check out David Jones here:

 Just Say Cheese

https://www.facebook.com/stripcheese

http://www.twitter.com/fugcheese

http://fugcheese.blogspot.com

 Okra Pods

http://www.facebook.com/stripcheese

http://okrapods.blogspot.com

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The Cartoonist Studio Contest!

Posted on March 3, 2011 by David Hurley

David Hurley and Joe Watson have decided to enter “Don’t Pick the Flowers” into The Cartoonist Studio contest. We’ve taken the Dear Family from the Web comic and put them into their own story. There are back stories to the characters and we felt their story would be great for a daily comic strip. This doesn’t mean the other characters will just disappear it just means that there would be a focal point on the Dear Family as a syndicated version. The contest is going on right now, it began February 28th. The Rules of the comic strip are pretty simple. There will be ten rounds of voting, one new cartoon per week will be shown from each contestant. The lowest 10% of the polls at the end of each week will be eliminated, until the final week where the remaining comic will be the winner. The winner of the contest receives a contract with Creators Syndicate. That means being published in every major newspaper. We are posting the synopsis for the comic, plus the characters bios here for you to see. You can register here www.thecartooniststudio.com it only takes one minute to set up an account. Click on the cartoon contest on the top left, login, and search David Hurley in the contest. The Cartoonist Studio is a secure site they won’t be spamming your email. After that you can vote 4 times a day, that’s every six hours. There are a ton of contestants, all very talented with their own fans. The competition is pretty intense, so votes do matter! Taking a minute out of your time while you’re on the internet would be more than appreciated. So while you’re checking your Facebook status, take a minute to show us your support! We greatly appreciate it!

Synopsis of cartoon strip:  A whimsical take on modern suburban life focusing on the Dear family, a new family in town who literally has deer antlers growing out of their heads!  We follow them as they try to fit into the traditionally conservative, gun-loving suburban lifestyle with their wacky ideas on evolution, vegetarianism, and what it means to truly live the American Dream.  .  .

Mr. John Dear:  The Patriarch of the Dear family, he is an atypical male who enjoys gardening, nature shows, and keeping the peace between his family and the rest of the town while working as the local Park Ranger.  He tries to reconcile his family’s deer-like appearance and his personal fondness of all living things with the fact that he processes hunting and gaming licenses for the whole town.  He looks at other deer like most people look at monkeys: They kind of look like real people, but they are just animals, not people. Still, you wouldn’t really feel comfortable shooting a monkey, would you?

Mrs. Jane Dear:  Unlike her husband, she’s loud and opinionated, and loves pushing her ideas on other people.  This gets her into trouble as she has a penchant for handing out brochures and refers to her fellow neighbors as ‘unevolved’.  She’s very protective of her family, especially baby Joey.

 Baby Joey:  a plucky youngster, he runs into all sorts of awkward problems with his ever growing antlers.  .  .

Henry and James:  Henry lives next door to the Dears with his dog, James.  A life-long bachelor, Henry is a simple man.  He hunts, fishes, and walks James in the park on Sundays.  The last thing in the world he expected was that one day he would be living next door to a bunch of antlered weirdo’s who are constantly eating his flowers and making him feel guilty for the mounted deer heads he has on his living room wall  .  . 

 

 

Danny:  Danny is the whimsical neighborhood kid who lives across the street from the Dears.  He has a child-like way of looking at the world, and is the only person in town who sees the Dears as regular people.  He loves to fly his kite as often as he can, and talks to anyone who will listen about the simple beauty of the world around them.

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