Fayette-cetera: "Homework" Blues? January 8, 2011

Monday, January 10, 2011

"Homework" Blues? January 8, 2011

This is how original ideas are started...who knows, perhaps Happy "Homework" will eventually make it into greeting cards!

Ya never know!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Dear Smile Maker,
I love your idea of substituting homework into holiday songs. I also loved Steffie's idea of homework parties:) Wouldn't it be great to keep that holiday spirit all year long?
Nanci; January 16, 2011 at 3:31 PM
James said...: Dear Nanci,

Hey, I'm glad to hear that you liked this idea! I guess keeping the holiday spirit all year long is something that we all should try...it can only lead to good, don't you think?

Thanks for reading "Fayette-cetera"!; January 18, 2011 at 7:56 AM

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About these characters and their Fayette heritage...

"Fayette-cetera" was first published in September of 2003, in the Democrat-Leader, one of two papers from the same Fayette newspaper group. The Democrat-Leader is published each Saturday, and has been a good training ground for Myrtle and her gang.

Actually, "Fayette-cetera" is a combination of two of my past comic creations: Myrtle, Ed, Elsie and Spatz were developed for a strip called "Bugrow, MO", back in the mid '80's. It was published here and there, in a few magazines, and in The Maneater, a publication from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Also appearing in The Maneater was "Potshots", which involved the lives, in still pictures, of the Tucker clan: Steffie and Adam. This ran for several years in The Maneater, in the early '90's. Since that time, the Tucker Mom and Dad have changed; Tom and Jone were from "Bugrow", and I added Steffie and Adam to their family for "Fayette-cetera".

It's been a character mish mash of sorts, and I've so enjoyed developing the relationships between all of them over these last 4 plus years. It's one thing to draw a comic feature that a few friends read here and there; it's another thing to have many people reading the feature week after week. That's where I draw my inspiration, because as a life-long comic reader, I know what I like, and I know which comic strips will give it to me...so I try to exhibit some of those same characteristics in "Fayette-cetera".

MYRTLE GOSSELBAUM would be my oldest creation (I'm not sure she would apprecate this statement). There's something about her that I've always liked, and I can see bits and pieces of my Mom in her, plus some other friends and relatives I have known.

ED GOSSELBAUM, Myrtle's husband, was right there at the start when Myrtle appeared, back in the mid '80's. The first strips back then dealt with a gorilla that Myrtle saw outside their family window. Ed thought Myrtle was just seeing things. Their relationship reminds me of the way my Mom and Dad got along: usually fussing about one thing or another.

TREVOR GOSSELBAUM, Myrtle and Ed's son, has "evolved" in recent years. Back in the '80's, he was more of a clean-cut fellow, but through the years he has evolved into the song-writing, band playing, living at home "artist". I'm sure he'll one day write a song about all these characters. He is good friends with TAYLOR.

ELISE and SAGE WEATHERWISE are the loving couple who have been together for ages. Their only child is Joan, who is married to Thom Tucker. Sage came about from another project that I had worked on for a character that was needed for a weather book that was being produced for children. As far as I know, the book never came about - but Sage was just too good looking to let go, and made the perfect comanion for Elsie, who actually was Mrs. Offerokker in the previous strip, "Bugrow, Mo". In that comic feature, she acted just as her name applied, but her personality changed dramatically after meeting SAGE.

More to come...

Fayette-cetera

Monday, January 10, 2011

"Homework" Blues? January 8, 2011

2 comments:

Toons and me

Where "Fayette-cetera" is published

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About these characters and their Fayette heritage...