The blog of Richard Thompson, caricaturist, creator of "Cul de Sac," and winner of the 2011 Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Today's Cul de Sac

Petey recently got two additions to his cohort, Andre Chang and Loris Slothrop, bringing the total now to four and a half, if we consider Ernesto as possibly imaginary and therefor not a whole number. Fight it though he might, Petey's needed to expand his horizons for a while and the hard part was figuring out how to do it logically and gracefully and naturally.

I read an interview with Neil Simon recently where he discussed writing the Odd Couple and though he didn't talk about the obvious pairing of opposites in the play I kept thinking about that part of it. Petey attending Cartoon Camp had been mentioned a few months ago which meant he'd have to be exposed to new people. And as Petey's fairly meticulous and in perpetual retreat he needed an opposite, other than Alice, someone his own age who's sloppy and loud and big. Somebody who's a nice enough guy with his own weirdnesses, who Petey might like but who'd drive him up the wall pretty quickly. Et voilá, Andre Chang. Loris is put together from bits of anime characters that my daughters like and is tiny and high-energy, on the theory that large, clumsy Andre and inert Petey need an electron to orbit at light speed around them to complete the molecule or atom or whatever. So it's almost like math or physics, both of which I excel at of course.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you Richard - it's always great to hear the reasoning behind the characters. Alice always make me think of some of the Preps (Australian - well, Victorian - for Kindergarten) I've taught, and I LOVE Loris!

SCOTTtheBADGER said...

I only come up with 3 1/2: Viola; Andre; Loris, and .5 for Ernesto. Who is the mysterious number 4?

richardcthompson said...

Thanks, Barb. And I'd never heard of Preps before. Not at all like the Preppies we've got.

Scott, I was including Petey in the total. Actually I first typed 3 1/2, but I thought someone would say What about Petey?

fritzoid said...

If you tilt Ernesto more to the imaginary side, maybe about 1/7 real, then Petey could have pi friends.

I think it'd be appropriate for Petey and Ernesto's relationship to involve irrational numbers...

Unknown said...

Well, Petey, if you're trying not to think about your playdate with this big, loud, and exploding-noise-loving person, why are you having a playdate with him at all???
And, Alice, the thought of Petey having a play date BLOWS MY MIND, too!
Thanks Richard... this is a good one.

steve y. said...

Yeah, thanks for the background info on the characters! I love the illustrations of the 3 of them together. And of course, Petey's at his best when he's unnerved!

(http://blogs.daily-journal.com/captainzero/)

Pat Crowley said...

I've been watching your work for years. You are truly one of the finest talents out there.

Your line work is superb- a rare thing these days.

rouftop said...

Question: How exactly is the whoopsy bedtime pratfall accomplished? Would be interested in further exposition of Alice's bedtime routine (in comic form or otherwise).

arcticcircle said...

Atom: deuterium (heavy hydrogen) - one proton, one neutron and one electron. Usually, hydrogen doesn't have a neutron.

I knew that biochemistry degree would come in useful one day...

Kat Savage said...

And of course... Slothrop, as in Tyrone Slothrop and Gravity's Rainbow?