Three Panel Opera

The second q & a gave me the chance to ask some dumb question of Damian Willcox of dorkboy comics fame!

I hope you enjoy the read!

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How many ?toastcards? have you sent out, and how many, if any, have been returned by Canada Toast, er Poast?

Quite a few at this point. I have actually lost count…One year for Christmas cards, I bought two loaves of bread and turned them both into many, MANY toast cards – painting one side red, and one side green to be festive.? I have sent them within Calgary, across Canada and the U.S. as well as overseas….they all seem to make it, but some get destroyed in the process.? I never get them returned due to the fact it is best practice to NEVER put return addresses on things like that, lest you incur the wrath of Canada Toast.

You have a number of comics. Do you have a particular favourite? Do you have children? Do you have a particular favourite? (We won?t tell the others.)

I kind of wish I had one favourite…it would make sticking to one comic a lot easier.? My very first comic was ‘dorkboy’ (hence the website name) which began accidentally as a Christmas card for friends.? I did that for a few years, and had this urge to try something vastly different….I avoided the urge for a while, and then thought ‘hey, i’m my own boss…why can’t i make a different comic?’ and hence Workin’ Jones was born.? Those were my two main comics for some time, and then I began Scooterboy…a stickman type of comic which again was a nice departure from the other comics I was working on.? Around 2005, I met up with a production company that wanted to pitch dorkboy to TV networks.? Long story short the experience made me feel like I was giving up my first born, and I got out of the situation at the first opportunity.? Unfortunately, that kind of soured any desire I had to continue any ‘ dorkboy’ stories, and it was also around that time that Skully, and Kernel Corn came into existence and gave me a bit of a comic second wind.? I really like Skully and Kernel Corn and Peater the Black eyed pea and Workin’ Jones all for vastly different reasons…Part of the reason I started making different titles was that there are stories or jokes that just don’t work with some comics.

No children as of yet, I’m not sure I am ready to have to share my toys with them.

Shouldn?t Kernal Corn & Peater be digested by now?

I think Corn is the cockroach of the colon in that it can survive anything and never be digested.? Peater probably should be more digested, but even if his skin was digested he would still be a green ball plus he absorbs Kernel’s corn power and remains inherently indigestible due to proximity to corn.? In short, yes they probably should be.

What?s up with Mister Osaru?

Mister Osaru(Japanese for monkey) is a vinyl toy monkey my wife gave me as a gift one Valentines day.? Since then he has come along on trips across the world, and we take pictures of him everywhere….in fact I have? a new batch of pictures of him? in Japan I need to post! (note to self add to ‘to do list)? It’s actually pretty fun looking back on the pictures we have of him…and the people we’ve managed to get to pose with him….also kinda livens up those non-people shots you end up taking on trips anyway.

My girlfriend gets mad at me for making puns. Let?s face it, Kernel Corn & Peater runs rampant with puns. How do you get away with it?

Puns have been a pretty main staple of my comics for many many years, and for years before that also so I think my wife, friends, and family have come to accept my pun making sickness and tolerate the puns to humour me…so to speak.

Kernel Corn ? Hero?s Interlude (3/6) shows the main characters causing some ruckus inside the body of a man. However the earlier comic The Pickit Line clearly shows Kernal Corn & Peater stuck inside a dog. What the hell?

Um, whoops ? that was a byproduct of me getting restless during the bigger Kernel Corn storyline.? Hero’s Interlude was a 6 page comic I made and posted while in the middle of the larger ‘Life of Fibre’ storyline that ‘Pickit Line’ belongs to.? In Hero’s Interlude they were inside the body of a man, but in the ‘Life of Fibre’ storyline they started out inside a human, and eventually made their way inside a dog.? So basically I put a short unrelated storyline inside of a bigger one which makes things confusing…I should relocate that time-line wise. (note to self add to ‘to do’ list)

Do you like Calgary?

Um…I don’t mind Calgary…like is a strong word.? There are far too may cowboys and pick-up trucks here for my liking. I have lived in Alberta for most of my life (with a brief stint in Southern China)? I would much prefer to live somewhere that is near the ocean…it’s too dry here.? There’s definitely something to be said for travel and expanding one’s horizons…as opposed to not venturing outside of a city housing ‘the greatest outdoor show on earth’ haha.

Do you have a favourite webcomic you read right now?

I actually don’t read all that many which is kind of sad – A couple of my friends make some that I really enjoy? (Chris Jones – CaptainExcelsior.com, grumps.ca & snowflakescomic.com, and Michael Lalonde – orneryboy.com).? I’m really bad at checking back on webcomics after i find new ones i like though. I think it is an organizational problem i have haha. xkcd is also good, and savage chickens.? I’ve been pretty impressed with your comic as well as the fact that you’ve been maintaining it….i think regular updates can get difficult and discourage a lot of people.

Any parting thoughts on God?

I think everyone should have one…well except atheists…because then they wouldn’t be atheists.? And when I say should have one, i mean a nice one…not one of those vengeful gods that makes people drink tainted kool-aid or inflict pain and suffering on others.

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Damian accidentally started making comics in 1997, self publishing many comics for many years and then in 2005 he began the transition over to webcomics.

One failed publishing deal and one failed network TV show later Damian co-wrote the Too Much Coffee Man Opera which saw its first performance in Portland, Oregon in 2007.

According to Damian, over the years, due to sheer luck and likely slow news days he has ended up getting written up in articles in the Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, U of C Gauntlet, FFWD, The Calgary Straight, (a Portland paper he forget the name of)? and even a short interview on CBC radio.

And Damian is pretty good with a toaster.

Check out Damian’s amazing collection of absurd and pun-filled comics over at http://www.dorkboycomics.com/.