On Sunday mornings, the comics came out to play -- huge, half-page, in-living-color spreads of "Garfield," "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Peanuts."
We ripped open plastic, struggled with pages so obviously not made for miniature arms, and laughed at the little slices of imagined life neatly begun and ended within allotted spaces.
Now, as kids reluctantly growing up, we're told we should have more serious opinions than whether Blondie or Beetle Bailey is funnier. We should be interested in news of the front page variety, events with world wide impact. But as we resign ourselves to the more meaningful things in life, it's good to know there's still a place where nothing is too complicated to be resolved in three frames and laughter is never lacking.
At the University, there is a group of people dedicated to perpetuating the fun. For Cavalier Daily comic strip artists, their work is the last page in the newspaper, but not last in our hearts (they hope).
"I started drawing cartoons in high school for myself because I was bored with my teachers," says Alexander Ruhl, third-year College student and "Coach Random" artist. The Landon School graduate and District of Columbia resident is known for his irreverent strip featuring hard-drinking, gratuitously violent, rather chauvinistic characters who are just dogs through and through. Oh, wait, they really are dogs -- though apparently Ruhl's choice of canine characters didn't come from a conscious satirical choice.
"I dunno, it just worked out that way," Ruhl says on the Web site he devotes to his comic. "People take longer to draw so I figured it would be beneficial to find a look that could convey facial expressions yet be deadline friendly. The characters originally looked like a cross between gerbils and bears, but by the time I'd drawn the third comic, they looked like dogs. I decided to go with it."
Comic strip producers tend to have a unique approach that distinguishes their work from others. For Jen Kim, the third-year College student who creates "Inklings," her characters are reminiscent of grandma's Precious Moments figurines, with a bit of a wicked streak behind their innocent faces.
Kim started drawing her comic strip last March. Like Ruhl and others, she responded to an ad looking for artists who were interested in drawing comics.
There were no openings for new strips when Kim first applied, but she stuck around and worked on other projects. A chance mid-semester opportunity arose after another strip was discontinued, and she was in.
"Drawing's been one of my hobbies since I picked up a crayon," she said. "I've never gone to art school or anything."
Doing a daily strip has been more work than Kim anticipated.
"It's harder to come up with funny stuff now that I've used up my first group of ideas."
She's also the lone female strip writer, which is not necessarily a bad thing, she thinks, just different. "Most of the positive comments I get are from female friends. Guys say, 'That must be girl humor.'"
Kim also considers the strip's focus as demonstrative of differences between herself and her male counterparts.
"I'm not 'ha ha.' I'm more about drawing style. Guys down here go for the punch line, I just like the way it looks on the page," she said.
"Punch line" strips such as Ruhl's "Coach Random," whose topics run the gamut from funny one liners -- Sam: "Hey Bud, do you know why they call it a 'roach clip'?" Bud: "Probably because potholder was already taken
" -- to clever depictions of perpetual University hot topics such as parking and transportation woes.
With his Web site full of character biographies and "Coach Random" archives, Ruhl's audience isn't limited to just University students.
Having a Web site is new for Ruhl, much like it is for Clay Yount, "Ghost Cat" creator and former author of "Action Daxton." Yount's Web site has had nearly 20,000 visitors since its creation and features daily updates on strip progress and the author's life. It has gained him some measure of recognition, even outside the University.
"Almost all my visitors are from outside U.Va.," Yount said.
Yount, a fourth-year College student from Warrenton, Va., has been drawing seriously since he was 13. He used to give pictures away to people -- now he posts them on the Web where an untold number of viewers may access them.
He speaks earnestly and with eagerness as he relates the turns his artistry has taken.
"The first time I saw the Cav Daily I knew I wanted to do it," he said. "My style's changed over time, I think it looks better. I recently got my own font."
For a cartoonist, a font is a big deal. If Yount ever publishes his work professionally, he won't have to pay anyone else for their copyrighted font.
The style that he speaks of is very recognizable -- but what some people would characterize as "anime," he is quick to point out is actually "manga."
"I just wouldn't want anyone to read this and think I called it anime since that's really animation," he said.
Whatever the name, Yount, an East Asian Studies major, spends ample time reading and drawing it.
"At one time, I spent three to four hours a day on the comic," he said. "Now it's about two hours a day."
For his part, Ruhl said drawing a comic doesn't interfere with school.
For "Coach Random" inspiration, Ruhl draws from his own acquaintances and experiences, as well as from the person he probably knows best, himself.
"A good number of the characters are based on people I know" he says. "And there's a little bit of me in all of them."
A cautionary side comes out, though, in the disclaimer on his Web site, seeming to anticipate some kind of future controversy.
"There are no real direct character correlations to people living or dead," the site states.
What, like being the model for Nightlatch the Frog Pimp wouldn't be an honor?
In person Ruhl is well-spoken, like the articulate English major he is. In fact, almost unexpectedly so. He sits patiently, comfortably wearing a button-down yellow shirt and black jeans. There are no holey T-shirts or visible tattoos. His longish dark hair seems to recall his prep school background as do his polite yet contained answers.
He's been drawing his strip for two years now and he's quite familiar with the fluorescent light and glowing computer screens of his almost nightly habitation in the basement of Newcomb Hall.
He dreams of continuing his strip after college. But he has no illusions of overnight fame on Grounds. It's the nature of a comic strip to reveal the personality of its author yet conceal his identity.
"All the guys I live with know, but I don't get recognized or anything," he said. "Sometimes people ask me to put them in the strip."
Similarly Kim, a Thomas Jefferson High School graduate from Fairfax, Va., doesn't feel any extraordinary treatment from drawing a comic.
"No, I don't think it's that special," she said. "There are definitely people on the page who are a lot funnier."
But there's no denying the thrill of knowing that students with a minute to spare, waiting for the bus, eating on the run or nodding through class are ushered back to simpler days by a glance at your work.
Kim admits, "I get kind of a kick when I see someone flip to the comics page."
Read More
It’s okay not to be okay
By Mai Hukuoka | 12 hours agoWhether talking to a friend, a loved one or a professional, it is so necessary, and human, to need more than you can provide for yourself.
Taking a break at Tangerines Kitchen
By Charley Thomas | 2 days agoWhat the restaurant somewhat lacks in ambiance, it compensates for in tasty dishes and prompt service.
Virginia Policy Lab — a hub for student-led policy action
By Katherine Haden | December 9, 2024Students propose their own projects and collaborate with other members to research their issues of interest, brainstorm solutions and write policy proposals.
