At some point it occurred to me that it would be funny if Skippy & Liska's adventures ocassionally spiralled out of control sufficiently for the media to become involved and misinterpret things. The idea that even our friends' relatively innocent actions could be blown out of proportion and cause a full blown panic makes for a number of possible comic opportunties that poke fun at a news media that is all too often shallow, sensationalistic, and irresponsible.
I didn't really have any firm idea as to what the T.V. newsman's personality should be. I knew he should be attractive (by Mynarski Forest standards, anyways) since the profession mostly employs pretty people. I knew he should be something of a clueless dork (for the same reason). And I wanted him to have a fairly nervous, excitable demeanour; somebody who would freak out at what's going on and spread the hysteria across the broader community. I chose to name the character Doug Thompson, after my brother-in-law... not as insult or anything, I just figured he'd get a charge out of having a character in the comic named after him, and I happenned to have one availlable.
I first saw "Return of the Jedi" as a kid living in western British Columbia, and Bigfoot was very big in the news and popular culture at the time. Watching the movie, it occured to me that if the guy who played Chewbacca had strayed away from the rest of the film crew, he might have been mistaken for the legendary creature and wound up in all sorts of trouble! The release of the new Star Wars movies reminded me of this memory, so I thought up a way to include the idea in my strip.
When I first drew the panel where Liska blows up Chewie, I wasn't really thinking and chose to put the inflation nozzle in a VERY unfortunate spot! I gave a preview of the comic to a friend who was a big Star Wars fan and was quite mortified when he pointed out that I had inadvertantly drawn an obscene X-rated comic, forcing me to hurriedly redraw the offending panel. Whenever I see him now and the subject of my comics is risen, that's the one thing he always brings up!
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