Some people say there are certain subjects you can’t “joke” about. Others will say that humor can enhance our understanding of difficult issues. It’s a tricky balance. Keeping in mind I wrote this over twenty years ago, I’m not sure I landed on the right side of the line here. Please know my attempt at humor is not meant to minimize anyone’s suffering.
The reason the dad’s shirt goes from white in the last strip to black in this one is due to a costume change for him to play a part in the next scene. What an auteur! Ahead of his time! It’s not because Tim drew these two strips months apart and I just decided to place them consecutively. Nope, not at all. 🙂
Pretty standard three panel gag setup and punchline with this one. Not my usual style, but maybe a nice change when you don’t go to that well all the time.
As today is Sunday and it’s now becoming a tradition with me, here is an alternative to a black and white “daily” strip. We didn’t complete any full color Sunday strips, as I’ve mentioned before, because the Comics Syndicates didn’t require them as part of a submission and SCENE Magazine didn’t have a Sunday edition. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t write any scripts for Sunday comics. I believed that it was only a matter of time before we were syndicated across North America and having to come up with a new one every week.
Here is a scan of the first such script I wrote. It gives you an idea of the kinds of things I routinely demanded of Tim without much consideration for the effort it would cost him. “So, I’m seeing a full color Sistine Chapel ceiling with Dexter fist bumping the Almighty, who looks like Charles Schulz.” 🙂
Levins and Young 