Professor Hobo

From the beginning of the idea for the comic, Mr. Mittens has always existed as part of the concept. However, we initially worried that introducing him from the start would prove confusing. He came into the strip after Professor Hobo was more established as a character.

Mr. Mittens is Professor Hobo’s cat, but you would hardly know it from the way he acts. In a fluke, he was elected as the English department’s faculty senate representative and continues to undermine the faculty every chance he gets. While humans have a part of their brain that keeps them from acting on impulse, Mr. Mittens is a cat and therefore has no such inhibition from doing whatever he damn well pleases.

Premiere

Cartoon Appearances

• The Story of O
• Bada Bing!
• The King and Us
• Striking Out
• Goat Me

The concept of Professor Hobo began as a joke. The idea of a hobo being hired off the street to teach at a university was just ridiculous enough, however, to seem like it could actually happen.

Professor Hobo, who is only ever referred to as Professor by other characters, is in many ways the moral center of the comic. While he occasionally gets the smart-alecky line, for the most part he is the straight man, and the one most often bewildered by the actions of others. Over time he has gained his cat, Mr. Mittens, and formed his trio of friends with Dr. Klownus and Evil Beard.

Premiere
Ad Initium

Cartoon Appearances

• The Story of O
• Bada Bing!
• The King and Us
• Striking Out
• Goat Me

Evil Beard was introduced in the first strip, and has stuck around to become one of the most commonly used characters. The basic idea behind him was to create a character much like Professor Hobo, but with a definite mean streak.

Evil Beard teaches creative writing and is the head of the Department of English. In his creative writing classes he stresses that nothing his students’ write is good enough for publication, due mostly to the fact that he has never had one of his books published. He often finds himself torn between the good nature of Professor Hobo, and the evil of Dr. Klownus and Mr. Mittens.

Premiere
Ad Initium

Cartoon appearances

• The Story of O
• Bada Bing!
• The King and Us
• Striking Out
• Goat Me

Dr. Klownus was introduced the same week as two other characters—Dr. Bones and the Selecting Hat. For whatever bizarre reason, Dr Klownus is the one who has turned into more of a star character. He teaches German because no one else was teaching foreign language in the department yet.

Dr. Klownus is a lonely and grumpy character. He is constantly the butt of jokes because of his physical appearance (not a costume, he naturally has a clown’s face). He enjoys putting down American culture in comparison to his homeland of Germany, but in truth, he would never want to leave.

Premiere

Cartoon Appearances

• The Story of O
• Bada Bing!
• The King and Us
• Striking Out
• Goat Me