This strip came to me while on vacation. I saw a little statue of monkeys doing the traditional “no evil” gestures, and I thought about it with our characters. Blind Professor was an obvious choice, and when I thought about speaking, Bonafide seemed to fit well. Even if he did speak evil, no one would understand it.
JUSTIN: We had what we thought were two pretty good jokes this week. It’s sometimes hard to temper the instinct to throw two jokes into one strip. Sometimes it works out, and others it makes the strip feel "crowded." In this one, I think at least, it works fairly well. Plus, Dr. Klownus in his costume is a very, very amusing sight.
OFTEN MISSED: Mr. Mittens is already drunk at the Christmas party, which somehow felt fitting. Bonafide T. Gator, on the other hand, appears to be sipping wine. Who knew he was a creepy alligator with class?
APPEARING:
Professor Hobo
Bonafide T. Gator
JUSTIN: This strip has been called everything from creepy to classic. It features the first introduction of Bonafide T. Gator, a character we had created in a notebook months earlier but had never known exactly how to integrate into the comic strip. Then one night the inspiration came to make a creepy alligator character into the strip’s centerpiece of misunderstanding and a lesson on tolerance. We later learned the newspaper staff debated whether or not he was a stereotype…of something.
OFTEN MISSED: Evil Beard’s niece is introduced in this strip and will turn up again later. Also of note is that it was the first strip that ever crossed over from one week to the next. The ending hints at the next strip, which we had begun work on early.
APPEARING:
Bonafide T. Gator
Mr. Mittens
Mr. Mittens
Bonafide T. Gator
