Saturday Deep Dive: "Enjoy Obscurity"
Saturday, June 8, 2013 at 5:00AM Today's dive into the deeper archive of Webcomics.com takes us to June 1, 2011 when I shared a personal story about learning to heed good advice.
The year was 1997, and I was working a deadline shift in the graphics department of the Akron Beacon Journal. My nighttime co-worker Dennis, an old-school comics guy with significant connections to comic-book, comic-strip and political-cartoon creators, was looking at some prototype strips for something that would one day become "Greystone Inn."
He didn't like the main character, a gargoyle. He didn't like the character; didn't think it looked like a gargoyle; didn't think people would relate to a gargoyle. He, very gently, asked me: "This gargoyle... are you sure...?"
My response could be best described as indignant. After all, wasn't the comics page crammed with enough talking cats and talking dogs?! A gargoyle is different! What if Berke Breathed had shied away from using a penguin due to this same logic? And of course it looked like a gargoyle. And besides, I'd refer to him as such and people would just understand that that is what a gargoyle looked like in my universe. And of course they would relate to him. How could they not?! He's a classic archetype. What's not to love about this goddammed gargoyle?!?
And besides... the common rules didn't apply to me. Heck, I broke the rules... on purpose! I was a visionary... a renegade! Goddammit, I was special. My mother even said so!
My diatribe lasted for a good twenty minutes.
I addressed his advice from every angle but one -- what if he was right?
He smiled. He was a father of three. This was a well-practiced smile:
"Enjoy obscurity."