Funhouse

I'd like to introduce you to the comic strip "Funhouse" created by Christy McDonald, Pammy and I that was all about clowns. Shown are four samples of the strip followed by a brief description of it's creation. The one above is my favorite.


I hadn't remembered this but we were also going to translate them into Spanish. That job went to Ms. McDonald because her Spanish was better than mine.



This is a cornier one I take full credit for it's existence... but I still like it.


I think Christy had her Spanish/English dictionary handy for this one.

In 1991, our dear friend, Christy McDonald, suggested that she, Pam and I collaborate on a comic strip about clowns. The three of us would split the writing chores while I drew and lettered the strip. It was a great idea and a lot of fun to draw. I had been clowning only a short while at the time and thought it was a good way to work on my gag -writing skills.

At the time I didn't realize how bold an idea it was but we had just decided, without calling it that, to self -publish...sort of... maybe more like self -syndicate. All the strips you saw in the papers then and now were there because of the comic strip syndicates ( representatives of sorts for comic strip creators). Their job is to get the strips into the papers for a fee. The more papers a strip appears in the more money it makes.

We essentially decided to be our own syndicate. The trouble was that requires a good deal of time to dedicate to trying to sell and publicize our strip to different publications and that was time we needed to make a living so the venture didn't go very far. We do have some good memories of our efforts as well as a couple of dozen strips.

Given the growth of the internet, though, and all the webcomics out there such an endeavor is most certainly more feasible today though no less daunting a task. Hmm... I pause to think....