I am moving up on one year here at Perk at Work. And, though one year still puts me as a rookie in the webcomics world, I still thought it would be fun to share with you the history my comic.
The comic strip formed in one way or another around 1997 or so. It has gone through different growing stages. I like the stage it is in right now but I’m still aware how things can always change. I’m happy with letting the strip grow organically.
Perk 1.0: Perk at Work started out many years ago as a comic strip about two dogs who would sit in a pub at the bar and talk. I called that strip “Pubbies”. One dog was a long-haired Chihuahua and the other was a fat dachshund. I very much enjoyed writing this strip but I soon grew concerned for the well-being of the characters – they spent a bit too much time at the bar. Plus people would pronounce the strip’s name pyew-bees. This was not good. Back to the drawing board.
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Perk 2.0: The next go ’round found the characters in a coffee shop. This rendition was called “One Lump or Two”. I began adding some characters – Moxy was a squirrel, Eugene the grackle, Compa was a cat, Mr. Argyle was an owl (trite, I know), Sheryl was a poodle plus some other characters that got the axe. The characters would sit at the coffee shop, during their break, and discuss life as we know it.
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Perk 3.0: While living in Georgia, I decided to start a small publication to feature the comic strip. I changed the name of the strip to “Perk at Work” and made the name the publication “One Lump or Two: Your Coffee Break Publication”. In this rendition, I finally named the main character Perk (don’t ask his names before).
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Perk 3.5: This rendition was still named “Perk at Work”. I liked the characters’ interactions but one thing ate at me: they were all naked. Yes, they were animals and animals are usually naked but it still felt weird. I guess it was because the characters spoke about real-life situations but somehow still lived in an animal world. My solution? Put clothes on the animals. This had a strange effect though. The characters became a bit too anthropomorphic – they looked like humans with animal heads. Images of the Minotaur came to mind and I’m not a fan of that. Still, I labored on and created a lot of strips with these odd creature characters.
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Perk 4.0: I took a break from the strip and flirted with the idea of making it a comic strip involving humans instead of animal characters. At that time I was into the marketing of the strip and catering to the audience. The books I read on the subject stated that people like animals and that comic strips about animals stick. I waffled back and forth. I wanted to have characters that would talk about issues that us normal folks would understand, every day issues. But I also wanted some sort of success to come about of it (i.e., money). In the end I decided to go with my gut and make the characters human. I figured that if I stay true to what I envision, some good will come from it.
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So here we are now. Will the strip be the same years from now (if the good Lord sees fit for me to continue)? Who knows? But that’s the fun part.
One thing’s for sure, I won’t go back to naked characters now that they’re human.
