Ryan tends to be the centre of almost any
odd situation. This is
often probably his
fault. He has the incredible
good fortune
to get out of almost any
of these problems,
no matter how dire (or
insane) they seem.
Ryan
I trace Ryan Allen back
to a little doodle
I made in the eighth grade,
which sucked.
A friend of mine told me
to name the doodle
using his two middle names.
See if you can
guess which two his middle
names were. Here's
a clue: not "Derek."
Matthew Leigh McHenry
Despite his fairly unusual robotic arm, Matt
McHenry is the most average
person in the
strip. If not for his unfortunate
friendship
with Ryan, he would probably
lead a normal
life. Or as normal a life
as a university
student can have, anyway.
Matt
Matt McHenry was created
as a one-time-one-use
disposable character, but
I liked his hair
so much that I brought
him back as first
a recurring character,
then a main one. His
name came on a whim;I liked
the way it sounded,
and I still do. The robotic
arm was a later
touch; I thought it ironic
that the most
normal person in the strip
should have the
most extraordinary physical
feature.
Mindy Kandinsky
Mindy is an alien. This does not get in the
way of her being a fairly
normal person,
though, so it rarely comes
up. She latched
onto Ryan during the twelfth
grade, and has
been seeing him ever since.
Most of the time
Mindy is a very kind and
caring person, but
if you make her mad you'd
better hope you
have medical insurance.
Mindy
Mindy Kandinsky is named
for an artist whom
many believe faked synesthesia* to advance his career. Why? Because Mindy
fakes being human to advance
her life on
Earth. Is that not nifty?
Mindy was the first
female charcter I ever
used in any comic,
because up until then I
couldn't draw them
at all. Now I can. I think
Mindy's alien-ness
will lead to some interesting
stuff in the
future.
Robot
Robot is Ryan's pet. Mindy got him as a gift
from some aliens in apology
for abducting
her boyfriend; she gave
the robot to Ryan
to help him take his mind
off of some rather
unpleasant events he'd
een through. Ryan
dubbed the robot "Robot,"
because
he's such an original guy.
Robot makes for
a somewhat interesting
pet.
Robot
Robot was first created
for an earlier comic
attempt of mine, "Johnny
Galaxy and
the Jewels of Falknorr."
Unfortunately,
the comic was less entertainibg
than a tobasco
sauce enema, and was never
finished. Eventually
Robot was resurrected as
"Romeo"
for a school-project: a
comic version of
"Romeo and Juliet."
I liked his
design, so I eventually
decided to redub
him "Robot,"
and throw him into
Inside Joke. I hope we see him more often than we have
so far.
Roboduck
Roboduck started out as a sculpture of Ryan's
evil former arch-nemesis,
but an accident
with a Bring-Things-to-Life
ray brought the
art project to life. Unlike
his predecessor,
this Roboduck is not evil...in
fact, he's
one of the nicer evil robotic
ducks on campus.
He currently lives in the
front closet.
Roboduck
The original Roboduck was
invented on a lark,
for a one-time appearence
in an early comic.
Eventually he returned
in a bit-part as the
creator of an evil duplicate
of Ryan. The
explanation for this is
that he hated Ryan,
and wanted only to ruin
his life. Eventually
I tired of Roboduck's one-dimensional
character,
and sent him off to a parallel
universe.
I decided it would be fun
to "bring
him back" as a good
guy.
Lance Joseph O'Neil and Erik von Eriksson
Lance O'Neil and Erik von Eriksson are Ryan
and Matt's roomates. Little is known about
them yet, but they'll definitely find their
place in the Inside Joke universe soon enough.
What we do know: Lance has a permanently
gimped-up leg from a rock climbing accident
as a child, and Erik is a very (very very)
recently recovered alcoholic (this took all
of seven seconds). LanceErik
I threw these two into
the mix because I
needed roommates for Matt
and Ryan. I have
pretty big plans for Lance,
but none whatsoever
for Erik. But I do know
that Erik will be
a great victim for some
of Lance's....um....I
don't want to give this
away yet.
