The Origin of Neville Orange.

It was 1971 and I was living in a tiny apartment on Center Street in Salt Lake City with my friend John. I'd been learning cartography but studying underground comics. H.D. Roberson had shown me a simple way to draw a face and I took it from there. The idea of actually taking a class to learn how to illustrate wasn't even considered. In fact, I didn't think anyone would ever see any of the images I created. They were for my amusement initially, but the character that sprang out of those images took on a life and character of his own. Dan O'Neill had produced a wonderful series of simple cartoons titled "Odd Bodkins" and I loved the simplicity of the design and strange humor in his stories. His things were much better and can be found on the web. I recommend going there now and forgetting this exercise.

My character was a round fellow with hiking boots and derby hat. No arms, legs or other appendage were needed because he was all about attitude. Charming but cynical, Neville Orange was born on my drafting table and found his way onto paper, restroom walls and finally now off into cyberspace. This is probably where he was headed all along, I just never knew it at the time.

In his first and longest adventure Neville takes his ward, all super heros had wards to train and possibly to abuse for their own pleasure, on a trip to visit Mr Sun. I know, it's odd. But remember this was 1971 and I was probably under the influence of a culture where experimentation was expected and Art was a kid I knew in elementary school.

My "studio" was probably a blank door set up on cinderblocks to serve as a desk. Light came in through a couple of small, dirty casement windows that had been painted shut. The stereo was a KLH and my pride and joy. We had my records, John's records and a bunch that had been left with me by a friend of my first roommate when I bought his record player. He didn't have anywhere to store them and no way to play them, so I had them on long term loan. He got them back about 2 years after that but they had given us plenty of enjoyment. I might have been listening to British blues or maybe a live album by a San Francisco band as I worked.

Why did the Sun have a Fu Manchu and John Lennon Glasses? Why did he have a mouth? If I could answer that I would. It seemed pretty neat at the time and I still kind of like it in a dated anachronistic hippie way.

Neither Neville nor myself had any desire to go into dentistry or even to practice better dental hygene. There was a lot of trust there between Neville and the Sun, maybe like those little birds who pick the teeth of crocs in African rivers. Or maybe not. It could be that they were both just a couple of wierdos and this seemed to be something fun to investigate or taste. They do both seem pretty happy when its done.

And there it is. There was going to be a word balloon that explained the Sun had bad breath, but the graphic seemed to be better without it. I can't explain it any more now than I could then. It was a fun experiment and from that point on every Neville Orange cartoon was a single frame with some kind of smart-ass remark. He became one of my characters, an alter ego and I could use him as 'Neville sez:' to comment on the goings-on around me. Neville is a zen gutter philosopher. Don't follow him or believe what he says because he is a version of Coyote and will probably be setting you up for something silly at best.