In which we learn a bit more about Sir Edgar's past, and Sir Edgar learns a little on his first day of class.

First published January 30, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

In which Kappa Alpha fraternity does something stupid. What else is new?

First published January 29, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

In which Lenny is accosted by Kappa Alpha fraternity. Based on a true story.

First published January 28, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

Jules Danielson wrote last fall demanding asking that I allow her to write up Everything Goes on her terrific blog called Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (it's an Alice in Wonderland reference). Since I believe Seven Impossible Things is about the best book blog out there, I said "duh of course." (When I told Sacha, the fiancée about it, she said something like "Oh my God! Are you kidding me?! I love that blog!")
It took me too long to send Jules the images and words about the book that she needed, as I've been a bit snowed under first from the holidays and then (as always) from working on the second Everything Goes book, which is, of course, late. But last week, appropriately over breakfast, I went through and collected a lot of sketches, thumbnails, and other images from the early stages of the book and sent them along. I've been hoping to put them on my own site somewhere, and may still do so, but I figured that Seven Impossible Things would be a really good place for them to live as well.
So pour another cup of coffee, chew your cornflakes, and go forth to the write-up.

In which we learn a bit more about Sir Edgar's past, and Sir Edgar learns a little on his first day of class.

First published January 27, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

In which Sir Edgar arrives at Millard Fillmore University, and a hilarious commentary on Edgar's individual style is made by the author.

First published January 23, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

In which we meet Sir Edgar Howington III, Lenny's new roommate.

First published January 22, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

In which we comment on the quality of the eggs in the dorm cafeterias. The Kerr Hall cafeteria, specifically.

First published January 21, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

The first episode of Roommates, introducing Lenny Squidenski.
First published January 20, 1987 in the North Texas Daily, Denton, Texas. These are being archived on one page here.

I've been looking forward to this.

Way back in 1987, I was in my first year of college at North Texas State University (now The University of North Texas) in Denton, Texas. I attended a year there before heading off to New York and Paris to Parsons School of Design. It was actually pretty cool to do a year at a big state university where there were Saturday football games, big dormitories, fraternities and sororities, frat guys and sorority girls, and the tuition was cheap. I lived in an un-air-conditioned dormitory called Kendall Hall, which we referred to as "The Sweat Box", and which I believe is long gone. I also drew anything and everything I could. I did our dorm t-shirts, invitations to parties, and tried to get work from the university graphics service. One day I returned from class to my dorm room and saw that someone had taped a notice from the university newspaper, The North Texas Daily. The ad stated that the Daily was looking for both a staff cartoonist to draw illustrations for the paper and the occasional political cartoon, as well as a comic strip to run four days a week.
At the time, I didn't imagine myself a cartoonist, really. I could draw okay, and I could tell a joke now and then. But the idea of writing a strip that would be funny four days a week was not something I had thought I'd be able to do. However, the gig paid (I don't remember ow much, probably something like $20 a week) and I was something of an attention hog. So I put together a little portfolio and some sample cartoons, and delivered them to the editor at the Daily. I believe the "try out" had to consist of a full week of strips. A few days later the editor called me up. He said he liked the week of cartoons I'd dropped off, and asked me if I thought I could deliver every day. Thinking "I doubt it," I said "but of course" and the commitment was made.

The strip I wrote and drew for the rest of the school year was called Roommates. It starred a weird-looking big-headed dude named Lenny Squidenski and his roommate, on obscure member of the British royalty and wannabe punk rocker named Sir Edgar Howington III (named after my drawing teacher who hated me, but taught me a lot, John Howington). The first strip was published January 20, 1987 and ran 56 episodes until May 1, 1987.

Not too long ago it occurred to me that 1987 was almost twenty-five years ago. I thought it would be fun, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the strip, to post the entire run here on MrBiggs dot com. And that's what I'm gonna do, starting tomorrow morning. I've been scannning the originals, which I've had safely stored for a quarter-century. As I mentioned, the strip began January 20, 1987, which was a Tuesday. But since January 20, 2012 landed on a Friday, I'm starting a few days late. I'll run these strips every morning, Tuesday through Friday, until May. They'll appear here in the blog in a daily fashion, and they'll be archived here as a permanent page as well.

Before we begin tomorrow, I would like to insert the following caveat. With twenty-five years of hindsight, it's now evident to me that these strips are pretty awful. The humor is dumb, the drawings are dumber, and the whole idea was fairly derivative of what was my favorite strip at the time, Berke Breathed's Bloom County. To a lesser extent I ripped off Bill Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes and Dan Piraro's Bizarro whenever I could. I was eighteen years old when the strip began, nineteen years old when it ended, and ambitious as hell. Nevertheless, they're my first published work and I'll always love them. Stay tuned til tomorrow morning.