Episode 9: A New Plastic Foot

Hello, everyone.  I’m Ryan, and I want to welcome you to The Talking Boxes.

If I remember correctly – and I may not, because it’s been a long time – this comic strip was born in 1995 on the sidelines of the NAHS football team’s practice field.  That must have been in July or August, as, according to Google, the first game of that year was played on August 22 (we lost to Evansville-Reitz, 6-28).   At the time, I was drawing comic strips with stick men in them.  The art was bad, but the strips were funny.  Reading some of those strips one day, Michael made the offhand remark that I was a good enough writer that bad art didn’t matter.  “You could probably draw a strip that was just talking boxes, and it would be funny,” he said.  It wasn’t a serious suggestion, but I took it as one because I thought that would be hilariously ironic.

Now, here we are in 2014 andThe Talking Boxes is the only strip I’ve ever devised that I’ve been able to keep in the air.  I’ve tried a bunch of other ideas, and none of them ever worked because I am not a very good artist.  With TTB, I don’t have to worry about that too much.  The crude art is just a framing device for funny words.  It’s an elemental idea – the kind that always perseveres.  Like bows and arrows or Spider-Man.

I am excited about this strip.  I know you’re going to love it, because I’ve loved it for almost 20 years.  We are striding boldly out of the starting gate, nose low and eyes locked on the rabbit.  The difference is, The Talking Boxes is a lot more interesting than which dog runs fastest for no reason.

Welcome.

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