Brotherhood of the Probable Pummeling

Imminent death. That's what I expected the day three Theta Xi brothers discovered I was the person behind a particular weekly sheep comic strip.

It was in college, right before writing class. And in my comic's storyline a few weeks before, I'd made a cheeky reference to the Theta Xi fraternity and our woolly friends.

It was a common enough campus joke, hearkening back to some unfortunate Sheep Violation Incident in the fraternity's past. (Unfortunate, mostly for the sheep, as I'd heard it). Anyway, the comic got printed and I thought nothing else about it...

Until I had to drop off a new strip after class.

Well, the Theta Xi boys... there were at least three of them in this course. Three largish guys I didn't know very well. And when one of them spotted the drawings, he nudged the two other fellows, drawing their full frowning, squinting attention my way.

I swear, stormclouds rolled in and thunder rumbled overhead.

The central Theta brother leaned in to me, eyes narrowed, as if trying to burn my face deep into his memory. "YOU draw that comic?"

I tried to will myself invisible, but remembered too late that that had never effectively worked. "Yes."

I think I could have finished War and Peace in the painful pause that followed-- which wasn't even appropriate, as Russian literature was covered in an entirely different class.

And suddenly, the clouds parted. Golden sunshine beamed in through the classroom window and a bluebird lit on the windowsill.

The Theta Xi brother offered me a broad, radiant smile, reserved normally for toothpaste ads and game show hosts. "I love that comic! You know the one where you mentioned Theta Xi?"

"Er... I'm familiar with it..."

"I have that on the door to my room. Don't I, guys? Don't I have that taped to the door of my room?"

Yes, yes, they all agreed he had it taped to the door of his room.

I dabbed the sweat from my forehead and neck, careful to not dampen my comic's panels and make the markers run.

This was my very first bit of audience feedback.

So tell me, fellow bloggers and creative-types, has your work ever gotten response from a very unexpected audience? I'd love to hear about it.

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Meet Shearadon and Woolworth

I'd mentioned in a meme earlier this week that many moons ago, in college, I drew a regular comic strip for the school paper starring anthropomorphic sheep who wore basketball sneakers. And a couple of you were sort of curious what that involved. (Understandable because, you know, livestock doesn't usually accessorize.) Well, since Claire of A Little Piece of Me is having a Doodle Week challenge May 8-14, I figured I'd be prepared. I'd get the flock out for Friday, and see if I still knew how to draw 'em.

This would, however, be Shearadon and Woolworth's first debut in color (it looks like I hired an eager kindergartener to color it in, doesn't it?). "Shearadon," by the way, is the one with the Aloha shirt and plaid pants, while "Woolworth" wears the tie and John Lennon glasses. Click the panels for embiggification.





Hope you guys got a chuckle, at least. In the college storyline, Woolworth went off to the university to see life beyond The Meadow and became immursed in literature, existentialism, Marxist theory and penning bad sheep poetry-- while Sheardon didn't so much go to classes, but sure had a great time when he joined one of the frats.

A sheep with a lampshade on his head... Now that's quality humor. :)

Take care, everybody. Have a great weekend and I think I can speak for Shearadon when I shout, "TGIF!"

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Shearadon over-submitted his blog trying to get into the Humor-blogs directory. It was a sheep trick.