Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Third Edition
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"What is Sam's last name? Is it Logan? :o" -Gurgy

No! I know it's probably natural to assume otherwise, but Sam is not meant to be an avatar or stand-in for myself. Our shared first name is just the legacy of some very, very old (and terrible) quasi-autobiographical comics that I drew as a little kid. A few years worth of revamps and redesigns later, Sam had very much become his own man, no more based on my own appearance or personality than anyone else in the cast.

But as for comic-Sam's last name... it has somewhat implausibly never been mentioned, not even once, in the entire history of the strip. I won't say any more on the issue for now, but it's going to be kind of... uh... "discussed"... in a fun story coming up later this year.

"Is anyone in the comic based of people you know?" -Lizzy

They are not! The supporting cast, much like Sam himself, are throughly fictional and are pulled more or less entirely from my imagination. They are inspired more by the things I notice about human behaviour and hang-ups in general than by any specific individual people.

One exception to that rule is the few characters created to be parodies of celebrities, like some of the musicians who were trapped with Sidney on the Island of Lye. But even then, they are only most general of homages, and have their own unique names and personalities to clearly differentiate them. I just really struggle with the idea of putting words into the mouths of actual real-life human beings.

The one other notable exception, of course, is Rikk Estoban. But Rikk is kind of an exceptional guy in general.

"What's with your new style of shading? I really dig it." -Robert

For those who haven't noticed, a single, flat shade of gray was introduced into the previously two-tone world of Sam and Fuzzy last Monday. It was one of two tweaks I made to the comic's art at the start of Volume 5 -- the other being the move to drawing everything on larger sheets of paper.

These are both things I've been planning to do for awhile, although I waited until the start of the new volume just to keep the previous one visually consistent. But basically, adding the gray adds a bit more depth and visual oomph, and drawing the original artwork at a larger size helps me make comics that are cleaner and more thoughtfully constructed.

They're small tweaks, but I think they really add a lot to the look of the comic and I'm very excited about them. That said, I decided not to actually mention that I'd changed anything, because I wanted to see how people reacted without being prompted. Announcing change is practically commanding people to look for reasons to be annoyed. Slipping it in gets a much more honest reaction... even if that reaction is often the total failure to notice that anything has changed whatsoever!

-Sam Logan

Buttons

I am so excited for Coraline. It's wonderful to another feature-length stop-motion film from Henry Selick... especially one that looks this promising!

I admit that some of the early trailers had me a little worried. As beautiful as they looked, they made me wonder if they had treated the film's fairly creepy source material a bit... lightly. But this trailer -- apparently Coraline author Neil Gaiman's favourite -- sold me pretty much instantaneously. Maybe it will do the same for you! There is a guy with a crank on his head.

-Sam Logan

Pilgrimage

The 5th Scott Pilgrim book drops this week -- or soon thereafter -- at various comic shops and online retailers. If you have not yet experienced the pure, unadulterated joy of cartooning that is Bryan Lee O'Malley's work, now is the time. As far as I'm concerned, Scott Pilgrim is one of the best print comics out there right now. But you don't have to take my word for it. Just check out the free previews on his website. It's a great series, and each successive book pulls the seemingly-impossible task of blowing the previous one right out of the water.

-Sam Logan