Big Ideas, Pt. 7

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May 28, 2021

Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Allergic Edition
Got a question you want answered? Just drop me an email with "Q & A" in the subject line!

"Story aside, if you had started Sam and Fuzzy today what would you have done differently? Would you still have gotten a custom website or would you have just used a service like WebToon or Tapas? Would pages still be laid out the same or would you have designed the comic to be "mobile friendly" and just be a big vertical stack of panels?" -Veronica

This is a hard question to answer! When I launched Sam and Fuzzy online, I was definitely aping the way I saw other webcomics being published. People made websites, so that's what we did! (Although Sam and Fuzzy was actually briefly hosted on the free webcomic service Keenspace before I had my own website.)

Given that, it's totally possible that if I was a kid starting to make comics right now, I would look to sites like WebToon or Tapas. (To be honest, I sometimes think about exploring those sites now... not as a replacement, but just as an additional arm for republishing my work.)

It's hard to say if I'd be drawn to mobile-style all-vertical comics. One of my favourite things about making comics is designing page layouts... and of course, I come from a background of drawing my comics on actual physical paper pages. I'm not sure how I'd feel about abandonning that format entirely! But maybe that is the only way to make comics work on those kinds of sites?

"I thought the only real person/place/thing that existed in the Fuzzy & Sam universe was 17th century chemist Robert Boyle. (Did you hear that he died?) But now characters are mentioning Mickey Mouse and Spirit Halloween? When did our worlds collide??

I thought about trying to find reference comicks/news-posts, but dear god you've been writing this for 20 years, I've been reading for about 18, and know of no way to text search your posts or comicks." -Daniel

Haha! I am definitely loosening up a bit about this as time goes on.

I love creating fake brands and comics and movies and television shows! So I'm never going to stop doing that. (I guess you could argue that this past year, I've been doing it more than ever!) But sometimes, I just feel like a joke lands better if you reference a real thing. Especially if it's part of a punchline! In those kinds of contexts -- like the spirit of halloween joke, for example -- using a parody name can distract from the joke you're actually making.

"What are Sam & Fuzzy characters favorite international foods?" -Alexander

So! I have had a ton of food allergies my whole life, including nuts and seafood. And as an adult, I became celliac, which means I can't eat gluten either. The end result is, I have a very restricted diet. I can't eat safely in most restaurants, and I can't eat multiple entire genres of cusine.

But anyway, I guess I have a very limited exposure personal exposure to different kinds of food compared to the average person. TBH, food kind of stresses me out unless I am at home cooking my own food with the stuff in my house that I know I can eat. (Bless Indian food for generally being pretty reliably gluten free, aside from the naan bread... it is my #1 go to when I am travelling and need to eat out!)

Perhaps as a result of all this, I just... rarely think about what different characters like eating. Especially if it's stuff I have never been able to eat myself. Obviously, the cast must all have diverse and unique tastes in food! But I never think to explore that. That's probably why, there has never been (I think) a food-centric story in all of Sam and Fuzzy. This question is actually a great example of how your personal experience can limit your writing in weird ways that you don't think about!

That's all for this week, team! But come back on Monday for our next comic.

-Sam Logan

May 26, 2021

Sure, basically

Come back on Friday for our next comic, and a new round of Q and A! If you've got a question you'd like me to answer, just pop it in an email with "Q and A" in the subject line. (Or tweet it at me.) See you then!

-Sam Logan

May 24, 2021

Recenter Yourself

Gert is a hell of a boss.

Come back on Wednesday for our next comic!

-Sam Logan

SAM & FUZZY, by Sam Logan (updates M/W/F)

Big Ideas, Pt. 7

Discuss on the forum