Conessions of a Failed Comic Book Artist, Part 5 (a.k.a. The Infamous WKRP Comic Book)

There’s no getting around the fact that my cousin Sean and I were a couple of weird kids who shared some of the same obsessions. We both loved movies, television, and comics, and we both wanted to create our own comics. Sean and I both did our own Escape from New York comic adaptations, and he did a super badass adaptation of Rocky III. Early on in our burgeoning careers, we decided to collaborate on a comic of one of our favorite shows, WKRP in Cincinnati. To be honest, I can’t remember whose idea this was, but I do think it was Sean who came up with the plan—he would write the comics and I would draw them. This would’ve been some time in 1979 or early 1980, which would have made us both around 11 years old. At the time, I was really into the work of cartoonists like Mort Walker, the creator of Beetle Bailey. I decided to base my character designs on Walker’s Beetle Bailey characters—which is to say I basically ripped-off his style. I did designs for most of the cast, but these two are the only ones I was able to find, Venus Fly Trap and Dr. Johnny Fever. Unfortunately, Sean and I never got around to going this comic. For one thing, we had discovered girls, and then I moved to the west coast.