How Plain Can You Get?

Jack, Wanda & Raymond. Oh sure. Nowadays you can find these kooky characters (above) displayed on everything from tea towels to TV trays and xmas cards galore. But obviously there had to be a time in the past when they were NOT such a common fixture on the landscape. Hard to believe, but true.

The story of their invention has already been told at some point earlier on this blog ("There was this bizarre family on my street when I was growing up...") but just as with REAL human beings that you see shopping in malls and eating pancakes in restaurants, the characters of 42 Plain Street also have their own daily struggles with the never ending march of time and change. Not even the title has been left untouched over the years - undergoing 4 alterations to signify various phases in the writing.

These poorly scribbled black & white headhots represent the second-phase of the series. A phase when I intended to give the characters the surname 'Typpes' for a clever title connection. As for phase ONE which started the ball rolling back in the 70s, little remains. The early days of the strip had always included the family pet dog named: 'Troy Boy'. (Actual name - not a pretendo.) Unfortunately, when the strip was purchased by the Japanese for publication in the 90s (phase THREE) they were quick to suggest that I REMOVE the animal from all further participation. It wasn't important to me to keep the strip authentic to its core (and dogs are hard to draw) so Troy was eliminated without much concern or fanfare. (However, I did consider drawing a small unmarked gravestone in the back yard.)

The following cartoon was Troy Boy's last recorded appearance in the strip. It's clear to see by this example that his role in the family was a limited one. This was also one of the sample episodes that sold the series to the Kodansha editors. I'm STILL not quite sure WHAT they saw in this episode that convinced them to 'green light' the project but it might have had something to do with the unbalanced behavior of the parental units. (Click to enlarge.)

It was enough, however, to kick-start the next and most profitable phase in the life of the comic. If I'd been approaching the artwork in a casual, relaxed style up until that time (and I had been) then I was suddenly in for a major rerouting of brain cells in fast order. Deadlines would soon be a constant, nagging voice in the back of my head. And the rush to meet those deadlines would forever alter the peaceful sanctuary of my art table. It wasn't so much the cartooning, but the endless search for IDEAS that slowed things down.

Meanwhile, the only other change I was directed to make before finally hitting the store shelves for the first time, concerned the flag the ship sailed under. Once again I would have to change the title.

In one balloon of one panel of one sample strip, I had actually announced a street address for the family home. While I much preferred the phrase: 'It Takes All Kinds' as a banner to represent my comics (the third title I'd used) it was this once-mentioned, long forgotten fictitious Plain street address that impressed the editors most. And in the end, that's exactly what we went with. "42 Plain Street". Which is fine with me because, thanks to that decision, it's far easier for me to pick out my title in the page listings of the magazine. I might not be able to translate the language, but there's no need to translate the numbers. Them's the same for both, them is.

My First Sale

Before finding my little corner of overnight success in Japan with this odd "42 Plain street" family (shown here on a Christmas card) there had been a number of other attempts made for securing a regular cartoon deal that did NOT end in the glossy pages of publication.

The steady job of a daily 4 panel comic strip distributed by one of the many North American syndicates was always the dream, and while I may have been close at one stage with King Features - passing their initial sample test (no, not DNA) and speaking by phone with the editor in New York - I would have to finally settle for the hit and miss marketplace of magazine freelancing in order to sell my very first cartoon. However, the good news was... I sold my very second cartoon on the same day. To the same magazine.


Of the five drawings I'd submitted to 'BC Runner' magazine back in 1981, two were chosen to run (get it?) in their Summer issue. One was placed on the main index page next to the featured articles (good exposure) and the other was used to break up the monotony of (seemingly) endless marathon race results near the back. (Not quite so good exposure.)

While the gags are fine, I'm a little disappointed in the execution. My drawings look unfinished. They need some contrasting solid black. I'm especially disappointed in the fact that I neglected to use a simple elementary school RULER to measure out a proper rectangle to house the index page cartoons. I'm surprised they accepted it in the shape it's in - or that they placed it where they did, which only tends to amplify my lack of precise structure.

Oh well, it's just cartoons we're talking about here. As I recall, I actually preferred one of the three other gags that they decided to pass on. Something about a guy running a marathon with a TV tray strapped to his chest - on which there is a nice snack of sandwiches, cookies and coffee - with pie for dessert. C'mon, it was a long race and he was getting hungry.

Okay, second thought, maybe they made the right decision to dump that one. Meanwhile, a trivia note: The year before this mag's issue date, I had run in the same marathon that they were documenting here. The main cartoon runner ("Is this your first marathon?") is wearing the same race number (#346) that I'd worn while crossing the finish line twelve months earlier. An unbelievable coincidence!

The Least Worst Of...

Yet ANOTHER in the endless series of 'collected works' has been issued for lowly 42 Plain Street. And just like many of the 'best of' CD/record albums pumped out by 60's singing groups such as Herman's Hermits or Nancy's Sinatras, most of the source material that is stuffed inside this colourful new package has already been issued at one time or another under a different colourful old package. It's just the way things are done in the arts & crafts world don'tcha know. Everything old is new again. Plus, we should all do our part to recycle.

Speaking of recycling; have I mentioned the brand new 21-speed bike I purchased last week? Well, I did. Purchase. It. And since it's a fine spring day outside my window, I'd best be taking advantage of the current situation by doing a little recycling of me own.