Garytoons!

Ahhh… the Mighty WonderBrat. 

If you haven’t read my “About” page, or haven’t known me for a long time, the back story on the WonderBrat is that I created him in or around 1979 for a school assignment.  I don’t remember what the exact assignment was, and unfortunately, I didn’t save the drawing I made, but I drew a cartoon about a boy named Harold Wilson (yes, the same Harold from this webcomic, Hamster Tails) who was also secretly a superhero named WonderBrat.  In the drawing, he was standing on his mother’s sofa in his WonderBrat costume with no shoes and muddy feet.  Hence the “brat” in “WonderBrat.” 

That drawing inspired me to create a comic strip called “WonderBrat,” which was the adventures of, of course, WonderBrat, his alter ego Harold, and his not-so-bright but loyal pal Jimmy.  Over the next several years, I added more characters and created about 10 or so WonderBrat comic books, for fun, and to entertain my family and friends.

When I got into my teens, I drew less frequently, but I still brought WonderBrat back from time to time; he appeared a few times in our high school newspaper, and for a year or so in the Daily Kent Stater, my alma mater’s paper.  I even painted WonderBrat on the side of a buddy’s car once in high school.  I also briefly had a WonderBrat website for a little while, and submitted some WB strips to the syndicates that were, of course, politely rejected…

Fast-forward to last year, when I started wanting to create a new webcomic.  I still liked the characters in WonderBrat, but didn’t really want a strip centered around a kid superhero, so I left him out, and created Hamster Tails.

And yet, I still enjoy drawing WonderBrat – I’ve always liked drawing his costume and his flowing cape, and I like his sarcastic attitude.  Recently, I began coming up with ideas for some  strips involving WonderBrat, and I finally decided that I’d let him guest star in some Hamster Tails strips.

I haven’t decided for sure exactly what my plans are with him.  I’m kind of just drawing some strips involving him occasionally, and seeing what happens.  He is a fun change of pace for me to draw, and I like the idea of him being a minor character I can draw when I want to, and not draw when I don’t want to.

So you’ll be seeing more of him, and another crime-fighting buddy of his, probably very soon.  If I enjoy drawing him, and you guys like seeing him, he may stick around.  We shall see…. stay tuned, and feel free to let me know what you think about him!