Not a Toy Story rip-off (really)

In the summer of 1995 I was working on a yet another comic strip. It was about talking toys. That November the movie “Toy Story” came out and and I had to continually explain that I came up with this idea before the movie and that my concept is not like Toy Story and blah, blah, blah… And I’m still explaining to this day.

“Jack N. Box” is about four toys not in a kid’s bedroom, but out in a Krazy Kat-like nowhere-land. It’s basically about four different personalities and how they interact: Jack – a nice-guy jack-in-the-box, Bernice – a surly rag doll, Scott – an eager, kid-aged pull-toy and Haniball – an angry, angry ball. The comic strip got a bit of interest from one of the syndicates. I did some more strips for them but it didn’t go any further.

I really liked the characters and the concept, so when a colleague approached me about doing something for the monthly color comics insert of Editorial Humor (a Boston publication), I dusted off my fav. (You can see some samples here.) But, alas, that didn’t last very long.

I ended up doing a couple of “Jack” comic book short stories for a few friends’ compilations and found that it really worked better in a longer form. I’m working on a full-length “Jack” graphic novel now, but in the meantime, I’ve put together these shorter stories, weaving in some newer material, in a comic book that you can find here or at SPX or if you run into me on the street.

Tags: cartoonist, cartoons, Comic books, Comic strip, comics, entertainment, humor