The Daily Orange comic strip years
When i was a student at Syracuse University, I drew a comic strip for the school newspaper, “The Daily Orange”. From September 1995 - May 1999, I drew three or five comic strips a week. Thinking back on it now, it probably was more signifigant in preparing me for my future career than any class I took.
What I liked about doing a daily comic strip was the immediacy of it. I would draw it after dinner, drop it off at the newspaper office, and wake up the next morning to find it reproduced billions of times and in every building on campus. Wow, it was kind of like a prehistoric blog.
Sometimes the comics were funny, sometimes they sucked. You knew you had a hit if people laughed and the ultimate compliment was to find it cut out and taped on a door of a dorm room.
My only goal was to make the most people laugh so I went for subject matter that was sure to be understood by all. Unfortunately, many of the strips have not aged well for this reason. If you weren’t at Syracuse University from 1995 -1999 you probably won’t get alot of the jokes. Either that or they spoof pop culture so specific to that era that it’s like a time capsule: “Ace Ventura 2″? Hootie & The Blowfish? El Nino? “Party of Five”? How 90’s can you get?
But all in all, the comic strip was the perfect training for a career as web cartoonist. The internet is just a college campus on a much bigger scale.
-DAN METH
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On November 27th, 2006 at 12:00 am
And as graduation approached, you aggregated them all into a sefl-published book you called “Methology”. You gave me an autographed copy in which you wrote:
“I’m finally a self-published cartoonist! I’ve already sold a bunch of these things!! This is my testament to my college experience. It all proves three things to me:
1) It’s possible to publish your own cartoons
2) People like reading my cartoons
3) I can do this for a living.”
Dan, this proves that almost anything is possible with determination and some good fortune and luck.
On November 29th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I wrote all that? What a dork!
On November 27th, 2006 at 12:00 am
That’s cool. I did a comic in the Daily Trojan, too, for a couple of the years I was at USC. And 4 or 5 of my fellow USC comic stip artists also went into the animation industry.
On November 28th, 2006 at 12:00 am
These are really funny! How can I see them all?
On November 28th, 2006 at 12:00 am
great stuff dan!
-JX!