AND NOW, A WORD (OR MANY STRUNG TOGETHER):

About

About HEROPOTAMUS!

The year was 1953 and a little girl named Gayla Peevey would sing a song that would become a novelty Christmas song classic. “I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas”. Over a half century later – this same song would serve as inspiration for a random webcomic. This one! (learn more about the song here)

This song has always been a fun favorite of mine (right up there with “Dominick the Donkey“) and has recently become a favorite of my daughters’. A few weeks before Christmas 2009, while watching them laugh and dance around to the song, it hit me that the whole idea could be fodder for a comic strip. As I listened to the words of the song… it hit me! There’s a line that goes “And see a hippo hero standing there”! That was it! A little girls gets a SUPERHERO HIPPOPOTAMUS for Christmas!

It was a bulldog idea that bit me and didn’t let go. I had to “get it out of my system” as it were. A few doodles later – “Heropotamus” was born. Well, not quite yet. I had the first names of the characters, but didn’t really know what to call it. That’s when I sent out a call for ideas from my buddies at Crash Land Studio. It was Eric Merced who dubbed it “Heropotamus” and an idea from Jamie Cosley gave me the Hippos last name (I’m still trying to get Tommy Flick to like the song 😀 )

A quick note to my brother and he agreed to help set up the site and wa-la! Less than a week and a half later we were up and running.

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens as I continue to learn about this characters, and I invite you to join me!

Currently the comic will keep a standard “newspaper” format and update Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays.


About the author

I always feel weird writing about myself, but I’m a husband/father/graphic designer/cartoonist. My other projects include:

Zeek And Dent: My first comic strip. Ran daily in the Bangor Daily News and appeared in the “Kool Zone” (a kid’s magazine in Malaysia) I’ll be posting a pdf collection of the strips up soon.

Araknid Kid: My comic book series about a web-shootin’-trapeze-bar-swingin’ picto-speakin’ western hero. It first debuted on DC Comics’ Zuda. The first issue was part of Sugary Serials and can be purchased here.

Tastes Like Chicken: My weekly single panel comic that appears in the local newspaper. It’s currently under review for syndication and can be found here.