First Published: November 21, 2007
Andrew is hilarious, or at least I think so. He is closely based on a friend of mine who is also larger than life, and quite deliberately so.
So why does Andrew wear a Confederate flag? Some kind of political statement? No, it's just that he hails from the South. I quickly realized that I can't write a credible Southern accent, which wouldn't have been appropriate anyway since his real-life counterpart doesn't have a southern drawl either. So I went with the flag.
During his first appearances, I feel I may not really have conveyed what's so funny about Andrew. So I am trying to remedy this. Let me know if I succeed – preferrably by e-mail at <me AT thisisme-comic DOT com>.
Andrew was first introduced to the strip in a three-part sequence where only the last strip had a bonafide punch line. By giving him a truly epic entrance, I hoped to convey how much he outscales his surroundings.
That approach may not have been as successful as I thought back then. Perhaps I should have done away with panel borders or gone oversize. To add insult to injury, I designed this supposedly dynamic character with hard, angled lines instead of flowing curves. At least he's got an unique color scheme.
You might have noticed I seldomly display any pride in my artwork. The frontispiece for this strip, however, turned out exactly the way I'd hoped it would. <insert happy smile here>