darby conley's get fuzzy conducted
by Marde Doolan
Rob Wilco is an ad exec living the swinging singles life. Or is he? Every day he feeds, cleans up after, reasons with, and pulls out his hair over his two live-in friends: Bucky the cat and Satchel the dog. The animals critique Rob's dates (they can talk), destroy his furniture, and squabble with each other. Their little family-which first hit the scene in 1999-is resonating with more and more comics fans. Dilbert creator Scott Adams calls Get Fuzzy "the best new comic strip to come along in years."
Can a non-pet owner appreciate this cartoon as much as a pet owner?
Darby Conley: Oh, I think so. I don't even have pets myself at the moment. The way I see it, the three main characters act as the "single person's family unit," and the pets essentially become kind of bizarre children or roommates.And even though it's often described as an "animal" strip, I really see it as a strip driven simply by the punch lines.
Are Bucky and Satchel based on pets you've known?
DC: You could probably say that they are conglomerations of every cat and dog that I've ever known, as they are pretty much my ideas of walking and talking-stereotypes of the typical cat and dog: The cat is self-centered and temperamental, and the dog is sweet and tragically naive.
What influences your drawing style?
DC: That's easy: Tintin. He was a Belgian comic-book character created by a man named Georges Remi, and I couldn't get enough of him.
Do you have planned story lines, or do you take it one day at a time?
DC: Well, I do either, depending on the week of strips that I'm doing. I have hundreds of pages of notes, which are basically just a collection of punch lines that I've thought of, and I write scenarios around the punch lines to turn them into full comic strips. Sometimes, if I've had an idea of a good story line, or if several jokes seem to be on the same topic, I can flesh that out into a story line as I write the strips.
Which of your Fuzzy cartoons is your favorite?
DC: Wow, that's a toughie. If I had to choose one, though, it would probably be the one where Satchel, the dog, is happily eating a sandwich in the kitchen when he notices something on the counter. He leans over to look at it, and it turns out to be a bottle cap with the words "You are not a winner" printed inside it and, not understanding what that meant, it depressed him.
If you were any kind of pet, what would you be?
DC: I would be a big, lazy dog that stared at you until you gave me food and fell asleep when you started to pet me. I feel strongly about this.BACK TO TOP