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A Hilarious and Insightful Q&A with the creators of Rudy Park
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HERMAN Classics, Volume I
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 An Exclusive Interview with Rudy Park creators, Darrin Bell and Theron Heir
Rudy Park is fast becoming one of the most acclaimed and popular comic strips we offer. Set in a cybercafe in urban America, it's a playfully modern look at workaholic Generation X types who lack social skills, and yet find themselves embroiled in topical satire. Rudy Park is the creation of Darrin Bell, an award-winning editorial cartoonist, and Theron Heir, a humorist and award-winning journalist. We asked each of them to answer a few questions (Darrin answers first). Note the irony in their answers...
Question: Darrin, "Rudy Park" has a youthful, contemporary sensibility, which helps it stand out. Do you feel you're representing a generation or a culture that is otherwise missing from most comics pages?
Darrin Bell: I would say, instead, that we're part of a new generation of comic strips that succeed in representing a generation or culture that has recently come of age in America.
There are other strips that speak to the same generation. "Rudy Park" is unique in that it is more questioning of our generation. It's introspective. It takes a very critical look at where Generation X and Generation Y are headed. Most importantly, it does so through the eyes of a multi-generational cast that includes plenty of café regulars ranging in age from 6 to 60 who know what America is right now, and two octogenarians who remember what America is supposed to be about.
Q: Although your title character represents your own tech-savvy generation, you're not afraid to poke fun at him for this -- like checking his cell phone for updates on a baseball game that's playing in front of him. How much do you think your generation is ripe for playful criticism?
DB: Extremely ripe. Were our generation a melon, it would withstand a lot of pinching in the produce aisle. I'm not sure what that means.
Every generation is ripe for criticism, for different reasons. At the risk of generalizing:
The "Greatest Generation" was largely productive and well-meaning, but on the flip side it was often repressive of thought, of rights for women and minorities, and many were emotional hermits. Baby Boomers were emotional geysers and favored free expression and equal rights, but were often jaded, impractical, and ultimately hypocritical, (c'mon, $60,000 SUVs with "Save the environment" bumper stickers"). Generations X & Y are creating a more interconnected, high-tech world, but are at the same time losing their social skills, and forgetting what it takes to keep the body politic healthy, (informed participation and an appreciation of our Constitution and Bill of Rights is what it takes).
Underneath it all, every generation has the same basic realities that are ripe for playful satire: relationships, generation gaps, jobs, the search for integrity and meaning, the desire to belong. All the normal situations that make us all the same are the ones that are most ripe for satire.
Q: The Sadie Cohen character provides contrast, and she gets in a lot of zingers. Are you saying that, despite most of the younger characters' emphasis on technology and work, there's much wisdom to be gained from her?
DB: Don't tell Rudy, but that's exactly what we're saying. Sadie is cantankerous for a reason, and that reason is she lives in a society in which common sense (as she sees it) no longer applies. She sees Rudy as the ambassador of an entire generation that's wasting his life on the pursuit of validation from external, materialistic sources. Sadie is basically the conscience of the strip.
Q: You seem to have two goals with this strip: to create warm, amusing characters that fans will enjoy no matter the topic; and to use the strip as a forum for satirizing current events and politics. Which is more important to you and why?
DB: To me, it's more important to create endearing characters that people will look forward to spending time with. I want people to care about Uncle Mort, even if they disagree with his politics. We all have people in our families whose political views shock us, but we still like to hang out with them at barbecues. I want people to care about Sadie, Armstrong, Rudy, Darlene, Randy, and all the semi-regulars you see in the background at House of Java. The more people care about the characters and can get involved with their development and their growth, the more they'll be willing to accept social and political satire, even if they disagree with it. We're still naïve enough to think we can make a difference, but above all what we want is to entertain and make people laugh.
Q: How did you and Theron hook up?
DB: On an episode of Temptation Island. You may not have seen it. We were cut from the show because the only things for the cameras to pick up were intense strategizing and marketing sessions, a frustrating game of Pictionary, and a thumb-wrestling match...
The "official" story begins with my former career, freelancing editorial cartoons to the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Oakland Tribune (among other papers). Theron was a reporter at the Oakland Tribune, and was standing by the fax machine one day while a cartoon of mine happened to be coming through. He already had the basic idea for "Rudy Park," and thought I might be a good artist to partner with. He called and told me about his idea, I drew up some sketches, and we were off and running.
Q: How does the creative process work for you guys? Who does what? How do you share ideas? How much do you agree or disagree? Are you in separate locations, and if so, does that play any role in creative perspective or just getting the job done?
DB: Theron has a windowless room full of immigrant writers from Tadzhikistan who crank out a week's worth of strips every day.
When they're on vacation, it's up to Theron and me. We usually have a brainstorming session, most likely held during dinner at one spot or another in San Francisco or the East Bay. There's nothing more conducive to intricate plots and character development (not to mention messy) than brainstorming with your mouth full. We usually just hang out for a couple hours or so, talking about nothing in particular. From that, strip ideas just tend to write themselves. I say, "Hey, the way that girl insulted your mother before dumping you would make a great strip." He says, "You know, I think it would be funny if Rudy said something as shallow as what you said the other day..." It's sad, but productive at the same time.
Theron lives in San Francisco, by beautiful Golden Gate Park. I live in Oakland by an alley. We have two very different perspectives, but somehow arrive at very similar social/political philosophies. I like to think that comes through in the strip.
Q: Theron, how much does your day job as a journalist inform your writing of this comic strip?
Theron Heir: Journalism and cartooning are very good bedfellows. Both revolve around communication, current events, social awareness, and getting ideas by plagiarizing "facts" off of the Internet. I kid, of course. You don't really have to be that socially aware.
Journalism and cartooning are also, in some ways, opposite sides of the same coin. Both revolve around current events, but from totally different perspectives. Journalists are serious people who like to sit in the front of class and say "I'd like to propose a solution to the Middle East crisis." Cartoonists are people who like to sit in the back of class and make monkey noises. I think many people carry a bit of each trait, and it's a luxury to have found a career that lets me spend time warming seats all over the classroom.
Finally, I have the opportunity in journalism to come across lots of issues and see how advocates on both sides of those issues express themselves. That's why "Rudy Park" is the fairest, most accurate and balanced comic strip in newspapers today that is set in an Internet café and includes a pet monkey.
Q: How do you find time to write this outside of your day job? Ultimately, which is most important to you?
TH: I get a lot of ideas at the most inopportune times, like when I'm driving down the freeway, talking on the cell phone, and changing the radio station. At moments like these, I would be wise to ignore the creative impulse and keep driving in a single lane. Unfortunately, creative impulses cannot often be ignored, so I periodically find myself writing the strip at 65 mph on interstate 280. I guess this leads me to one bit of advice. Not about cartooning, but about driving. If you happen to be on I-280 and you see a White Jeep Cherokee, I'd advise pulling over and waiting for me to pass, or drive into a ravine.
As to which career is important to me, I am very committed to both of them and will continue to pursue them both until I find the answer to a deeper spiritual question: which career helps me attract more women.
 Thirsty for more Rudy Park? Check out The People Must Be Wired, the first collection of Rudy Park strips by Theron Heir and Darrin Bell at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=unitedmedia&path=tg/detail/-/0740738070/qid%3D1063221896/sr%3D8-1
Still can't get enough Rudy Park? Catch up online with Rudy, Armstrong, Sadie and the rest of the gang at: http://www.comics.com/comics/rudypark/index.html
Buy cool Rudy Park stuff that you can put on, drink from and use to carry even more cool Rudy Park stuff with: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store.aspx?s=rudy_park
Test Your Comics Knowledge
What comic strip character chases vampires, needs sensitivity training, requires career counseling and basically needs to get a life?
Find out after the next section.
 Rose is Rose Right On The Lips
Rose is Rose Right on the Lips is swirled with endless recipes of fun, adventure, and fantasy. Join Rose, Jimbo and Pasquale for this sixth Rose Is Rose compilation.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0740739557/qid%253D1063222061/sr%253D2-1/ref%253Dsr%255F2%255F1/unitedmedia
Answer to the Comics Knowledge Question
In case you don't know, it's hard to be a female cartoon character.
If you're a female cartoon character, you are expected to make jokes about dating, raising children, dieting and anything else that relates to poor body image.
But what if you are a female cartoon character who feels that life is too short for caloric concerns? What if you are a cartoon character who chases vampires, needs sensitivity training, requires career counseling and basically needs to get a life?
Well, then you'd be Jane.
Read Jane's World here
http://www.comics.com/comics/janesworld/index.html
 Luann: Curves Ahead
Pick up the new compilation Luann: Curves Ahead for an entertaining glimpse into your favorite 16-year-old's life of homework, heartbreak and humor.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=unitedmedia&path=tg/detail/-/0740739506
 Soup To Nutz: The First Course
The first Soup To Nutz compilation book, Soup To Nutz: The First Course by Rick Stromoski, is here! Place your order for this delicious deal now.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0740739468/unitedmedia
 For Better or For Worse: Reality Check
Between an unexpected pregnancy and grandpa eloping to England, For Better or For Worse creator Lynn Johnston offers the Pattersons a Reality Check.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0740738100/ref%3Dase%5Funitedmedia/104-5660337-9675105
 Herman Classics, Volume I
This full-color collector's edition contains more than 500 specially colored HERMAN favorites.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=unitedemail-20&path=tg/detail/-/1550226169/qid%3D1064520161/sr%3D8-1
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