Required Reading For Numbers Not Counted On.
Fender
A depressive mutt with a heart of fool's gold, Fender (named Mickie Fender Anselmo at one point, I rescinded this as not
officially "cannon" -- he's just Fender) staggers through the crazed 90's world around him, mostly trying to figure out
why life sucks so hard. Yes, Fender was me at the age I started drawing him. The not-so funny story behind him was I was
called dog-faced by enough different people that it began to resonate with me. I decided to make my main voice in the
comic a dog. The upside is Fender was always more high than I ever was in college. It can finally be told -- that cigar
was NOT a tobacco cigar as I told most people - He was always chawing on a blunt.
Fender was, as I was at the time, a chain-smoker that couldn't get enough of the Schnapps. A common misconception is that
I shared his other love: Funyuns. I had Funyuns now and then but let's face it, Funyuns are neither fun nor... yun. I guess
the main bullet point here is people need to STOP buying me Funyuns, thinking I like them. You wanna buy them for me just
to piss me off then I'm okay with that. I like them as much as... no. That's not true. I... hm. NO FUNYUNS!
Upchuck the Duck
I've always felt a series really isn't complete without some kind of time travel element. And Upchuck is it. He jumps at the
chance to return with Fender, Phil 'n' Rufus to a time when the government doesn't infect citizens and then charge them for the
cure. Upchuck is a social anarchist through and through, with a need for Jolt and a desire to burn all the liars. Upchuck
is in tribute to and almost directly based off of the personality of my long-time pal Mickie Rat.
K. Naust pronounced "Noust"
K. Naust hung out mostly with Fender, and he'd be more apt to take a tech approach to matters. For example, he was the one who
would rig up the kitchen blender with subwoofers. For... some reason. In tribute to my old friend Bill Jeter, K. Naust was
also the more emotional of the bunch, freaking out at culture's inconsistencies and indiscrepancies. A bit like Bill.
Skunk
Skunk really served no seeable function except light commentary when needed. I phased him out eventually, but he did serve,
in part, as my representative, my avatar, in the world of File Under Fire. At the time I saw the skunk as my spirit
animal. He was the zen to Fender's zig zags.
Phil The Rat
Thank you Metallica and Pantera (circa the Cowboys From Hell and Vulgar Display of Power era). Phil is not just the more
pugilistic part of the slapstick duo that is Phil 'N' Rufus, but also my every angry moment. A constant scowl on his face,
hands covered in fight bruises, he was Tyler Durden before Tyler Durden was around. He was the strong arm of the File Under
Fire gang. And believe it or not, he loved Rufus. To death. Sometimes... but Rufus would always somehow come back.
Rufus The Happy Li'l Monkey
One part of the slapstick duo that is Phil 'N' Rufus. Every comic needs that hapless character that gets brutally savaged
for no other reason than repititious violence be funny. Rufus owes his meager existence to several sources, not the least of
which was a friend telling me, "Monkeys don't go Eep!" Well, in my comics they do. And they speak like Peter O' Toole... if
they speak at all.
Daiquiri
The feisty ambiguously British feline female of the group. Daiquiri is usually warning off the rest her housemates
from their foolish romps... which is just about ALL of their romps. Based loosely off of Philip Bond's character
Pip from "Wired World" Daiquiri was my one and only stab at a recurring female in an all-male core cast. She was more based off
a type of chick I'd see a lot during the 90's - Doc Marten-wearing, with thrift store dress, cool t-shirt and groovy chapeau.
Hotcha and Randy
Associated most with Daiquiri but arguably the more popular of any of the other characters, Hotcha and Randy appeared early on as
apropos of nothing commentary. Their small snail presence would eventually be felt permanently in A World On Fire, almost as
introducers to the comic.
There were questions as to the gender of Hotcha. And which one WAS hotcha? The answer's surprisingly simple. Hotcha is the other one.
Frank Fortunine
Frank was a transplant from the not-so funny world of Cog (A Tale Of What Might've Been
Tomorrow!) I'd envisioned him as the most normal of the bunch, being a college student that readers could identify with. It confused
some people, to have the same character in two radically different comics, and behaving differently. Not one of my better
moves, but I stand by it. Frank shifts through parallel universes, dimensions and planets, so it made some sense that at
one point, he landed on earth in the 90's and went to school while sharing a house with a bunch of talkign animals. Or not.
Mister Morgan
That neighbor that you love to hate, Mister Morgan is constantly being harassed by the File Under Fire gang. And for just
cause. He's the neighbor that'll call the cops on your barbecue. He deserves every one of his lawns that're rolled
up.
Mister Morgan actually began as a piece of clip art that I switched to actually drawing. his look is inconistent from what
he started as, but the idea remains the same.
Doctor Cramp David
Exclusive to A World On Fire, Doc Cramp David took on the role of Mister Morgan, only in a more sinister capacity. He
was to be their Moriarty as the storylines became more developed to accomodate the new style I'd adopted in this phase of
the comic.
Eventually, I'd planned on a court-ordered agreement in which the not-so good Doctor had to room with the File Under Fire
animals, plotting their demise in the basement, but stopping long enough for some of K. Naust's peanut butter sandwiches made from
REAL bread. Not that fake stuff you buy at the store. No one ever asked K. Naust where he got it. The bread was mail order, of course.
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