Ol’ George 74: Buzzless Buddies

 Ol’ George 74: Buzzless Buddies 

Notes on #74:

1. I was aware of the People of Color problem in my strip, and I wanted to fix it. There’s only been one, back in #26, Thelonious Monk. He could return, but I never thought of him as a regular cast member. (Lie. I’ve always nurtured an idea of a strip of some kind where Monk is an incidental character.) And I thought back to an idea that’s been in the stock pile for over a year.

2. The man I’m calling Charlie is based on a customer at the store where I work. I’d helped him several times with his searches for N/A beers. His type was bottled European lagers and his favorite was the German Clausthaler. One day I just happened to be filling in on a register when he came up with his 6-pack and said almost verbatim the words I’ve put in Charlie’s mouth. I never wrote them down, just committed it to memory. Told a friend and co-worker, they asked if I would show it to him once I’d drawn it. No, because I would never be able to conjure a decent likeness from memory, and I could just imagine the reception: is that supposed to be me?

So, why did I put it off for over a year? Because of the work involved with designing a character based on a real person I barely knew. And I think I did an alright job. As long as he never sees it. 

And you know what is weird? I haven’t seen him since. I hope he merely moved away, and didn’t fall off the wagon or have any other dire fate befall him. 

3. In the first sketch I ever did of this as-yet unnamed character, I went no further because he seemed too young. He also wore a hat with the letter O, for some reason. I imagined his name started with an O, hence the hat. But I hated that. I’m glad I changed it because some might confuse it for a zero as in zero percent alcohol. Now, it’s a T for no particular reason. Maybe he’s from Texas, or Tenn-o-see, as Waylon would say. Maybe it’s for his favorite team, and I hope no one out there has that color scheme. 

4. Given the familiarity between them, I imagine George and Charlie have known each other awhile. Maybe since the times of whooping and hollering. Maybe he’s been there all along? Watch as I pull a Lucas and go back and insert him into all the old strips. Put him place of Riblet and Balonious. (No, just kidding.)