One of my biggest comic strip influences has been Bloom County, which I started reading when I was in grade one. When my dad read the comics in the paper, Bloom County was the only one he laughed at. As a six year old I had no doubt in my mind that they were really funny.
I created the concept for Commander Broccoli in while in high school in 1991. I had a thing for superheros at the time, particularly the Tick and Wolverine. I was also going through a bit of a vegetable kick. I had named my first pet iguana Brock, short for Broccoli and my next one Gus, short for Asparagus. The name Broccoli seemed to fit when I created my cartoon character, so I named him Commander Broccoli. Years later I heard about Veggie Tales and was surprised to find that Larry Boy had a similar shaped helmet as Commander Broccoli. I considered changing his name or his helmet but I couldn't do it. By then he had been in The Projector, the Red River College newspaper for two and a half years, and I had sold about a hundred t-shirts and comic books. His name, his look and character was completely established. I finally figured that since he was a rabbit named Broccoli and not actually broccoli, it might be ok to leave him as he was.
When I became a mom (of two most amazingly artistically talented boys by the way... I'm just saying), I started creating comics again and got it in Steinbach's newspaper, The Carillon, where it was published for two and a half years from about 2005-2007. We moved away to Alberta for a year and I found it too crazy busy to keep it up.
In the fall of 2010, I had a lot of people asking me about Commander Broccoli again. I was working full time as a graphic designer but also working on a business plan to have my own art business, Nickel Creative. My opportunity finally came to start my art business full time just before Christmas! So I got busy with my comics and approached The Carillon newspaper again. The editor sounded a little interested but didn't want to say yes. I asked if I could email them to him anyway and he said sure. After I had sent two comics to him, he emailed back and said they were interested after all. Made my day I must say!
My next step was to send my comic to all the weekly newspapers in Manitoba, which I have done. Most have yet to respond, and some have said it won't work at this time. But I am still sending them out every week. When the time seems right I will work on contacting other weekly newspapers all across Canada.
I created the concept for Commander Broccoli in while in high school in 1991. I had a thing for superheros at the time, particularly the Tick and Wolverine. I was also going through a bit of a vegetable kick. I had named my first pet iguana Brock, short for Broccoli and my next one Gus, short for Asparagus. The name Broccoli seemed to fit when I created my cartoon character, so I named him Commander Broccoli. Years later I heard about Veggie Tales and was surprised to find that Larry Boy had a similar shaped helmet as Commander Broccoli. I considered changing his name or his helmet but I couldn't do it. By then he had been in The Projector, the Red River College newspaper for two and a half years, and I had sold about a hundred t-shirts and comic books. His name, his look and character was completely established. I finally figured that since he was a rabbit named Broccoli and not actually broccoli, it might be ok to leave him as he was.
When I became a mom (of two most amazingly artistically talented boys by the way... I'm just saying), I started creating comics again and got it in Steinbach's newspaper, The Carillon, where it was published for two and a half years from about 2005-2007. We moved away to Alberta for a year and I found it too crazy busy to keep it up.
In the fall of 2010, I had a lot of people asking me about Commander Broccoli again. I was working full time as a graphic designer but also working on a business plan to have my own art business, Nickel Creative. My opportunity finally came to start my art business full time just before Christmas! So I got busy with my comics and approached The Carillon newspaper again. The editor sounded a little interested but didn't want to say yes. I asked if I could email them to him anyway and he said sure. After I had sent two comics to him, he emailed back and said they were interested after all. Made my day I must say!
My next step was to send my comic to all the weekly newspapers in Manitoba, which I have done. Most have yet to respond, and some have said it won't work at this time. But I am still sending them out every week. When the time seems right I will work on contacting other weekly newspapers all across Canada.
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