Welcome back, readers! Just tie up your horse to the hitching rack and rest yourself a spell. We got a lot to discuss today here in the writer’’s shack. Now that we are well into the run of Poison Ivy Gulch, I might as well tell you more about how this comic strip came to be.
The main inspiration for Poison Ivy Gulch was the newspaper comic strip Tumbleweeds, published from 1965 to 2007 by T.K. Ryan (1926-2019). Like Poison Ivy Gulch, Tumbleweeds is set in the Old West. I noticed that there were very few Western genre comics out there so I decided to fill the gap. In terms of art, the great newspaper comic Peanuts was the biggest influence. My overall style of drawing is very simple; it is more iconic than realistic. The cast of Poison Ivy Gulch is drawn simply and the backgrounds are quite sparse, much like Peanuts. The reason? The characters are the focus; drawing complex backgrounds is not only time-consuming but it would distract from the cast.
The really big influences on Poison Ivy Gulch were probably the Wizard of Id (Johnny Hart & Brant Parker) and Beetle Bailey (Mort Walker). While those strips have a simple art style much like mine, the real inspiration is the gimmick itself: Beetle Bailey isn’t a funny strip about the army – it’s ABOUT funny people in the army. The Wizard of Id isn’t a funny strip about the Middle Ages – it’s about funny people in the Middle Ages. In the same way, Poison Ivy Gulch is more about funny people in the Old West.
Also, something came in recently on the last stagecoach; it’s our first fan letter. This comes from a Chris Gobbett and I’ll share it here:
This comic is great, a classic throwback to the classic era of comics. I can see influences from some of the great comics of that era like Tumbleweeds and Wizard of Id. The artistic style and quick punchlines are reflective of that era. I especially like Hermann the German, the hangman, he reminds me of the classic prison guard from Wizard of Id, taking a dark tone and contrasting that with levity is the brilliance of this comic. Great comic, hope to see many more in the future.
If you have a fan letter you want to send in, I might share it here. As a reminder, I reserve the right to edit any mail made public for clarity and content. You can email me at poisonivygulch(at)aol(dot)com or if you want to send snail mail, you can do so at:
POISON IVY GULCH
℅ Different Mousetrap Press LLC
1100 19th Avenue N, #108
Unit J
Fargo ND 58102-2269
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Well, that’s it for now. See you back here in 30 days!
