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Episode 1: How the Doc Met Irene

antcomics

on Jan. 11, 2008

The 'Holiday Doctor' was my pet project before The Ants.

Here is the long and rambly story of how it came into being…

I started the Holiday Doctor in 1998, and am still working on it off and on.

I thought of the Holiday Doctor while on a road trip, with the help of a friend. She and I were driving along the outskirts of Kansas City, Kansas, and I saw a sign (you know, one of those green highway signs) that said "Holiday Dr - Next Exit".

I was sleepy, and slap-happy, and in my goofy state of mind I said "Holiday Doctor - Next Exit?!" My friend and I had a laugh over that…remember we were sleepy and half delerious from driving a lot…

Anyhow, we were en route to South Dakota–our destination: Rapid City. We had a very long, boring drive ahead of us. That one road sign evolved into a big, crazy, wacky story about a doctor named Thurman McPaul and his sidekick/assistant Irene Beresford…their names came from more road signs along the highway.

With much input from my friend, we had formed the core of the story you'll see unfold here. It's really kind of out there. I sat in a motel room the next night and sketched out all the characters we had come up with the night before as we drove through western Iowa and across South Dakota. All the initial characters in this tale were named after road signs, which were exit signs to towns off the interstate, mostly.

Sadly, I cannot locate those original sketches…

But once I got back home to Missouri, I started cranking out pages and The Holiday Doctor was born.

The last page I finished (almost a year ago) was page 322. So I have quite a bit to post here. I have had some friends say I should post it here at the Duck, so I will.

And now I bring you the Cover of Episode 1:
"How the Doc Met Irene."

I'll post two or three of these pages a week.

A little side note: The initial story that was dreamed up that fateful night as we drove to South Dakota spiraled eventually into a really involved story. Sometimes I plan this stuff out. Other times I have no idea where it is going to go till I pick up the drawing pencil…so it could be a little disjointed in parts…some of it was totally extempore.

The covers were colored in mostly colored pencil. I used to color everything in pencil. It does not scan well. :o(