It seems that there is hardly a time in my life when newspaper comics didn’t have draw me into their orbit. My earliest grade school age recollections include my constant companion, a small Peanuts hardbound collection. The art was clear and bold and the writing seemed personal and made me feel smarter for the experience.
As I grew my taste changed and the comic I read changed with me. Garfield was just getting traction and I felt his gritty sarcastic and often rye humor fit my sentiments at the age of 13. By now I had been experimenting with cartooning myself to emulate that which I adored, but I wasn’t sure why. But it garnished positive attention from other people, which encouraged someone (like me) who felt very isolated from the world.
I was reading an interview with Jim Davis where he described being a cartoonist as the greatest job in the world, which got me thinking. I submitted my first strip, which I called “Bandit”, to a paper called “The Winsted Phoenix”. I was fifteen and it was the 80′s, comics were huge. The editor recommended I change the name to “Kabloona”.
In 1986 the “Phoenix” closed up shop, but a few months later another paper called “The Winsted Courier” popped up and I sold the strip to them.
Kabloona & Elliot by ©Scott Lincoln
I had started to follow “Bloom County” and its popularity showed me that comic strips could be written with more abstract expressions. Around this same time “Calvin and Hobbes” showed up in local papers and I was very impressed by its expression both subtle and grand. My view of comics was expanding but I had not answered the question of why they seemed important to me… After “The Courier” closed I wasn’t sure how to pursue the strange yearning to make comics professionally. Even though I wandered off into other fields and jobs the need to cartoon still clung to my heart.
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I wasn’t sure about the time I was spending on cartooning and after a few rejections I wondered if I indeed was going anywhere. My lovely wife reminded me that there was a nationally syndicated cartoonist near by, so why not go talk to him? Eventually I did meet Guy Gilchrist. He felt the samples I showed him had some sort of merit and asked me to call him to discuss things a bit more. This was very exciting news! And it was then (2001) that he asked me if I would like to assist him on a part time basis, and he would guide and mentor me in the process. I felt tremendously blessed since Guy produced comics of such style and detail as to genuinely inspire me. I started by penciling blanks and inking borders, and eventually, background work and color for “Nancy” and also color and composite the “Night Lights” Sunday Feature and many other assorted duties. It was a difficult road and some skills took a lot of time to acquire, but just being in the environment affected me in ways that can not be duplicated any other way.
While working with Guy, the syndicate DBR Media was looking for new features to try out. Guy suggested I try sending in an inspirational strip for submission, so I set my mind to figuring it out. I like to have contrast though, so I decided to use modern families and King James verses. I also set it up as a pantomime to express more of an emotional parallel. After contacting DBR with the idea, I worked all morning, all day, all night into next morning to make deadline. I sent in the samples and nine months later DBR started distributing “Solomon Road” in March of 2003.
Solomon Road – Psalms 34:14 ©Scott Lincoln
Solomon Road ran for about two years and was published in about a dozen papers nation wide and even one in Vietnam. By this time I had been working for Guy about four years and Guy had decided to start a Cartoon Academy, so teaching became part of the routine. We taught a variety of things, but when ever anyone of any age started becoming bored, we would teach them a lesson about drawing an alien and it always got everyone’s attention.
One night while teaching with my friend Brian I started adding a uniform and personalizing “the alien”. The kids were very enthusiastic and Brian said he should be the class mascot, we should give him a name. So I thought a minute and wrote, “Ralf the Destroyer” under it.
Realizing that there were no newspaper comic strips with an alien as the protagonist, I saw an opportunity, then Guy explained why it only seemed like an opportunity… it would be impossible to syndicate. Then I remembered a quote by Robert Heinlein, “Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it.”… so I did.
Through the process I have discovered why I love comics, why I need to cartoon. Cartooning is a form of communication unlike any other. It is not just writing or just drawing, it is more than the sum of it’s parts. It’s world creation, it’s writing with the ability to express body language and all it’s subtle cues. The ability to communicate through this medium is rivaled only by motion pictures, but rather than needing a team, the comic strip is often the expression of a single heart being poured onto the page.
Ralf the Destroyer isn’t just about an alien, it’s a story of alienation. It’s a story about how people see what they want to see and it’s about knowing that there’s something great out there for you to do, but you’re not sure what it is or how to do it. Charles Schulz once commented that if you’re going to write a daily comic, you’ll have to draw on every experience you’ve had in your life… So, I am.
Ralf the Destroyer ©2006 Scott Lincoln
So here on this web site I proudly present to you, Ralf the Destroyer…
