Sam and Fuzzy Q & A: Return Edition

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"I was struck by the similarity between the title of the current chapter and Race to the Bottom, and then I remembered this Q&A, care to comment?

Also, given that the physical books have been available for a number of years, do you think of Sam & Fuzzy primarily as a webcomic, or a serialised graphic novel (series)? Does the dual format affect the structure of the story?" -Thomas

Haha, yeah! Like it says in that older Q and A, Sam and Fuzzy Hit Rock Bottom was an early title I considered for this volume, before going with Sam and Fuzzy Race to the Bottom instead. But hitting rock bottom is still very much on theme! So the old title lives on as the name of this particular chapter.

I think of Sam and Fuzzy primarily as an online comic, since that's the way most people read it. But online or offline, I definitely think of it as a graphic novel series, rather than like, a comic strip.

Because it's serialized, I do try to write and divide up the individual updates in a way that makes them satisfying to read individually... I try to give each strip some sort of emotional payoff, be it something funny or surprising or sad or whatever else. But starting with Fix Your Problem, it's all been written with chapters and books in mind... there's an arc to each book that drives pretty much everything in it!

"So …did you, personally, ever drive a taxi for a living? Or any amount of time at all?" -Dan

No! And to be honest, it is probably extremely evident to anyone who has. No aspect of how X-Per-S was depicted in the "Classic" era of the comic was based on any kind of actual research or knowledge, and it's probably all super innacurate. At the time, I was 18 or 19 years old, in university, and had only ever worked in retail. (But no, never in a book store, either!)

This might be news to some of our readers, so it's maybe worth mentioning: Sam the character is not actually based on me, my life, or even my personality, in any way whatsoever! The only reason his name is Sam is because I lifted the basic ideas for him and Fuzzy from a comic I drew when I was a self-absorbed little kid. I kinda wish I'd renamed him, to be honest, but it's too late for that! Ha!

"The look of pure gleeful joy on Fuzzy's face in this week's comic has got to be one of my favorite visual gags in Sam&Fuzzy. The immediate shift back to Fuzzy being hurt and angry, however, really got me thinking about how much Fuzzy's character has changed since the beginning of the comic, or even since the early NMS days. Do you miss the fact that Fuzzy's zany, chaotic, fun-loving personality has fallen to the background in recent years (just as the prophecy foretold)?" -Dawson

Nah! I deliberately avoided it in the early days, but I think allowing Fuzzy to be a character capable of development and sincere emotion was the only way to do another Sam and Fuzzy story after Noosehead ended. Sam propelled the Classic and Noosehead sagas basically by himself. But Fuzzy has driven the current series, which I think is a big part of what has made it interesting! And It's been fun to explore the kind of backstory that shaped him into the character we saw in those earlier strips, and then to take him to new places.

That's a wrap for this week, everyone. See you on Monday with our next comic!

-Sam Logan