This strip was an incredible bit of juggling in regards to ALL the dialog that was required to both include all the needed exposition AND move to the big reveal in the last panel.
Yes indeed, after many years, Dandy’s long lost older brother and sometimes nemesis/sometimes ally, SNUFFLES has returned. Aside from his frequent appearances in the Community Theater Sunday drawings, he was last seen in this 2005 adventure.
This is a guest strip from the first year of guest strips by one of my favorite artists, Scott Thigpen. Scott used to draw a fantastic online comic strip called “Boomslang” featuring a big purple ape named Willy and a little, somewhat evil orange cat, named Koko.
Scott let me use ‘em for a brief cameo in THIS 2002 Strip. But when Scott submitted the above guest strip, I fell in love with the dynamic between Koko and Dandy. Unlike Bernard, Koko could and WOULD give as good as he got and I felt the strip needed that dynamic. As such, after MUCH begging and pleading, Scott actually let me use Koko as a semi-regular character in THIS 2003 Storyline. A few months after Koko’s appearance as the villain of the arc, he became a member of the family.
However, a couple of months after Koko joined the regular cast, Scott Kurtz introduced his OWN, somewhat evil orange (Although originally pink) cat named Scratch Fury, Destroyer of Worlds. Scratch evolved to an almost identical character with a similar disposition, personality and lust for power. And since PvP has a FEW more readers than I do, I ended up getting a bunch of emails and forum posts accusing me of ripping off Scott. It REALLY got on my nerves, and added to the idea that since I didn’t actually OWN the character there was only so far I could take him in the strip, and I wrote him out.
A lot of folks initially suspected that Koko was, in fact, the secret Mystery Trucker (He’s NOT, dagnabbit!) so it seemed like a fun time to remind you all of the first time these two characters really squared off. Enjoy.
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Every Sunday, Dandy & Company is powered by YOU, the readers and fans. That’s right… you can be a part of the fun by making a request for your OWN ORIGINAL “Dandy & Co.” ART! It’s an original, hand drawn “D&C” piece made to YOUR specifications, and NOW that the commissions will be fueling Sunday’s around here, you can REALLY be a part of the action. Just click here for details!
Man, I DO love drawing somewhat wild fight scenes like this. It’s a really nice break from the heavy talking strip last Friday.
That said, I think it’s a good time to give you new readers a little history on the dog Dandy is currently goin’ “Grand Slam Breakfast” on, Snuffles! Snuffles first appeared in 2003 as a background character in the “Dogs of War” storyline. Dandy’s ever evil double had succeeded in taking over the comic strip, and had used mind-control dog collars to keep Dandy trapped in non-speaking “Dog” mode in an evil Obedience School. Snuffles was introduced as little more than a slightly goofy, loopy dog in the School WITH Dandy. I really enjoyed Snuffles and so did the readers, so as the story reached it’s conclusion I decided to elevate Snuffles from a simple background character to an evil PLANT, working for Evil Dandy in order to keep an eye on OUR Dandy. And with that turn, Snuffles became on of the most popular supporting characters in the strip.
Snuffles would return again in the “Dog on the Run” storyline which found Dandy teaming up with Snuffles to escape the vet. (Where both were scheduled to be… uh… fixed!) It was in this story where I decided to have Snuffles kinda switch sides and decide to HELP Dandy out of his situation, beginning the trend of bringing Snuffles back to the strip on the OPPOSITE side of the fight from whenever he was last seen.
Snuffles would return again to court Maryweather, and then after eventually being dumped by her, as the leader of the radical Revolutionary Dog Cult, BITE CLUB.
It was during the “Bite Club” story, where Snuffles was revealed to be Dandy’s Older Brother. (A concept that had actually been planed FAR in advance and even hinted at when in a flashback adventure showing Dandy’s early childhood, his father in the pet store bore more than a passing resemblance to Snuffles.)
Though Snuffles was captured, he quickly escaped and hasn’t been seen until now. He’s a perpetually popular recurring character and I really hope that this story allows for even MORE interesting developments and twists. Enjoy!
I think it’s a good time to give you new readers a little history on the dog Dandy is currently goin’ “Grand Slam Breakfast” on, Snuffles! Snuffles first appeared in 2003 as a background character in the “Dogs of War” storyline. Dandy’s ever evil double had succeeded in taking over the comic strip, and had used mind-control dog collars to keep Dandy trapped in non-speaking “Dog” mode in an evil Obedience School. Snuffles was introduced as little more than a slightly goofy, loopy dog in the School WITH Dandy. I really enjoyed Snuffles and so did the readers, so as the story reached it’s conclusion I decided to elevate Snuffles from a simple background character to an evil PLANT, working for Evil Dandy in order to keep an eye on OUR Dandy. And with that turn, Snuffles became on of the most popular supporting characters in the strip.
Snuffles would return again in the “Dog on the Run” storyline which found Dandy teaming up with Snuffles to escape the vet. (Where both were scheduled to be… uh… fixed!) It was in this story where I decided to have Snuffles kinda switch sides and decide to HELP Dandy out of his situation, beginning the trend of bringing Snuffles back to the strip on the OPPOSITE side of the fight from whenever he was last seen.
Snuffles would return again to court Maryweather, and then after eventually being dumped by her, as the leader of the radical Revolutionary Dog Cult, BITE CLUB.
It was during the “Bite Club” story, where Snuffles was revealed to be Dandy’s Older Brother. (A concept that had actually been planed FAR in advance and even hinted at when in a flashback adventure showing Dandy’s early childhood, his father in the pet store bore more than a passing resemblance to Snuffles.)
Though Snuffles was captured, he quickly escaped and hasn’t been seen until now. He’s a perpetually popular recurring character and I really hope that this story allows for even MORE interesting developments and twists. Enjoy!
Dandy & Company copyright © 2001 - 2009 Derrick Fish
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