Creator and Hometown Weekly Cartoonist Tim Jones tells us why a grumpy dog, a pet storm cloud, and a bad day make for the perfect comic strip.
It took a layoff from his job more than a decade ago to convince creator Tim Jones to revive Aesop, a miserable flying dog he’d first drawn in the late ’90s. He cold-called papers, self-syndicated the strip across Rhode Island, and just kept going. Now, more than a decade later, “Sour Grapes”—which also stars Ominous, a sentient storm cloud with humanistic faults and cast of other characters—runs in more than 60 newspapers nationally and launches here on GoComics today, where it’ll update three times a week. We chatted with Jones about grumpy characters, pet clouds, and why everybody's got a little sour grapes in them.
You self-syndicated “Sour Grapes,” starting with two Rhode Island papers before growing nationally. Where did that early hustle come from?
In 2013, I was laid off from my job. I was suddenly left with some time to decide what I wanted to do with my life. I remembered and realized that I’d always liked and was good at making people laugh and making them happy, performing stand-up comedy, and just being a funny guy.
I had a previous strip in the late 1990s called “Every Blue Moon,” which also starred Aesop and appeared in six local papers in Rhode Island. So, I decided to bring that comedy back and wanted to make people laugh and make them happy in a new strip, “Sour Grapes.” This time I kicked it up a notch with even more aggressive tenacity and persistence. Thanks to that effort, the strip is now nationally self-syndicated in more than 60 newspapers. I couldn’t be happier.
Aesop is grumpy and checked out, yet he keeps showing up for the people around him. Where did that contradiction come from, and what makes it funny to you?
Aesop is a “miserable, flying dog.” A lot of people say that I am like Aesop. I can be a sort of miserable, easily annoyed type of person. Being miserable doesn't necessarily mean that Aesop doesn't want to help people; he’s just reluctant to go through the motions. The fact that he does anyway, in his own miserable way, can be pretty funny.
Ominous is one of the strip's most distinctive characters—a sentient storm cloud! How did you land on that idea?
I used to draw Aesop with a random cloud following him around. It was more of an annoyance for Aesop, adding to the “miserable” theme and influenced by the gloomy, dark cloud hanging over Eeyore. I discontinued the character “Slice” in “Sour Grapes.” I remembered the cloud and decided to bring it in as a replacement. But how? Well, I decided to think outside the box and wondered, wouldn’t it be fun for a dog to have a pet, why not a cloud? I made him a smart, cunning cloud with humanistic qualities and faults and struggles. And his name? Well, why not “Ominous”? It fits him just right and fits the theme of the strip. He's a main character and has remained a fan favorite.
You teach cartooning and do school visits and comic cons. How does that direct contact with readers affect what ends up on the page?
I meet a lot of people at the comic cons I guest at, as well as at bookstores, libraries, and schools, hosting workshops or talks on the craft of cartooning and my strip. I'm fortunate enough to see returning fans of “Sour Grapes” and gain new fans. Some people tell me they read the strip every week, or that they have one of my books and want the latest or another. That's worth its weight in gold. Does it give me ideas for the strip's episodes? Sometimes, but it definitely makes me want to keep going for the fans.
GoComics readers grew up with “Peanuts,” “Garfield,” and “Calvin and Hobbes.” What do you hope someone discovers about “Sour Grapes” on their very first strip?
Everyone has some “sour grapes” in their lives. I think that when people read “Sour Grapes” for the first time, they will discover a comic strip that centers itself on relatable situations of one's faults, bad days, complaints, and problems, with characters that are not too different from themselves. When we exhibit any of these things, we know that someday we will laugh at them and ourselves. “Sour Grapes” is just that: laughing at ourselves and our foibles.
Anything else you want readers to know about you or the strip as they’re first introduced?
I've had the pleasure and fun of drawing and writing “Sour Grapes” for more than 10 years. It has held itself in newspapers for that long as well. I've worked to someday have the ability to bring it to an even larger audience, and I've finally done it. I hope you enjoy “Sour Grapes.” There's nothing miserable about that.
Be sure to follow “Sour Grapes” on GoComics (www.gocomics.com/sour-grapes), where it will be updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Article provided by GoComic’s Rachel DeSchepper.
