I've been asked this question a couple of times now, so I figured it might be high time I pull all this info together in one convenient spot.
WHERE DO THE NAMES OF THE MONSTERPLEX CHARACTERS COME FROM?
LINA PATEL and LUCY LING - These characters were both created at the same time and I was going for that very comic booky thing of using multiple "L's." (See: Superman - Lois Lane, Lana Lang, Lex Luthor, etc.) I just like the musical quality of the 'L.' Lina is, of course, short for Angelina. Being that Lina is a strong woman, I think it's fair to say that I had Ms. Jolie on the brain when creating her. The name 'Patel' is a very common Indian surname and it has that 'L' sound in it again, which is a plus.
RYAN HULL - Ryan Hull is the name of a good friend of mine. Ryan had been begging me for a while to base a character on him, but my
SuperFogeys comic just wasn't quite right for him. Plus, two four-letter names is a good things in comic. When you're constantly dealing the space issues inherent in speech balloons, the shorter the better.
BITSY ANDREWS - Bitsy Andrews is a spin on the name of a girl I knew in High School named Betsy Andrews. I always thought that was a great name. I changed Betsy to Bitsy because of the way the name 'Bitsy' really describes and offsets this little goth girl running around the theater.
PRISCILLA - Priscilla the vampiress is a spin on the name Drusilla from the Buffy the Vampire series, who was also a vampiress. And, like Drusilla was often called Dru, I liked that I could have some characters call Priscilla, Pris.
WOLF - Wolf has a very simple mind so I figured a very simple name would fit him best. Doesn't get much simpler.
KEN "ZOMBIE" WATANABE - I knew a guy named Watanabe at the movie theater I worked at when I was younger, and it rhymes with "zombie" so...bonus, right? Ken came from actor Ken Watanabe (Batman Begins).
SLUDGE - Sludge is like a mini-blob. I couldn't call him Blob, so what else do you call him besides Sludge, right? By the way, Sludge's full name is Sludge, the Living Mop.
OFFICER CARL COOPER - Officer Cooper is a character that so far has only shown up in the Promo piece. His first real appearance will be on page 9, the very next page after the initial Zuda submission. I'm a big Twin Peaks fan, so Cooper is named after Agent Dale Cooper. Carl just sounds good with Cooper. Double consonants are always good.
More later.
-Brock
