As a great example of stupidity, the Royal Canadian Mint sues the city of Toronto over the use of the word “one cent” and a picture of a penny. The government sues a city for intellectual property theft !

Well I'm well aware of how important copyrights are of course, one of drawings of a gargoyle ended up being posted on a forum once without proper credit and I was pretty upset. What one creates is his/hers to use or give away, but in a democratic country, shouldn't the government's IP actually be the people's ? Isn't the Royal Canadian Mint suing over material that actually belongs to everybody ? Will the government also sue for the use of the flag ?

More importantly, will the Royal Canadian Mint sue the US government over the “one cent” you can find on every US penny ?

Yeah, there's plenty of stupidity out there that makes my orcs look smart...

The latest question I've been asked is “Is Ogum's mom real ?”

Nope, ain't MY mom if that's what you mean ! When I thought about adding her to the cast, she was to be a loving mother, to make Ogum even more pathetic. What could be worst than to have your mom shout something like “be nice to your new pals” when you're marching out to war, or having her ask “had fun with your friends ?” when you come back home with a black eye and an arrow sticking out of your lower back.

Well she swiftly ran out of control ! On the first strip she appeared in, she asked Ogum for a welcome kiss, but she's been nothing but a bitter hag ever since. How does one loose control of a character ? I guess you can't control every aspect of your life, and my strips are one of those things !

The paper bag series however is based on a true story. Back in 98 or 99 I had two roommates, and we kinda lost track of each others. Last year I crossed path with one of them and got invited to his wedding, where his mom kindly asked if I still had that old green Tupperware of hers. That's odd, I don't recall having seen that in our apartment...I know I've got memory issues. I have a hard time remembering which day of the week we are or how old I am. But I sure would I remember a green Tupperware from ten years ago...

In fact no character of mine is real, I just happen to channel anecdotes through them from time to time. And in my surroundings, nobody's completely safe from an anonymous guest appearance as an orc ;)

Cheers !
Benoit

Well, my pet project as a cartoonist is Ogum's adventures, featuring a pair of dull minded orcs going trough their daily lives. Many times, I've been asked questions where I get my ideas, about whether Ogum's mom is real or made up, or comments about how more deep and thoughtful my comics should be so I'll dump pieces of mind here, explain things over and perhaps post sketches.

For instance last Monday's tree hugging strip is a comment on US government's attitude who opposed once again to a measure that aims to save OUR planet at the 2007 G8 summit. What do you know, a social comment right under your noses! Suddently it isn't just a strip, hun ?

There's also the fact that I often have ideas for geeky tech strips, but nowhere to put those since they won't fit in Ogum's adventures. This is where I'll dump those too.

Cheers and welcome!

Benoit