Rip Haywire

Captain Fenway Parker is Rip and Co’s new CO of the Top Secret military outfit known as G.U.N.S …My thought process on creating this character was I needed somebody to conflict with Rip. Rip pretty much always gets his way in the strip, he does what he wants, and I think adding an authority figure into the mix would be funny. Fenway Parker’s personality came from the school of write what you know so Capt. Parker is a native New England-er with a thick New England accent.

I Lived in New England (Massachusetts) my whole life and talk like Fenway, although not as much now since I’ve been living in North Carolina for 5 or 6 years. I still have family there who we visit at least twice a year, and I am a Boston sports fan through and through. Like so many New England natives I was a habitual Dunkin’ Donuts coffee drinker, loved the atmosphere and spirit of the Red Sox nation, and too many occasions used the words wicked and awesome to describe things that were wicked awesome.

Captain Fenway Parker could be a funny addition to the strip or he could be a character who slips into the background and is never seen again. That’s the beauty of a comic strip…nothing is set in stone except the main character, and it’s my job to create new things to see what sticks and what doesn’t. Charles Schulz used to always ask other cartoonists “are you doing anything new?” and that’s what Fenway Parker is…New…So, what do you think ? Besides the fact that he looks like the love child of Tubby from little Lulu and Sarge from Beetle Bailey.