Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Character identification: Happydale



The people in Happydale are pretty distinctive. It is not hard to pick each character out of a crowd, even from the back. One has a beard and wears a dinosaur suit; one has no arms; one has no legs; one has long flaps of loose skin hanging from his face; one is a dapper midget. There is also one who has a third eye, which he keeps covered with a bandana, and another who always wears a superhero suit (Paradox man), so that none of his friends has ever seen his face.

In this double page spread, there is also a swat team of nameless and personalityless outsiders, as well as other citizens of Happydale to whom we have not yet been introduced. Many of them are also unique and interesting in their own rights: the man with the mohawk wearing formal Japanese attire, the man with the a spear and tattoos who looks as though he might be from a tribe near the Amazon River, a guy taking pictures who is dressed for a mountaineering expedition, and of course, just at the left edge, our friendly but shy alien. But it is easy to find the people we know from the story, regardless of what they are doing. They all have their own pecularities that make them stand out.

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