Interview by Chris Butcher.
"My parents wanted an athletic doctor for a son. Instead, they got a kid hooked on Hanna-Barbera cartoons who grew up drawing."
While this sentence could be used to describe most of the people working in animation today, it's actually the words of Steve Stegelin, creator of the comic BOONDOGGLE. Steve's work has been a favorite of mine for some time now, and when I first had the opportunity to feature some of his work here at PopImage, I jumped at the chance. Drawing its influences more from comic strips than comic books, BOONDOGGLE owes a lot to strips like BLOOM COUNTY, DOONESBURY, FAR SIDE, CALVIN & HOBBES, and POGO. It also owes a lot to Steve's father, who actively introduced him to these strips.
"Honestly, I don't think he even began to grasp what an effect he had bestowed on me," said Steve. "He was simply trying to interact and share an interest with a son whom he was having a hard time finding an interest to share (like I said, they wanted an athlete... lucky for him, my sister now plays college basketball)."
BOONDOGGLE actually started as a series of comic strips before moving into the full-sized comic book realm.
"After high school, I was accepted into the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning, and started off towards a Graphic Design degree. One would have thought that would be the likely and well-paved path for me, given my knack for drawing. However, I had not taken an actual art class since junior high (and then, even, with a teacher who had exempted me from the class work to 'do my own thing'), and seriously lacked the discipline necessary to survive in such an environment. As my disillusionment grew in the classroom, I found my salvation in the campus paper, where I began a 3 times-a-week BOONDOGGLE comic strip. The strip then was a very rough sketch of what was to become the BOONDOGGLE that hit comic stands.
"As my second year at UC came to a close, I discovered myself yearning for an Illustration major unavailable to me, and wound up beginning a Psychology major (which fit best my load of taken electives). That path begun, I transferred to UC's nearby (and cheaper) sister college, Northern Kentucky University, where I wrapped up with a Psychology bachelor's. I also began a weekly BOONDOGGLE strip at its paper -- a version, which while being a bit more bare bones storyline-wise, actually resembled the comic book incarnation a lot more. [It] was later awarded 'Best Comic Strip' at the Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association competition, an annual statewide event with judges including the Pulitzer-prize winning editorial cartoonist and ZITS co-creator, Jim Borgman."
A few years later Boondoggle went full-size, published through fledgling Knight Press, where Steve had worked behind the scenes in the areas of pre-press and design. Four issues of the book came out through Knight before Steve had the opportunity to move to Caliber Press to make BOONDOGGLE part of their all-ages line, TAPESTRY. Suffering from a weak market and an industry sick of 'yet another imprint', TAPESTRY failed after about 5 months, and after only 3 issues published (despite being one of the highest sellers in the line).
"The whole TAPESTRY travesty turned me off of comics for a while, and I turned my attention more and more towards my then-somewhat new career as a technical illustrator. The attention has paid off, as my work created my being able to trade the Queen City of Cincy for the coastal burg of Charleston, S.C. However, the characters of BOONDOGGLE have proved hard to silence, and BOONDOGGLE stories have now appeared in a number of anthology titles, most recently Peregrine Entertainment's INDEPENDENT VOICES #2, which came out this September."
For fans of the series, or those that just happened to like the current strip we're featuring here at PopImage, when can we look forward to more BOONDOGGLE, Steve?
"I've been having an on-again-off-again flirtation with attempting a syndicated comic strip. It seems like a natural progression of the circle path I seem to be on. Currently, the flirtation is on again, so we'll see what happens.
"As for BOONDOGGLE itself, I'm not too sure what its fate holds. I would love to do the comic book again. However, I'm also content to take that path in baby steps. I'm a bit wary of the comic book market as it stands today. Monetarily speaking, I never really received much from my past comic book efforts, and I doubt that's changed since my absence. And with a wife and daughter to feed, that's an unfortunate consideration. I am, however, satisfied to continue with the string of shorts, given that there's always a venue for such work.
A trade paperback compilation is another idea I've been pondering, perhaps one containing a new chapter at the end to tie up some of the bigger strings left dangling with the cancellation of the series. Who knows? In the meantime, though, I've been lucky enough to have friends in the industry who have continued looking out for my interests, and have allowed me to keep a presence, albeit peripherally.
"Other than that, it's been kind of nice existing in the 'real world,' and I'm continually satisfied just living each day with my wife, Heather, and daughter, Cory. And the beach. Can't forget the beach."
Feel free to write to Steve at stevestegelin@juno.com if you have any comments or questions about his work, or for ordering info. If you'd like to see more BOONDOGGLE comic strips here at PopImage, e-mail comics editor Ben Peek at wonderland103@hotmail.com.
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