THE DEEPER MEANING
First off, there ain’t a whole
heck of a lot of, ‘deeper meaning’ going on around here. We just
wanted to use that as a ruse in order to sidetrack you for a minute. The
idea is to tell you a little something about Will Ferret, BACK FORWARD,
and Badgerland Studios. So, in a nutshell, here you go:
Will Ferret has been writing,
drawing, and publishing work for the past 20 years. During the 1980's,
he regularly illustrated articles in the San Francisco Chronicle, and for
the Whole Earth Review. Among an innumerable list of publications
and novels, he has illustrated the work of Kathy Acker, Brian Aldiss, J.G.
Ballard, James Blaylock, Philip K. Dick, K.W. Jeter, Misha, John
Shirley, and William Burroughs (to name but a few).
As
writer, Will Ferret has appeared in a number of Duke University fiction
collectives; as edited by Larry McCaffery. In 1989, his first novel,
'Alligator Alley' was published. In early-March of 2000, while on
a road trip in Oregon, he conceived the premise and characters for this
comic strip. That said, he began producing the enclosed selections.
BACK FORWARD represents Will Ferret’s first attempt at producing a commercially
viable comic strip.
BACK FORWARD OVERVIEW
BACK FORWARD is more or less
the rags-to-riches story (over and over again, as the characters regularly
win and lose fortunes), of a benevolent old inventor, named Dr. Bumsteiner.
The strip encompasses an array of characters who are either in residence,
or who regularly come and go fromthe Doctor's home. In residence
are the Badge (or 
Badgeman;
a badger, who is sometimes mistaken for being a panda), and his sidekicks
(an alleged coyote, and wannabe artist), and Mr. Spot (formerly the Badge's
den). Next door to the Doctor lives a widowed, working, single mom and
her two sons, Max and R.C. Both boys spend much of their free time
at the Doctor's house. Max is a typical teenager whose only disadvantage
is that he tends to take his advice from Badge. R.C. (The Roller Coaster
Kid), who is 5 years old, spends most of his time on the hill behind the
Doctor's house. R.C. is obsessed with flying his vacuum cleaner, and dealing
with the fantasy creatures that inhabit the hill (i.e., Lerts, Mucks, Wood
Elves, and so on).
As the characters essentially went from conception directly into the strips, the first 12 weeks represent the overall development of the strip’s essence and style, beginning in its rawest form.
And speaking of development from raw form, try some of these recipes sprinkled throughout the Sunday color strips;
We here at Badgerland Studios deeply appreciate your taking the time to visit this site, and encourage you to e-mail your feedback to us. We look back forward very much to hearing from you. Many thanks for taking the time to consider the work!
Copyright 2001 by Will Ferret/Badgerland Studios