My Pal, Leppo the Clown

When I was in highschool I sort of qualified as a smartass (actually, the “sort of” in that sentence is qualified- I WAS a smartass). As a smartass, I felt obligated to draw cartoons that would amuse my friends and myself while simultaneously offending everybody else. The Fightin’ Quaker was one example (I went to a Quaker school).  At some point I thought it would be fun to draw a leper and hang it in my locker. However, for reasons I don’t care to know, I felt a leper by himself wasn’t doing the trick so I upped the offensive quotient by making him a clown-  a clown who’s skin is so disfigured, who is in such pain, that he can only croak one short word at a time (usually ‘ouch”).

When I got to Pratt in 1984 a bunch of students were starting a club, the Comic Illustrators Guild, and were planning to put out a magazine of comics, cartoons and stand alone illustrations called the Static Fish.  So, I dusted off Leppo. Initially, I drew one page, multi-panel stories in which Leppo would do mundane things- buy a fan, take a bath- only to explode into a cloud of flesh in the last panel. Leppo was a hit!

Soon, the comic was expanding to 3 and 4 pages. Leppo was going on Late Night w/ David Letterman, The People’s Court and Wheel of Fortune. Each time it ended with him exploding into a cloud of flesh. By 1986 Leppo’s exciting adventures had mushroomed into 5 and 6 page epics. He was chased by crazed dentists, crossed paths with an evil Dick Clark, joined the Manson Family and, in the last Leppo done for the Static Fish, he and Divine foil nefarious cult leader, Leonard Nimoy’s plans to take over the world.

When I decided to write Vatican Hustle it was pretty clear that Leppo had to play a role. In fact, he has a small but pivotal part in the book. Friends ask me why he isn’t the lead character but, truth be told, having a lead who can only say one word at a time seemed like an arduous way to move the story along. Leppo requires a lot of supporting characters to help explain what’s happening.  No, Leppo would be a second banana and he’s fine with it. Besides, he gets to explode into a cloud of flesh in the end and neither he nor I would have it any other way.

I’m attaching the first page from the final 1988 Static Fish story.  Enjoy it…if you DARE!!!!!!!