Cretaceous Comic

The following is Andrew's pitch to King Features Syndicate for a comic strip called Cretaceous:

THE PITCH

Hi I’m Andrew Sorohan. I’m an Australian artist. This is my first pitch to King’s Features, I hope you enjoy it.

This is a “funny animal” comic strip, but not a typical one. What makes this comic stand out from the crowd is that I’ve blatantly refused to properly anthropomorphise the characters. These anthro animals live the rough, and alien lives of real animals.

This contrast between anthropomorphising the animal characters and portraying them as real animals is a main source of drama and humour for the comic. It allows me to address human issues like intolerance and racial harmony, while not offering preachy, simplistic answers. After all -- how DO you show tolerance for your brother’s new friend when that friend is a predator who might just tear your throat open and eat you?

The 24th strip in this sample hints at a future direction for the ongoing story plots -- with the main character becoming the single parent to a foundling, similar to the classic comic “Gasoline Alley”.

The other notable aspect of this comic strip is the attention to scientific detail. Yes this comic is an anthropomorphic fantasy -- but where possible I’ve tried to make it as scientifically informed as I can make it.

To demonstrate the way this comic could be marketed to different audiences I’ve included samples of alternate versions of the comics. The first include annotations to explain scientific details. The second set is the gorey version of the comic, with over-the-top blood to enhance the humour. These two different approaches could be used to sell the comic to alternative sources like education publications or online audiences who want a little bit more punch to their comics than the usual newspaper readership.

I hope you enjoy!

Andrew S.