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by Christopher J. Burke
Archive, Blog Contact, Wiki Characters, Facebook |
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(x, why?) Cast of Characters
Once upon a time, a math teacher had a crazy idea to put a comic on my classroom blog to see how his students responded. He imagined it as a joke-a-day strip, just not every day. And he didn't think he'd resort to reusing characters. In fact, because he didn't think he'd do this for very long, he didn't even think to name his characters.
Well that had to change. Especially as the cast not only grew in size, but in diversity and complexity. Originally, there were humans and talking numbers, a situation similar to early Sesame Street episodes, which the author watched first-run. Then came the shapes and graphs and robots and everything else.
As can be seen in the comic at the bottom of the page, Heads of 1,001 (x, why?) Comics, many characters have appeared in the first dozen years.
Teachers
The teaching staff of the unnamed high school (or 6-12 school?) became the first be used in heavy rotation, and would later become the focal point for any long story lines.
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Mike Keegan first appeared in Comic #006: The Day After an Abbott & Costello Marathon. He was first named in comic (ref needed). He's usually seen in his trademark yellow shirt and blue pants. Loosely based on the author, sometimes acting as his avatar. He thinks math most of the time. Mike is married with two kids. He's addicted to coffee. (Oddly, the author was more of a tea drinker back then, but converted.) |
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Kenneth Wayne first appeared in Comic #010: Natural Hair Color, subtitled "Hallway Math Conferences". He's seen wearing his trademark striped blue shirt. he Day After an Abbott & Costello Marathon. He was first named in comic (ref needed). Ken is more the sarcastic one, making Mike the straight man at times. It is revealed that he is dating Michele Roberts Wayne in (ref needed), and the two are married in (ref needed). |
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Anne Moore first appeared in Comic #010: Natural Hair Color, subtitled "Hallway Math Conferences". She was first named in comic (ref needed). While the author was hesitant to use a punny name, like "Annie Graham" or "Annie Where", Annie Moore was actually the name of the first woman to pass through Ellis Island. Annie is thin and shrank in height after her initial appearances. Annie is dating science teacher Scott Montgomery. |
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Barbara Graham first appeared in Comic #010: Natural Hair Color, subtitled "Hallway Math Conferences". She was originally the shorter of the two female math teachers and possibly based on a non-math teacher in real life (no reference available). Her first name was mentioned in (reference needed).
Her last name was given in (reference needed). She was named for fellow teacher, twitter friend, and all-around nice person Kory Graham, who also once bought me gelato at a difficult time. While Kory is blonde, I really wanted to avoid having a math teacher named "Annie Graham", so it became Barbara's surname instead. |
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Mary Michele Roberts Wayne first appeared in Comic #035: Another Hallway Conference. Originally a throwaway character, it wasn't even established that she was an English teacher until (reference needed), when her given name was revealed. Suddenly, she was dating Ken, and she pole-vaulted over the other teachers into the number 3 position. Michele is spelled only one L, which could be because it wwas a nice variation, or because she is named for someone, but in reality, it's because two L's didn't fit. Seriously.
It is revealed that Michele's first name is actually Mary in (reference needed). Her last name is stated in (reference needed). Finally, she married Ken Wayne in (reference needed). |
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Judy ??? first appeared in Comic #035: Another Hallway Conference. Originally a throwaway character, she was later established to be an English teacher (reference needed) like her colleague and best friend, Michele. Judy is dating Chuck, and they are engaged to be married. |
Students
Can teachers be teachers without students? The perplexing question early on was how to draw them. And what age are they supposed to be. It would seem that the majority of students shown are likely continual high school freshmen, or possibly sophomores. Others seem like they might be middle schoolers. Few seem to be almost-adults.
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The first batch appeared in Comic #006: The Day After an Abbott & Costello Marathon. The redhead would grew up (breaking the "time stasis") and become Michele Roberts Wayne's student teacher. The brunette was the only one with a name, referred to as "Miss Bradley", and was later referred to as an English major (Comic #026). She was the original choice for the student teacher character, but the "mini me" (another redhead) was too good to pass up. |
Misc. People
There are other people appearing on screen. Some of them may have been meant for story lines that never happened. Some may have been one-shots that sparked more appearances.
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Chuck ??? first appeared in Comic #037: Leap Day. His name was first mention in (reference needed). It was established that he was dating Judy in (reference needed).
While never mentioned directly, Chuck works as a computer programmer, and as such, was meant to be a throwback to the author's younger years and previous occupation. The office comedy and cubicle jokes, for which some material was written, never appeared. I don't know if it was because I was afraid of going down a Dilbert hole, or because that life just got farther away. |
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Uncle Frank ??? first appeared in Comic #037: Leap Day, where he was mentioned by name. He was 40 at the time, but looked (and felt) much older. He is a computer programmer and shares a cubicle with Chuck, although this has never been shown.
Frank is a drinking buddy with Pete, and the two frequent an unnamed pub occasionally. Frank's unnamed nephew is shown in (reference needed). The nephew may or may not be related to the Keegans, as he appeared at the family Thanksgiving dinner (reference needed), but that may have been part of a tryptophan-induced dream. The dream implies that Frank has at least one niece as well. Another possible niece is a "wounded warrior", who is missing a leg (reference needed). |
Shapes
The most famous (or infamous) of the Geometric shapes was the one who really ushered them in as a new branch of the comic. While some characters were just random squares or triangles, others were full-fledged characters.
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Trigonometry Jones started almost by accident. I had a joke about getting lost and having to be a "right" triangle. Then I added the hat, and Trigonometry Jones was born. Jones is called "Trigger" for short. He was accidentally called "Triggy" in the second series, so that stuck for those three strips. Trigger goes on adventures with the assistance of Karen Sosceles and Allen Scalene, who is also a pilot. (There's a joke in there.) Those names haven't been mentioned "on-screen" yet.
First appearance, Comic #021: Trigonometry Jones and the Lost Compass, which became the first of three parts. |
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