prior to all of this …
I was neck-deep in DUCK-DRAMA!!!

in the mid-90’s....
after the intense defeat of trying to get
 “such is LIFE!”
syndicated in the mainstream press,
I was wallowing in the pile of rejections letters 
(not to mention…self pity!)
and I was taking it all very, very personally!!!
 
processing all of this with a very dear friend and colleague,
he (as in Roger) challenged me to bring
buckminster out of the closet
as an openly gay duck.......GASP!!!
 
I had every intention of bringing buckminster OUT of the closet
BUT ONLY
after he became popular in the mainstream press….
you could call it
“doing an Ellen"…before Ellen became Ellen!
 
not quite ready for this step, I remember saying to Roger…..
“ARE YOU NUTS!!!…
THEY ARE NEVER GOING TO SYNDICATE A GAY DUCK!!!”
to which Roger replied…
“THEY AREN’T SYNDICATING IT NOW"
…ouch!….ouch!!....ouch!!!...
"WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE???...
IT MAY JUST GIVE YOU THE EDGE IT NEEDS!”
 
still objecting…
I wasn’t budging on this issue until he called me...
HOMOPHOBIC!!!
ME!!!!….”mr OUT-there-in-your-face-gay-boy”…HOMOPHOBIC-???!!!???
 
mind you…Roger…is a straight married man… a raging republican
who listens to Rush Limbaugh…calling me HOMOPHOBIC!!!
 
needless to say my feathers were ruffled....
so I agreed to at least sleep on it,
in the midst of all my tossing and turning that night…I made the
BIG GAY DECISION 
knowing that once I made it,  there was never going back.
 OUTING BUCKMINSTER
quickly led me into another major re-design.
(i wasn't too thrilled about another re-design either!)

I took the time out to study one of my favorite cartoon strips
“MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM”
(by Mike Peters)
I admired his artistic style and quirky-twisted sense of humor,
(and still very much do!)

so study it I did....to learn how to capture mood, insight and humor 
with as few words as possible.
bringing this design element into my art along with a
faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabulous new buckminster
my strip soon found a new life and energy....
GAY LIFE AND ENERGY!!!
 
once finished and ready for my public, it was soon proposed to the
GAY AND LESBIAN TIMES
(a southern California weekly published in San Diego)
and it made its GAY-DEBUT at PRIDE in the July of ’94.
 
my debut duck-toon!

 
 
 published weekly....
“such is LIFE!”
(amongst some quandary about ducks = gay thing)
soon gathered attention and popularity in 
San Diego’s Gay Community.

with gay feathers flying in all directions....
buckminster also found himself in the midst of HIV Prevention
with a social marketing campaign called
"DON'T DUCK RESPONSIBILITY!"