Social Studies

Social Studies is loaded with a cast of unique characters. Almost all the characters are comprised of pieces of the comic’s creators. Who we were at that age. How we saw ourselves, who we wanted to be. We wanted to show all aspects of the (our) high school experience for our readers to relate to.

In those days everything felt so big. So monumental. So final. Some characters feel all that and more. Some of our characters exhibit the more care free sides we really only showed to each other. The care free nature of a teenager, sometimes the ‘nothing is important’ attitude catches up with you. Other characters are representations of people and experiences who changed our lives. Mixed up, boiled down, built up through memory, and brought back to life on the page.

Some of the scenarios in these brightly colored energetic pages are very true to life. Others are warped perceptions based on the flawed human memory overtime. Others still are complete fabrications that help with the narrative, fulfill childhood wishes, or add to the drama of our characters.

While the characters were born from us they have taken on lives, personalities, and traits of their own. The more fabricated story lines and reactions are a result of that.

We thank you for taking this journey with us and hope we’ve captured some of your experiences as well.

Turner’s outgoing, carefree, and fun loving. His carefree attitude helped him develop the ability to let childhood bullying roll off without doing much damage. He learned to laugh at the harder things in life. A skill that serves him well, navigating the social snake pit of high school. He’ll do anything for his friends, in his own way.

Turner’s carefree attitude definitely serves him socially. Unfortunately his lack of caring when it comes to education, work, or further ambitions starts to catch up with him. He hides behind a wall of jokes and snark but feels empty without his friends serving as an audience.

When Turner was first conceived he was the carefree and fun version of the creator’s. He was basically the version of themselves they wanted to be. Turner got all the best jokes and was always the fun one.

As we dove deeper into Turner for the version of the stories you see now we realized how deep the character went. Looking back at ourselves now that we have moved on we could give a more honest approach to what was simply the group’s clown. Turner has become a much deeper and more complex character we love writing for. We’re also happy he’s retained his goofy side and is still a go to for some light hearted story beats.

Roy’s the unofficial leader of the group. He’s a year older than most of them, and first to get his license. That counts for a lot growing up in the suburbs.

Despite broadcasting an attitude of being too cool to care Roy is desperate to climb the social hierarchy. Starting high school a year in front of his best friends Roy tried to mold himself into what he thought would make him popular. These choices leave Roy with a foot in two worlds. The worlds don’t get along. Roy has to look inside himself and be honest about more than one choice he’s made to figure out who he really wants to be.

All of the characters are amalgamations of the creators at that age. Roy was the cool one. The one we wanted to be, but weren’t. Large parts of Roy are influenced by others, traits we looked up to but never thought we had. Roy’s no nonsense attitude and his violent nature is also lifted from real life experiences.

Roy was one of the original three. In his earliest incarnations he always had a backwards hat and sunglasses. He was a skater/surfer since the three lived in Hawaii. We were fourteen, it was surface level wish fulfillment.

Len follows the rules, always second guesses himself, and tries to stay out of trouble. Of course, in High School, that means trouble finds him. After growing apart from his childhood friends he enters the strange new world of High School alone and unprepared.

Len falls into a new group of friends who have a much looser attitude about rolling with things and how to handle life’s new challenges. These friends may get him into trouble and embarrass him at times, but they could also be what he needs.

All of the characters are amalgamations of the comics creator’s at that age. Len’s made up of the shy and insecure parts of the creators. Always unsure about himself. Always looking over his shoulder. Nearly hopeless when it comes to dating. Always afraid of getting in trouble.

We worked hard to be very honest with Len. Exposing our weaknesses and showing our hearts. We put Len through a lot but it’s all for his own good. Len’s a great example of us telling our younger selves what we wish we’d known. We also rewrite history a bit and give the kid a win from time to time.

Iris has been a part of the group since there was a group to be part of. She met Roy and Turner at a young age when her family moved in next door to Roy’s. Iris started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at eleven. This let her develop more self awareness, strength, and level headedness than her friends. Because of her even temperament she often ends up being the voice of reason in the group. This can be odd since Iris is also a bit gullible and believes in some of the more bizarre conspiracy theories out there.

The Campbell’s and the Kennedy’s became close friends. Roy and Iris got to spend a lot of time together as they grew up. Simultaneously they began to develop feelings for each other as they got older. Their parents had a falling out and the two no longer saw each other outside of school. Their friendship never faltered but anything further was stunted by the upset in each of their house holds.

When we were fourteen years old and creating this comic, Iris was brought in as ‘the girlfriend.’ She didn’t have any specific personality except she was a cool girl. She was just as into pop culture, ska, and video games as the other three characters. An embarrassing admission but she was created by two fourteen year old guys who were scared to talk to girls and wished a girl like Iris would hang out with them.

After gaining some life experience we kept the core of Iris, cause that’s all she really was, and started writing her honestly. We didn’t write her as a female character that needed to be up to a twenty-first century standards or have any other agenda’s behind her. We wrote her like we try and write the rest of the group. Honestly, evenly, and as a real person. Iris has really come into her own as the scripts pile up and we are happy with her growth.

Wesley’s that one friend we all have that truly doesn’t care what others think. Wild, unabashed, loud, and fun. That little voice that gives social cues or self censors has never existed for Wesley. He’s a polarizing kid. You either love the guy or can’t stand to be near him.

Wesley loves the idea of being a Punk. He’s all in on the music, style, and the free spirirt of it. All through the lens of a well off kid from the suburbs. Wesley isn’t any sort of revolutionary. He just wants to have a good time. He’s pop culture obsessed and has a hard time separating fiction from reality.

Wesley was a late addition to the crew.

Vicky doesn’t feel like she fits in with the rest of the gang. She isn’t sure she wants to. Vicky wants to climb the social heirarchy that a massive high school has to offer. Since her freshman orientation everything she’s done has been to increase her popularity and social standing. She see’s herself as a brand. High school and the viscous world of social media are her platforms. Vicky’s feelings on what’s important stem primarily from her older sister.

Vicky feels like she knows what she wants. She may not be ready to grow up so fast though. Sometimes she just needs to be a fifteen year old and hang out with her comfortable group of friends. She finds them childish at times but they are not without their charm. Despite butting heads a lot they also pull together when it counts.

Morgan is a junior when our story starts. She met Iris the year previous in a mentoring program the high school set up with the middle school. The group looks up to her as an authority on most things. Partly because her age and partly because they all think she’s just awesome. Morgan loves and lives for music. Working at the local (dying) music and pop culture store she’s the pathway to new music, and local bands.

Morgan is aware of Len’s never-ending crush on her. She finds it flattering. Unfortunately for Len when Morgan’s feeling low she uses Len as a pick me up for her self esteem. Morgan typically has bad taste in guys. When we meet her she’s dating an older guy named Paul. Len wants to hate Paul but they get along too well. The group starts at odds with Paul, their own fault, to thinking he’s awesome… that may not last.

Morgan was a late addition to the comic when Adam got involved in 1999. Mike had been drawing the character for some years. She was his version of a couple other cartoon characters he liked at the time. Her name wasn’t originally Morgan, that was a new addition in 1999 as well as an update to her style.