Everyone is starting new comic strips in the Daily Campus (UConn's newspaper). My roommate, Steve, started this new trend last year with "Slick Slack," and quickly inspired a myriad of our friends and acquaintances to try their hand at drawing comics for our relatively talentless newspaper.

Steve, along with Ben from Precious Roy, developed this hilariously un-funny comic called "Phil." I thought it was great. There were no punch lines, but the formula for each comic, while predictable, made the lack of punch lines absolutely hilarious. The lack of out-right humor was like a punch line in and of itself. But while I rolled around laughing at "Phil," Steve was concerned his audience of college students hooked on jokes about smoking weed and chugging beers might not appreciate his subtle humor. So in the summer before "Phil" debuted, Steve made a prediction to me while sitting and drawing in our dirty, musty, moldy apartment:

"Half of the people on this campus are gonna love it. The other half won't get it, and they'll absolutely hate it."

Well.....he was almost half right. I'm pretty sure less than half of the students on this campus understand what "Phil" is all about. I'm not even sure I do. Either way, I appreciate who Phil is and how he is different from everything else. Steve went out on a limb and developed a comic that had almost nothing to do with college. And now he has been awarded the job of Comics Editor at the Daily Campus.

In a combination of coincidence and consequence, many of my closest friends have jumped on the comic strip bandwagon. Sean Rose, our temporary one-month roommate and a member of Wilhelm Sketch Comedy, apparently has a comic in the works. I have yet to see it. Jake Lucas, a good friend from the Agents of Improv, has come up with a really unique style and a few hilarious characters (I will eventually be featured as Prof. Jena von Wolfengeist...hold onto your pants) in his comic, "Dave's Adventures in College." Big Steve, our neighbor and another member of Wilhelm, has also created "Awkard Turtle" for the Spring '08 newspaper. Finally, there's Anthony, who may or may not have started dating me in order to get closer to Steve and ensure "Jazz Com Boz" a spot on the Spring '08 comic roster. My Photoshop skills couldn't have hurt either.

All of these new events make me wonder: do I have what it takes to write a comic? Sure, I can draw simple stuff. Yea, I have my funny moments. But I think I've had a realization over the past few months. I like being on the fringe. I like being on the outside, just close enough to have my toes in the door. While I might not get all the fame, I don't have to do all the work, and I don't have to suffer the bad publicity.

I like being an auxiliary member of Wilhelm--I'm the resident, go-to broad. I don't have to be funny on my own. I get to be funny when they tell me to. I like giving Steve, Jake, and Anthony feedback and ideas for comics. These guys all have their own individual sense of what comedy is and what it should be, and I love that I'm a resource for them to bounce ideas off of. While they may disagree with each other, they respect each other. Bottom line, they all have their own reverence for comedy.

I don't feel like I'm ready to make a comic strip. I don't feel like I'm ready to write sketches. I don't feel like I have the skills or the passion to do any of it. But I like being really, really close to the action. And it feels like every where I turn, there's someone around me creating something great.

It's a really inspiring feeling.