I originally conceived of my comic strip character, Cosmo, in high school, but when I transferred to Southwest Texas State University (now simply known as Texas State University) my sophomore year of college, I decided to take the plunge and began working as a freelance cartoonist for the campus newspaper, the University Star (1995-1997). It was an amazing experience, and I worked with some incredible, supportive editors and colleagues who helped push and shape the strip into a much better example of what I envisioned.
After graduating, I briefly published a handful of strips in the Austin American-Statesman‘s weekly alternative, X.L. Ent, where it was featured among icons (and personal heroes) like Shannon Wheeler and his strip Too Much Coffee Man. Finally, the last period of the strip was during graduate school when I published the strip weekly in the local newspaper, the Denton Record-Chronicle (1998-2000).
The strip features the, let’s say “adventures” of the titular character, Cosmo, and his friends (nearly all of whom were based on my real friends). It is a product of its time, and my life in that period, as a sad-sack, alternative, wanna-be artist and hipster. Some of these strips are embarrassing today, while some still make me laugh. I would often throw anything I was readings or learning about into the strip, which makes it an interesting archive…albeit only to me.
Below are a series of strips from the last period of Cosmo. As I get time to find and scan the earlier strips and properly archive and organize them chronologically, I’ll update this portion of the site. Enjoy!…?
Cosmo Comics 