It began with a simple minded but goodhearted dog, Buford D. Shnozzlepuss, wanted to reduce the crime in Carroll County, Maryland, where I lived at the time. He enlisted the help of his canary roommate, Barry Canary, who unwilling went along with Shnoz’s superhero schemes as not to be outed that he could sing, and had to take wood shop in high school. Shnoz’s owner, Cyrano Debirdsrout, figured out Shnoz’s secret identity and took on the role of his manager. The other member of the household, Kipper Macaw, a retired Marine Corp Major, appointed himself as advisor, but more often than not did nothing more than offer sarcastic quips and simple insults as the chaos surrounding them.
During it’s run, the strip poked a great deal of fun at the George H. W. Bush administration, specifically Dan Quayle, who was portrayed as a little boy in a beanie cap playing a WWIII simulator on his Nintendo (and certainly lived up to the hype that he was no Jack Kennedy). Batdog came to discover he could not practice ‘superheroing’ without a license, so he went back to school at the local college to obtain said license. In the meantime, a rogue seagull and a mouse who flew on his back began, known as The Derelicts, began terrorizing the local mall. Bat dog was called in, but the local Sheriff was keeping a close eye on Batdog’s activities, hoping to catch him practicing without a license. Before Batdog could respond, Barry was kidnapped and an investigation was launched. Batdog sent Kipper on a mission to rescue Barry only to discover Snoopy and Woodstock were the perps as they felt threatened by the strip’s popularity. As Barry was freed, he was zapping by a bolt of lighting. Kipper then began to investigate that mystery. He discovered an experiment by Dr. Emmet Brown had gone awry, accidentally sending Barry into the future. The the help of Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s DeLorean, they bring Barry back from the future, along with a female companion (who would eventually become Lydia in the newer strips). Barry warns Shnoz not to help The Derelicts as the local Sheriff would catch him in the act and lock him up for good, which would mean the cancellation of the comic strip itself. Barry knows this because he’s seen the tombstone where the strip was laid to rest. There was no resource because Donald Trump was eventually elected president and found ways to stay in power longer than four years (yes, folks…I predicted that back in 1991. Who knew?)
The strips run ended as that plot was beginning to unfold. I eventually picked the strip back up in 2016 to begin taking jabs at various political figures, local and national. The 2016 election provided for much inspiration.
Then, in 2020, the CoVID-19 virus pretty much screwed us all. For the Corona Civil War arc, I’ve moved my cast to Summerville, South Carolina, where I now live. The plot was inspired from the constant uncivilized bickering back and fourth on various Facebook groups between the ‘never-leave-the-house’ fanatics, and the rest of us who don’t care for the governments, local or otherwise, stripping away our civil liberties as they really do not have the power to do so.
Be forewarned, though, the scans are pretty lousy. The comics need better cleaning, and my scanner is over twenty years old. I’ll digitally clean them up, eventually. Perhaps I’ll even scan in the original strip’s run at some point down the road. Until then, I give you, The Corona Civil War.
