Dear Roger Yamada and Stephen Huang,
As much as the student body truly adores "Overholser" and "Survival of the Fittest," it's time to seek inspiration from one of your predecessors, "Mitch in Wonderland." Matt Gidney, Trinity '97, was the man behind the sass, and by the time he hightailed it out of here, he compiled a book that 1,200 people willingly shelled money out for. (Can either of you two, without the aid of some pretty potent blow, say that?) Recently, Gidney launched an excellent website featuring new comic strips dealing with life in the big city. Do yourself a favor gentlemen, when you're done taking notes on this interview, check it out at www.MitchInWonderland.com. You might learn something and The Chronicle's funnies page might benefit from it.
Sincerely,
Greg Veis
Recess: On your website, you apologize for being another "media entity centered around a group of 20-somethings and their capers in New York." What differentiates your strip from similar "entities" out there?
Matt Gidney: What I do is a little edgier than your average episode of Friends. I'm bringing it to a higher level of edginess and truth. And being a comic strip, it's a different medium, so I can do different things with it.
Why did you decide to put the time into creating a website for your comics?
One of the big problems with comics, and why we don't read them, is that people our age don't read the daily newspaper much anymore. We don't read the funnies. For that reason, they don't publish comics for us.
I'm actually trying to change the syndication model onto the web - where you and I check our news. It's like building your own daily paper when you log on to your computer in the morning: You check the news site, the sports site and, hopefully, you'll check out my site.
Has it been difficult writing for a broader audience than just Duke students?
It hasn't been that hard yet. At Duke it was great because you had this enclosed environment. I began pretty much when Nan took over, and there was the transition from it being a free-for-all with kegs every night to it being a more regulated environment. The amount of fodder I had was tremendous - I used to draw Nan having lunch meetings with Castro. But as long as you have a designated target, it's no problem.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.