Sheldon (webcomic)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheldon is a member of BLC

Sheldon
Author(s)	Dave Kellett
Website	http://www.sheldoncomics.com/
Current status	Daily
Launch date	June 21, 1999

Sheldon is a daily webcomic created by Dave Kellett. The strip centers on Sheldon, a 10-year old boy who became a billionaire when he created a piece of successful software. An orphan, Sheldon lives with his dim-witted grandfather and his pet duck, Arthur.

Formerly carried by United Features Syndicate, the strip is currently independent, associated with Blank Label Comics.

1 Strip History
2 Characters
3 Books / Book Reviews
4 Media Appearances
5 External links

[edit] Strip History

The character Sheldon first appeared in a minor role in Kellett's college comic strip Four Food Groups of the Apocalypse, which ran in University of Notre Dame's student newspaper The Observer from 1993 to 1996. Kellett later gave him his own strip in 1998 as a webcomic, which ran on djk3.ac.uk first, then davekellett.com, and then moved to the Keenspot-hosted sheldoncomics.com in 2000. In 2001, United Features Syndicate picked the strip up for online syndication and the strip moved to comics.com on December 17, 2001. Since this move meant having all-new readers, the strip was retconned with revised versions of Keenspot comics.

The strip originally ran Monday through Friday. After the move from Keenspot to comics.com, the strip ran Monday to Saturday, until late 2004, when a Sunday feature was added.

In June 22, 2005, Sheldon also joined Blank Label Comics, an online co-op of nine cartoonists.

On November 6, 2006, Kellet moved the strip on an independently hosted sheldoncomics.com where it runs seven days a week. According to blog entry from Nov. 11, 2006, the new site logged 2.5 million pageviews in the first five days of operation.

[edit] Characters

Sheldon: is a ten-year-old kid who earned billions with his own software company: Sheldonsoft. Though his huge riches occasionally tempt him into buying something frivolous like, say, Panama, Sheldon remains pretty much a normal kid.

Gramp: Sheldon is raised by his grandfather, Gramp, a warm-hearted guy who's not quite sure what to make of his grandson's billions. Now retired, Gramp tries to keep up with the modern world, only to find that the main challenge of his golden years is fitting into his slacks.

Arthur: the Wonder Duck learned to talk when Sheldon downloaded some speech-recognition software into his head. He's been trouble ever since. Sarcastic and cocky, Arthur's constantly getting into trouble at home and at the Sheldonsoft offices. Unlike Sheldon, he's captivated with the Sheldonsoft billions, and constantly has visions of shopping sprees at The Sharper Image. Some of Arthur's alter-egos include "The Duck", a superhero, and "Rex Chestington", a pug-riding cowboy. In daily life, Arthur is often found sitting on lampshades for no other reason than to keep his ducky behind warm. It is known throughout the strip that Arthur, for some reason, has a deep-hatred for chickens.

Flaco: Thinking he was hatching an abandoned duck egg, Arthur became father to Flaco, a common North American lizard. Most storylines have him playing second-fiddle to his duck "father", but in one extended plotline, he became a Hollywood producer for "CSI". Flaco doesn't speak, aside from his characteristic "squee" sound.

Oso: is Sheldon's pet pug, a whirlwind of energy.

Dante: is one of Shedon's human friends, an aspiring artist. Seen extensively in the earlier days of the strip, Dante now only makes occasional appearances. Enjoys hanging out with Sheldon and doing regular-10 year-old-kid stuff. (as much as that's possible when your best friend is one of the biggest, most successful nerds on the planet) The two have done everything from making sandcastles to playing superheroes and villains to re-enacting the British battle with the Spanish Armada. Dante's the friend every 10-year-old supergenius needs.