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Lanham cartoonist goes national

‘Watch Your Head,’ Cory Thomas’ comic strip, wins syndication

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006

Lanham resident Cory Thomas started drawing when he was 3 years old in an effort to keep him occupied during church. More than 25 years later, Thomas has watched his drawing reach national status with the syndication of his comic strip ‘‘Watch Your Head.”

‘‘I used to do the strip for fun, and then I put together my best stuff and sent it out to different syndicates,” said Thomas, 31. ‘‘I got a ton of rejections before the Washington Post Writer’s Group [picked me up and launched the strip on March 27.] They worked with me and helped me develop my characters and strengthen my storytelling. It’s really hard to get picked up by a syndicate, and I expected to fail totally. When I got accepted by them, I was excited.”

‘‘Watch Your Head” is loosely based on Thomas’ experiences at Howard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in Mechanical Engineering in 2002. Originally from Trinidad, Thomas was taught that landing a good job meant becoming a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

‘‘A majority of cartoonists need a day job, too. You have to make sure you have a safety net,” said Thomas, who is presently a full-time graduate student.

Thomas placed his characters in a university setting to ensure a good mix of people from different backgrounds. The characters of ‘‘Watch Your Head” attend Oliver Otis University, a fictitious, historically black university.

The main character, Cory, is based loosely on Thomas’ experiences as a freshman at Howard.

‘‘The main character is me making fun of myself and the way I used to be as a teen,” Thomas said. ‘‘He is socially awkward and a loser with girls. He is meeting all these different people and trying to find his way. I want to continue to tell his story and show him gradually growing.”

Thomas has heard comparisons between his strip and ‘‘The Boondocks,” a nationally syndicated strip created by University of Maryland, College Park alumnus Aaron McGruder. ‘‘The Boondocks,” which appeared in The Washington Post and other newspapers across the U.S., took a six-month hiatus in March. Its syndicate has said there's no definite date for the strip's return.

‘‘People automatically see black faces [in a comic strip] and compare it to The Boondocks, even though they aren’t alike,” Thomas said. ‘‘That says to me people aren’t really reading it. It’s a lazy comparison because they are two totally different strips in their content and humor. I’m not bothered by it, but it can do more harm than good sometimes.”

‘‘Watch Your Head” has a unique sense of humor. The fact that it is based on college with mainly black characters makes it different from other comic strips out there, Thomas said.

‘‘I want to tell serious stories in a funny way. I want people to see themselves or people they know in the characters,” Thomas said. ‘‘My job is to be funny. If I don’t do that, I’m failing in my mind.”

Thomas advises future cartoonists to continue practicing to improve their craft.

‘‘Watch Your Head” runs in 20 newspapers. The strip does not run in The Washington Post.

For more information on Thomas or ‘‘Watch Your Head” visit www.planetcory.com.

E-mail Brooke N. Garner at bgarner@gazette.net.