I have always been a fan of the comix section of the newspaper... saving them for last during breakfast. As junior high computer/yearbook teacher, I was 'given' a journalism class. I decided to start a monthly newspaper called the "Roadrunner Beeper"... 'roadrunner' being our mascot... with a comic strip. "Keep it simple," I thought at the time. So in the fall of '02, Shaxper was born... simple to draw with line, circle and polygon drawing tools on the computer.
In the fall of 2003, I introduced Shades, a character with more physical dimension... with the arms, legs and body having both length and width. I also added hands, feet, a mouth and some eyebrows... and 'shades' for an element of cool.
----
Retro made his appearance in the fall of 2004. The physical antithesis of Shades... who always wore shades and, hence, we never got to see his eyes. Retro was plump and wore a shirt a few sizes too small, had hair but no eyebrows... and no hands or feet. Ah, but most important, Retro was a time traveler. I was intrigued with the idea, but students never really grasped the concept of being able to tap into the space time continuum to travel to the past or future.
----
By popular demand, Shades returned in the fall of 2005 and remains the character of choice (at least through the '11/'12 school year). Shades would go on to make appearances in more comix strips, as well as being a prominent character endorsing the current theme of the school's yearbook.