Filibuster Cartoons
Though Filibuster’s not the kind of comic that can have a lot of fun with things like continuity, characters, and callbacks (in other words, I don’t expect there will ever be a Filibuster TV Tropes page), I’ve nevertheless been able to cram my fair share of in-jokes, Easter eggs, and subtleties into the strip over the years.
The beaver
The bug-eyed beaver thing, whom I frequently use to personify Canada in the comic, has a name, though I rarely mention it: it’s Little Beaver Friend. His first appearance, as I mention in the annotations, came in this 2004 comic, where I created him basically as a one-time prop for Paul Martin to talk to. As time went on, he evolved into a more full-bodied creature, whose somewhat grotesque design I purposely based on this horrifying Sprite commercial from the mid 1990s.
In Canada, it’s very common for editorial cartoonists to personify Canada as a beaver, in the same way American cartoonists always personify their country as Uncle Sam. I do think of the Little Beaver Friend as having a somewhat more defined personality, though. I always try to portray him as being fairly naive, yet also world-weary and bitter; a perspective I think is common among many Canadians — including me.
Toques
“Toque” is a French-Canadian term that’s commonly used to describe a particular sort of knitted wool hat, usually with the rim slightly rolled up. In America, I understand they’re usually called “beanies,” though I think of that term as describing something more akin to what the Pope wears.
For some reason, I’ve come to associate toques with left-wing people, and in my comic I usually use them as a shorthand symbol for someone whose progressive politics are excessively flaky or unreasonable. Like many things, I think the quirk stems from my university days, where I noticed a propensity for people with far-left views to always dress as if a snowstorm was just around the corner.
Generic people
When your comic features so many real-world personalities, it can be somewhat visually distracting if your generic, background characters lack equally interesting faces. For this reason, I tend to make a lot of the generic characters in my comics caricatures of people I know — usually friends, but not always.
Past cartoons have featured co-workers, classmates, family members, and even readers. It’s nothing personal, though. Sometimes the cartoon personality matches up with the real-world one, other times I literally just need a place-filler, and the person I’m depicting just has a face or look that “works” in the visual context of that particular strip.
Video games
I’m not very good at video games, nor am I particularly obsessed with owning or playing them. I’ve retained a strong interest in them all the same, however, mostly just because I like a lot of their themes and visuals, which are quite unlike anything you find in traditional comics or animation.
A few of my comics rely on video game analogies to make their point, such as this one or this one. Many more contain subtler references, mostly in the form of generic characters, props, or other background fluff, that calls out some game or franchise I’m fond of.
Two recent examples: This comic is full of references to Earthbound while this one is full of call-outs from the Legend of Zelda.
Me
Like most vain artists, I’ll take any excuse to cram my own visage into one of my comics. Though it can be a little on-the-nose to simply depict myself mouthing off, I like sticking myself in comics involving issues I feel particularly passionate about, or where I believe my own views on an issue are too far-fetched to put in someone else’s mouth.
Any caricaturist can tell you that self-portraits are quite difficult, simply because a large component of effective caricature is detachment from the subject, which allows for a greater critical analysis of the face. My self-depictions aren’t terribly accurate as a result, and I use the big pointy nose mostly as an abstract identifier, just so it’s clear who this guy is supposed to be. Of course, things aren’t much easier by the fact that I change my hair and facial hair a lot.
