Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508230011
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS PAGE: WS-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"People are constantly claiming they see themselves in the cartoon," says Grant Corley, a Virginia Tech senior and author of the "Freshman 15," a strip featured in the Collegiate Times newspaper.
His girlfriend thinks a sluggish dog named "Apocalypse" is modeled after her own canine. A Star Trek enthusiast thought one character was modeled after him.
It might be because Corley's attempt to tap into the Zeitgeist of Tech in the '90s strikes close to home. Corley, 21, arrived in Blacksburg to take up residence in the notorious Pritchard Hall in the fall of '91, fresh from his home in Columbia, Md., near Baltimore.
Corley aspired to be a cartoonist from the start, but bided his time, refining his art and collecting story lines. He came up with the strip's name from a phrase people used to describe the weight he would gain from starchy dining-hall food.
The communications and liberal arts double major managed to stockpile nearly a year's worth of ideas and cartoons by the time he approached the college newspaper with his strip. His strip initially focused on the staples of college life: registering for classes; run-ins with weird professors; dating; falling out of lofts; poking fun at liberal arts.
Later, Corley added stock characters such as "Batstudent," a spoof superhero. Star Trek fans are also staples. "I do a lot about Star Trek nerds - actually I'm one myself - but there are so many on a college campus," Corley says.
He knows the chances of selling a commercial strip are slim. He'll try that, but would more realistically like to get into commercial animation work.
For now, he's able\ to take satisfaction in knowing that he strikes a chord with at least some people. "Friends constantly tell me they hear people talking about the strip."
by CNB