''It's Geek 2 Me'' is a tech

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

about people and their off-center relationships with technology created by

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

-based

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary an ...

, Francis Cleetus. He was inspired to draw the very first cartoon by a frantic intern who rushed into his office and asked where the any key was on a computer keyboard. The cartoon evolved into a series when Cleetus worked as a

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

at J. Walter Thompson, Hong Kong on the

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

brand. Cleetus chose Pittsburgh as the location for the cartoon's imaginary setting 'Paradox Software Corporation' because it has a large tech community, over 1,600 tech-based companies and the

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, which is ranked among the top five engineering colleges in the country by the U.S. News & World Report. The first compilation of ''It's Geek 2 Me'' cartoons was

self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

by the author in 2012 as a

paperback A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, le ...

titled ''Wish Your Mouth Had A Backspace Key'' in the United States via

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econom ...

. In 2013, a second compilation titled ''Total Timepass Tech Toons'' was published by

Hachette India Hachette India is the Indian arm of the publishing company Hachette, which is owned by the French group, Lagardère Publishing. It started operations in India in 2008, and is currently the second-largest publishing house in the country, behin ...

for the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...

Characters

The diverse and colorful characters who star in the cartoon were inspired by real people that Cleetus worked with during his professional stints in India, Hong Kong and the US. Loginder Singh: Lanky Sikh from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, Canada, currently lives in a badly-lit cubicle at work. Talented

Systems Analyst A systems analyst, also known as business technology analyst, is an information technology (IT) professional who specializes in analyzing, designing and implementing information systems. Systems analysts assess the suitability of information syst ...

who's occasionally fixated with

complexity Complexity characterises the behaviour of a system or model whose components interact in multiple ways and follow local rules, leading to nonlinearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. The term is generally used to c ...

. Enjoys flaunting his collection of designer turbans and matching sweatshirts. Eligible bachelor who’s fond of exotic wines and nightly hacking binges. He’s been in an on-and-off relationship with his coworker Emily for three years. Emily Facebrook: Charming Office Manager who was the captain of the

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ent ...

team at her high school in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, TN. She speaks with a soft Southern drawl that is almost as drawn out as her daily to-do list. Never forgets to send herself a stuffed animal on Administrative Professionals' Day. Her love life is a

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides ar ...

where the brakes wore out years ago. She just loves Loginder’s Indo-Canadian accent. Bill Googli: Flamboyant

Marketing Director A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, or chief brand officer, is a corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. Whilst historically these titles may ...

of Paradox Software, known for his chic business wardrobe. Born and raised in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Food network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

for his Creole

Margaritas A margarita is a cocktail consisting of Tequila, triple sec, and lime juice often served with salt on the rim of the glass. The drink is served shaken with ice (on the rocks), blended with ice (frozen margarita), or without ice (straight up). ...

. Designs and builds robotic reptiles to impress coworker Mona. Spam Murphy: Cheap Executive Officer as well as Chairman of Paradox Software. He fondly refers to his staff as 'humanware' and treats them like secondhand hardware. He's a seasoned

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

born

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

ist whose capital flow dried up along with his

libido Libido (; colloquial: sex drive) is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity. Libido is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. Biologically, the sex hormones and associated neurotransmitters that act ...

. He’s also a founding board member of the dubious

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

based wildlife charity, the James E. Williamson Iguana Fund. Linux Cooper: The company's Top Bean Counter or CFO who's dedicated to reducing payroll while increasing his annual bonus. Joined the company as an independent

financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional, undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. The role may specifically be titled securities analyst, research analyst, equity analyst, investment analyst, o ...

and gnawed his way in. A CPA (Compulsive Puzzle Addict), he holds a master's degree in the history of tavern puzzles. The

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against mark ...

has investigated him since he owned a pawnshop as a teen in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

. Mona Dos: Quality Assurance Director and unofficial water-cooler gossip chief at Paradox Software. She’s a divorced single mother of a 10-year-old named Rio who likes to hang around her office on weekends. Is passionate about her son and the blood-red

tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in war ...

s in her backyard. She moved to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, TX, from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, India, after a grand but ill-fated marriage to her school sweetheart, a

narcissistic Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others. Narcissism exists on a co ...

urologist Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...

. Icon Murphy: Spam Murphy's son, New Business Director and

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the throne at Paradox Software. Holds a PhD on the hazards of

texting Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/ laptops, or another type of compatible compu ...

with ancient Greek symbols while driving, from the University of Cyprus. He’s fluent in six languages including

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

and

Prolog Prolog is a logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics. Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is intended primarily a ...

. Likes to spend weekends taking his single-engine

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturi ...

for a spin. Hopes to turn Paradox into a Fortune 500 company. Ram Patel: Father figure to all IT professionals of foreign origin at Paradox Software. Sports a bristly white beard to compensate for the lack of hair on top. Mastered technology when a

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tech ...

filled an entire room. He heads the Maintenance Division at the company and the ‘Courtesy Flush’

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

team in the suburb where he lives with his art museum

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

wife and Dalmatian Coco. Irfan Linkudin: Vice President - Tech Support at Paradox Software and technically head of the division. Technically, because nobody reports to him. He grew up in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey, and moved to

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

in the 1960s. His wife of 16 years left him after the dotcom company he founded went bust in 2002. He can single-handedly reassemble the V-turn engine of his

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

bike from scratch in under 30 minutes. Cad Myers: Corporate Security Director in charge of real and virtual security at Paradox Software. A former Major of the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

's Field Intelligence Unit, he’s experienced in Hacker Interception and Electrocution. Lost his left pinky on active duty as an

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way a ...

during Operation Desert Com in 2001. He oversaw the implementation and management of all the security at the gold mines on

Mindanao Island Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of t ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Benny Lan: Sr.

Programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

who picked up his cackle,

chopsticks Chopsticks ( or ; Pinyin: ''kuaizi'' or ''zhu'') are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks of Chinese origin that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most of East and Southeast Asia for over three millennia. They are held in the domi ...

and

COBOL COBOL (; an acronym for "common business-oriented language") is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily ...

at a tender age in

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to the south. The area nort ...

, Hong Kong. Has a wry sense of humor that's reflected in the random bug he leaves behind in software. He can survive for months on a staple diet of

Chinese takeout A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves a Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in the Cantonese style, due to the history of the Chinese diaspora and adapted to local taste preferences, as in the American Chinese cuisine and Ca ...

, Japanese toys and American music. Received a complimentary life membership from Workaholics Anonymous. Robert Cobolobo:

Human Resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include ...

Director, stationery watchdog, and annual holiday program organizer, all rolled into a small

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

frame. Found himself in the US after a nubile Texan student succumbed to his charms in Cancun, Mexico. He worked as a Floor-hand in an oil field until he got his MBA in HR Management and worked his way into the lofty corridors of corporate power at Paradox. Tweetsie Williams: Management Trainee who thrives on gadgets and technology. She likes to flaunt her master's degree from Virginia Tech and her tough upbringing in Brooklyn, NY. Is the only daughter of a Vietnam veteran who was awarded a Medal of Honor. Her paycheck’s disproportionate to her experience and is solely based on her future potential. She'd give anything, including her blinged out laptop, for a date with Icon. Rio Dos: Mona’s 10-year-old son and unpaid tech support guy to all new hires at Paradox Software. He currently holds 14 world records for Desert Commander and is two grades ahead of his classmates in every subject except

civics Civics is the study of the rights and obligations of citizens in society. The term derives from the Latin word ''civicus'', meaning "relating to a citizen". The term relates to behavior affecting other citizens, particularly in the context of ...

. In addition to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

and

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

, he’s also fluent in colloquial

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

, thanks to the bi-weekly dose of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

films his mom rents from the local Indian grocery store.

Compilations

# ''Total Timepass Tech Toons'' (August 2013,

, ) # ''Wish Your Mouth Had a Backspace Key'' (October 2012,

, )

References

External links

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''youtube.com'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Its Geek 2 Me 2013 in comics Comics anthologies Computer humor Indian American Comic strips set in the United States American comics