Randal Keith Milholland (born November 25, 1975), better known as R. K. Milholland, is an American

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

author. His works include ''

Something Positive Randal Keith Milholland (born November 25, 1975), better known as R. K. Milholland, is an American webcomic author. His works include ''#Something Positive, Something Positive'', ''#New Gold Dreams, New Gold Dreams'', ''Midnight Macabre'', ''Clas ...

'', ''

New Gold Dreams Randal Keith Milholland (born November 25, 1975), better known as R. K. Milholland, is an American webcomic author. His works include ''Something Positive'', '' New Gold Dreams'', ''Midnight Macabre'', ''Classically Positive'' and ''Super Stupor' ...

'', ''Midnight Macabre'', ''Classically Positive'' and ''Super Stupor''. In 2022, he took over as author of the Sunday edition of the Popeye syndicated comic strip.

History

Raised in

Bedford, Texas Bedford is a city located in northeast Tarrant County, Texas, in the "Mid-Cities" area between Dallas and Fort Worth. It is a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. The population was 46,979 at the 2010 census. Bedford is part of the Hurst-Euless-Bedf ...

, Milholland attended Harwood Junior High and Trinity High School in neighboring

Euless, Texas Euless ( ) is a city in Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. Euless is part of the Mid-Cities region between Dallas and Fort Worth. In 2020 Census, the population of Euless was 61,032. The population of the ...

. During

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

he won several awards for his editorial cartoons. He went on to enroll in the

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

department at the University of North Texas where he spent four years. Milholland moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in the spring of 1999. He worked odd jobs, including stints at a dot com startup, scientific non-profit, medical billing and medical research companies. During this time he started the ''Something Positive''

, in response to a

criticism Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...

from his friend, voice actress Clarine Harp, that he should "do something positive" with his life. The protagonist in this comic, Davan, is loosely based on Milholland and the stories are often inspired by real life experiences. Davan's best friend Aubrey Chorde is based on Harp. In June 2004, faced with increasing complaints about his lateness in updating the comic, Milholland challenged his readership to donate enough money to pay for a year of his salary so that he could quit his job and become a full-time cartoonist. To his surprise, this amount was reached and surpassed in less than a month, making Milholland one of the successful pioneers of micropatronage. Since then, his webcomic has expanded into many realms of merchandising. Milholland has relocated to Texas and travels the con circuit frequently. He also sometimes performs in

community theater Community theatre refers to any theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community. It may refer to a production that is made entirely by a community with no outside hel ...

, especially children's theater. In 2017, he moved to Georgia. In 2019, he moved back to Texas following the signing of

Georgia House Bill 481 The Georgia House Bill 481 was an American anti-abortion law passed in 2019 that sought to prevent physicians in the U.S. state of Georgia from performing abortions beyond six weeks, except in special situations. The bill was strongly criticized ...

, a so-called "fetal heartbeat bill", into law.

Comics

''Something Positive''

''Something Positive'' started its run on December 19, 2001. , it is still being actively updated.

''Something Positive 1937''

Starting on September 7, 2007, Milholland launched a third spin-off from ''Something Positive,'' this one also taking place in the same continuity as the original but taking place many years earlier. ''Something Positive 1937'' follows the relationship of Fred's father Vester Macintire and his cousin Davan (Davan of ''S*Ps namesake, first mentioned in the comic's May 8, 2007 strip.) The comic is in black and white and for a time featured in a sidebar next to the original, with archives available on the same page as the original strip. Milholland has said in news posts he expects the story to last for a few years, and provided it with its own website on September 24, 2007. The strip stopped updating in 2008.

''Midnight Macabre''

''Midnight Macabre'' is another spin-off from ''Something Positive''. It features Gaspar Baugh, the father of ''Something Positive'' secondary character Lisa Baugh, as he attempts to resurrect a horror TV show presenting

Midnight movie The term midnight movie is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United States airing low-budget genre films as late-night programming, often with a host delivering ironic asides. As a cinematic ...

''New Gold Dreams''

''New Gold Dreams'' is a strip that spoofs the conventions of the heroic fantasy genre. It also ties in with Milholland's interest in

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

s, as the comic is portrayed as a game run by Pee-Jee, one of the main strip's cast members; some of the characters in ''New Gold Dreams'' have the same appearance and personality as regular ''S*P'' characters. The comic started on April 2, 2004 but has been entirely on hiatus since the 20th issue in August 2005.

''Super Stupor''

''Super Stupor'' is a

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

comic, which mocks the conventions of the genre. Four self-published volumes of the strip are currently available from the Rhymes With Witch store.

''Popeye''

'' Popeye'' is a newspaper comic strip from

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

, starring an ornery sailor and a large cast of quirky characters. In 2022, ''Popeye'''s 93rd year, Milholland took over the Sunday edition from

Hy Eisman Hy Eisman (born March 27, 1927) is an American cartoonist. Comic Strips He entered the comic strip field in 1950 and worked on several strips, including ''Kerry Drake'', ''Little Iodine'' and ''Bunny''. In comic books he was the last artist d ...

as the latter retired.

References

External links

Something Positive

New Gold Dreams

Midnight Macabre

Rhymes With Witch

Super Stupor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milholland, Randal Keith American webcomic creators Living people People from Euless, Texas 1975 births