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David M Willis (born April 3, 1979) is an American web
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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...
currently living in
Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...
. He is best known for his interconnected series of
webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...
s ''Roomies!'', ''It's Walky!'', ''Shortpacked!'', and '' Dumbing of Age''. Willis is also known online for his chatrooms and forums including "ItsWalky". KUTV in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
calls him a satirist who is "a little bit edgy." The shape-shifting robot franchise ''
Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...
'' appears frequently in Willis' work. He was an administrator on Teletraan I, the ''Transformers'' Wiki from 2006 to 2008, when he facilitated a move from Wikia to its own site at tfwiki.net, remaining an administrator for the new site. Willis eventually became involved in official licensed ''Transformers'' artwork for
Fun Publications Fun Publications was a publishing company that ran the Transformers Collectors Club and the G.I. Joe Collectors Club under license from Hasbro. Besides releasing comics, Fun Publications released exclusive toys and ran conventions for their clubs ...
' ''Transformers'' Collector's Club, particularly the regular club magazine feature ''Recordicons''. Previously featured at
Keenspot Keenspot is a webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published i ...
with the comic of ''It's Walky!'' and the first months of ''Shortpacked!'', Willis left to co-found Blank Label Comics in 2005. After Blank Label Comics was discontinued, he has continued his online presence at ''Shortpacked!'', which has archives back to January 2005. On September 19, 2008, Willis proposed to his girlfriend of four years, Maggie Weidner, in that day's episode of ''Shortpacked!''. She accepted with a cartoon posted in the ''Shortpacked!'' blog. On September 21, 2009, Willis posted their wedding program. Their twin boys, Chase Alexander and Zachary Dashiel, were born on December 3, 2015.


Webcomics

''Roomies!'', ''It's Walky!'', ''Shortpacked!'', and ''Joyce & Walky!'' are each set in the same
fictional universe A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scie ...
, with many characters appearing in multiple comics. This is collectively called the Walkyverse. '' Dumbing of Age'' shares many of the same characters with the previous titles, but it exists within a separate continuity, known as the Dumbiverse.


''Roomies!''

''Roomies!'' is a webcomic by Willis starring the college adventures of two roommates, Danny and Joe. It ran from September 8, 1997, to December 20, 1999. Originally a daily comic published in the
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
student newspaper, the '' Indiana Daily Student'', it was turned into a web comic in early 1999. It is a mix of daily gag strips and short stories, with the stories drifting towards more serious topics as the comic progressed. ''Roomies!'' was succeeded by ''It's Walky!'', a science fiction adventure comedy comic set in the same universe. The main cast of ''It's Walky!'' included some continuing characters from ''Roomies!'' — in particular Joyce, Danny's former stalker — and by the end most of the major characters from ''Roomies!'' had made appearances. More recently, after he finished ''It's Walky!'', David Willis restarted ''Roomies!'' as a daily gag strip, appearing on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was also published as part of the Keenspot comic page in the Turlock, California newspaper, the ''Turlock Journal''. ''Roomies!'' ended again on May 19, 2005, when David Willis left Keenspot to found Blank Label Comics.


''It's Walky!''

''It's Walky!'' was a daily webcomic by Willis. It concerned the adventures of the fictional alien-fighting organization SEMME, and in particular current and previous members of Squad 128. The webcomic is a character-driven story, which has a very strong continuity, and ''It's Walky!'' has both comedic and
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
tic moments. Though set in the present day, the alien elements and advanced technology involved brought
science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...
elements to the webcomic. The comic strip could (and often did) go from
theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...
discussion to
toilet humor Toilet humour or potty humour is a type of off-colour humour dealing with: defecation (including diarrhea and constipation), in which case it is called scatological humour (compare scatology); urination; flatulence, in which case it is called fla ...
within the same week. ''It's Walky!'' was the direct continuation of ''Roomies!''. The debut of ''It's Walky!'' is considered to have been on December 25, 1999, but the switch between the two was not instantaneous; science fiction elements had crept into the college environment of ''Roomies!'' long before, and the webcomic featured storylines from both for a while. A few characters from ''Roomies!'' became main characters in ''It's Walky!'', and the remaining protagonists later made it into the cast as secondary characters. ''It's Walky'' was followed by ''Shortpacked!'', which was part of the same continuity but with an entirely different focus: the daily lives of a toy store's employees, including (oddly) SEMME veterans Mike and Robin. Donation-based ''It's Walky!''
epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the ...
strips ($100 for each strip) run by popular demand eventually led into, and were replaced by, a direct sequel called ''Joyce & Walky!'', which started on August 1, 2005, and ended on May 17, 2015. It was subscription only. In the meantime, Willis had left Keenspot on May 19, 2005, to found Blank Label Comics. In 2015, Willis and his wife launched ''It's Pregnancy!'', a
Tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...
comic about the birth of Joyce and Walky's son, in concert with the Willis couple's pregnancy.


''Shortpacked!''

''Shortpacked!'' is a webcomic by Willis set in a
toy store A toy store or toy shop is a type of retail business specializing in selling toys; usually ones marketed towards children. History The first toy store was founded in 1760 by William Hamley in London, under the name of "Noah's Ark", later re ...
. It is part of the Blank Label Comics family. After putting an end to his successful webcomic ''It's Walky!'', Willis decided to turn ''Shortpacked!'', his
autobiographical An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
comic, into a new title. Premiering on January 17, 2005, the strip is based in the same universe as ''It's Walky!'' and ''Roomies!'', and features two side characters from the previous comic, Robin and Mike. The primary inspiration behind ''Shortpacked'' was Willis' own experiences working retail at
Toys "R" Us Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1948 in Washington, D.C.; its first store was built in April 1948, with i ...
. While ''Shortpacked!'' started off as primarily a gag strip, with little overarching plot, it has begun to develop plot-driven story arcs and complex characters while still alternating with gag strips. The comic also often includes strips that take place outside of the regular setting and continuity, in particular one-shots lampooning pop-culture and
comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...
figures such as
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
or
Transformers ''Transformers'' is a media franchise produced by American toy company Hasbro and Japanese toy company Tomy, Takara Tomy. It primarily follows the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons, two Extraterrestrials in fiction, alien robot fac ...
. ''Shortpacked!'' has also lampooned mainstream comic strips such as '' Luann'' and '' Funky Winkerbean''. ''Shortpacked!'' showed 16-year-old Luann bragging about having large breasts and even depicted Luann giving the middle finger to Blondie. The parody of ''Funky Winkerbean'' showed Les Moore and his girlfriend Cayla Williams (the two got married in Willis' strip) having sex while a ghostly Lisa Moore (Les' late wife, who died in 2007 from cancer) watched over them in approval, and in another panel, the resulting baby, who looked like Lisa, was ghostly in appearance. A ''Shortpacked!'' strip also appeared weekly on toynewsi.com, Toy News International's website, for 250 installments from August 20, 2006, until July 31, 2011. On January 17, 2014, the series' ninth anniversary, Willis announced that he planned to conclude the ''Shortpacked!'' storyline over the following year, and would cease regular updates to the comic on its tenth anniversary. ''Shortpacked!'' accordingly ceased regular updates on January 17, 2015. Since then, the comic updates annually on
April Fool's Day April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (rarely called All Fools' Day) is an annual custom on the 1st of April consisting of practical jokes, hoaxes, and pranks. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fool " at the recipient. Mas ...
, with occasional updates also occurring with no set schedule.


''Dumbing of Age''

''Dumbing of Age'' is a daily webcomic by Willis about college life at
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...
with themes involving drama or comedy, occasionally with a mixture of both. The series itself is a reboot reusing characters from Willis' previous comics (''Roomies!'', ''It's Walky!'', ''Joyce and Walky!'', and ''Shortpacked!'') but set in a new universe. Unlike Willis' previous Walkyverse comics, the series lacks science-fiction elements and instead focuses on
slice-of-life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to Naturalism (theatre), naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence ...
plots. The comic is set in the present day and discusses themes of parental abuse,
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
religious fundamentalism Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguis ...
, depression, attempted suicide, sexual assault, bigotry, and other mature themes. The comic launched on September 10, 2010, the 13th anniversary of ''Roomies!'', and is currently ongoing.


Other comics

Willis has a "Buffer Watch" on the page, indicating that there are comics drawn and uploaded weeks, or often months, ahead of schedule. Willis also offers a regularly updated set of pornographic comics involving the characters, published and sold on the separate website Slipshine. A sample of Willis's other projects include: * Coloring T Campbell and John Waltrip's spy-romance comic ''Rip and Teri'' * Drawing the last part of the original run of T Campbell and John Waltrip's ''Fans'' * ''Recordicons'', a comic series distributed as part of Fun Publications' ''Transformers Collector's Club'' magazine, based on the "Shattered Glass" versions of Ravage and the other
Decepticon The Decepticons are a fictional faction of sentient robots in the ''Transformers'' multimedia franchise. Serving as the main antagonists in the franchise, their goals include conquering their fictional homeworld planet Cybertron, defeating ...
cassettes.


References


External links


Recordicons @TFWiki.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Willis, David American webcomic creators Living people People from Bloomington, Indiana 1979 births