dent in my writing abilities. Also, my art style was evolving, too, at the same clip. Looking at my old stuff, the artwork is just horrendous. It’s only until about halfway through the third year that I realized that my artwork was becoming very distinct. MM: Yeah, exactly. You started using a lot of thin line in your approach, and there was a little more subtlety in the details. FRANK: Yeah, exactly. I became very confident with the inked line, how the characters looked. I really enjoyed the last yearand-a-half, two years of the newspaper strip, because everything came together. Some of my favorite storylines are from the last two years of my syndicated career. Frank and the snowstorm, the return of the cow, Frank going out with Jen, Brandy reveals her feelings for Frank, and Jen’s revenge. One after another, everything just clicked. MM: Sunday, December 30 of 2001 was the last appearance of the newspaper strip. FRANK: Was it 2001? Yeah.
that had never been done before? [laughter] I was only in about 20 newspapers at that point, and a lot of the newspaper readers didn’t know that I was doing the Liberty Meadows comic book. So one of the big reasons that I left with cliffhanger was to advertise my comic book and bring my newspaper audience over. “The strip isn’t dead. You can still follow it in the comic book.” That was the big reason for the Previous Page: Highlights from the infamous “Jen seduces Frank” sequence. Above: Will she or won’t she? Readers of the daily newspaper were left wondering unless they found a comic shop and a copy of the Liberty Meadows Wedding Special. Left: A happy Brandy runs from the altar. Illustration from the Liberty Meadows Wedding Special.
MM: Why did you decide to end with the cliffhanger in the last comic strip and conclude the story in the comic book? FRANK: Um... it was something
Liberty Meadows and all related characters ™ and ©2007 Frank Cho.
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