In Oops, Jeramy and I write a lot of ourselves into our story. For example on these pages:

I’m a big fan of unconventional communication; sign language, acting, body language. The lengths a person has to go to communicate a point when they can’t verbally say it. Oops is a unique character inwhich he can’t talk. In this issue, he has to come to terms with that new disability. As a kid, I had speech trouble and I didn’t know how to say what’s on my mind that would make sense to a normal person. All throughout school I was one of those special kids that got to leave class and go to speech therapy (those sessions where always fun, no matter what you can’t give a wrong answer). So when writing and drawing Oops, I kind of channel all those frustrations that I went through as a kid.

For example, when I was under 10 years old my mother and I went to Lenscrafters to get a new pair of glasses for me. We had to wait an hour or so for them to complete my glass so my mom lend over and asks me, “What do you want to do in the mall while we wait?” I thought for a second, then took my winter scarf off (we lived in Chicago at the time) and rolled it up into a cinnamon roll looking lump, and said, “I want one of these.” (No, at that age I couldn’t just say I wanted a Cinnabon) She understood me perfectly and we got Cinnabons while we waited.

You can read this in Page format here: tapastic.com/episode/33173