Author Archives: Shannon Menu

Tuesday August 17, 2021

Lynn's Comments: Around this time, I began to work with another graphic artist. Laura could easily duplicate my style, so with more time to do background details, the art soon became much more complicated. I would draw the strip in pencil, ink the characters, and give her the rest to do. Up until I retired from the strip, Laura became another right hand!

Wednesday August 11, 2021

Lynn's Comments: The name "Enjo" was for my 5th grade home economics teacher. She was great! The Enjo characters were based on a Japanese-Canadian family I knew in North Bay, Ontario. The scenes inside the Enjo house came from the Masuda's, as did some of the story line ideas. Asking for their help was both fun and educational.

Saturday August 7, 2021

Lynn's Comments: When I did workshops, I'd ask the class to come up with the written sounds for things like lawn mowers, snoring or the flushing of a toilet. Sometimes the sound effects alone were the best part of a strip.

Saturday July 31, 2021

Lynn's Comments: When I was around 30, I asked my mother, "When can you say you have truly grown up?" She replied, "Never." When her dad died, she looked up from writing the obituary and said, "I'm an orphan, now." She was over 65.

Thursday July 29, 2021

Lynn's Comments: Talking about favourite places in and around Vancouver was a lot of fun. I'd been told by editors that I shouldn't be "too Canadian" because the majority of my readers were American. Still, I went ahead because this is what I know! The result was a series of letters from readers talking about where they had been in BC and what they liked best about the scenery, the coast and the culture.

Friday July 23, 2021

Lynn's Comments: My parents never did sell their house and move to a smaller place. By the time they were thinking of this, Mom was too sick to move and Dad wanted her to stay in their old, familiar surroundings. What happened in the strip is what should have happened; how their last years should have been. I was able to hold onto both of them just a little longer in my make-believe comic strip world.

Sunday July 18, 2021

Lynn's Comments: Our small dog, Willy, loved everyone. The only time he'd bark with any kind of viciousness was when he saw the snow plow. He would chase it down our lane, believing for all the world that he had saved us from a monster.