Today, we're excited to introduce you to 'Planet Joey,' a comic series by David Brown that’s inspired by his childhood in a small Canadian town. The story follows Joey, a young boy who moves to a remote town with his family and starts creating imaginary friends and scenarios to cope with the challenges of fitting in. With plenty of humor and heart, the series explores themes of small-town life, Canadian culture (hello, winter and hockey!), and the universal struggle to succeed. Joey’s daydreams often lead to hilarious and relatable situations, making readers both laugh and empathize.
If you’ve ever felt like an outsider or dreamed your way through tough times, Planet Joey is for you!
What's a Le Corbusier?
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Bored Panda wanted to gain insights into the series directly from its author, so we reached out to David, who kindly agreed to answer our interview questions. First, we asked the cartoonist about the inspiration behind starting his own comic series. Brown shared with us: “As a young child, I became fascinated by the weekend pull-out colour comics section in our local newspaper —the London Free Press in southwestern Ontario, Canada. There was just something about coming downstairs on a Saturday morning to find all of those legendary comics and their characters: Peanuts, Garfield, Calvin & Hobbes, BC, Broom Hilda, Shoe, and more, together in a printed collection made somehow even more perfect by the out-of-registration ink on that newsprint. I cherished it.”
The artist also told us that his love for comics and cartoons played a big role in inspiring his work. Growing up, he was a fan of shows like The Pink Panther, Bullwinkle, Underdog, and The Smurfs, as well as longer-form comic books like Tintin and Asterix. Every month, he’d order books from Scholastic through school and always choose a paperback comic collection. With a natural talent for art from an early age, he spent a lot of time creating his own comics, trying to replicate his favorite characters and inventing new ones.
David continued: “I’ve always thought of myself as both an artist and a storyteller and I fell in love with what Charles Schulz was able to do in his Peanuts paperback comic collections: tell stories in a serial way through short comics and gags which would have appeared daily in a newspaper, but I was able to consume them with more immediacy in book form.”
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
When asked about the most challenging aspect of being an artist in today’s world, the creator of ‘Planet Joey’ responded: “For me, it’s making time to create the art that I truly love. I have been a graphic designer and art director for 30(!) years now. It’s my profession and it’s not as fun/easy as it may seem. Coming up with creative designs or ideas under the pressure of timelines and client expectations is challenging and exhausting and I have always found it to be a challenge to want to spend even more time at my drawing table or computer on evenings and weekends after doing it for 40 hours during the week.”
David shared that he worked on ‘Planet Joey’ intermittently over a span of 20 years. He further elaborated: “Writing, re-writing, drawing, re-drawing, designing characters, re-designing characters—before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, afforded me the headspace and clear schedule to truly focus on creating an actionable list to push it over the finish line, onto the web and out into the world. My simpler schedule of work and… nothing else really allowed me to truly focus and that was a big help. When you have a family, a house, work, and then friends and other interests, it can be a real challenge to set things aside for large chunks of time and get into a creative headspace. “
“Now that life is back to ‘normal,’ I do struggle at times to make time to create comics—it is an ongoing challenge but my hope is that I can grow my readership to the point where I can monetize the comic (monthly subscribers, printed collections, possibly syndication) to where it could be my primary source of income.”
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
We were curious about which artists have inspired Brown's work and influenced his style. He shared with us that his contemporary heroes are comic artists and cartoonists such as: “Michael Jantze: he has a comic called ‘The Norm’ which ran in the 2000s when I was getting back into comics as an adult. His comics were in the newspaper but he was the first cartoonist to also have his own website and it was inspiring—as a graphic designer, I fell in love with the idea of possibly not needing to get my comics into newspapers, but just onto my own website and create my own branding with merchandise, self-published books, etc. I imagined a whole universe for my Planet Joey comic and characters with me in control of the brand and marketing.”
The next cartoonist mentioned by David was Dana Simpson. Here’s what we learned about the artist: “She is the creator of the comic ‘Phoebe and her Unicorn’ and Tauhid Bondia: creator of the comic ‘Crabgrass.’ In the 2000s they both started as independent cartoonists with great comics I read as an adult and slowly grew their audiences and were eventually syndicated on GoComics.com. It was cool to watch their journeys and I really identified with their writing, characters, and cartooning style.”
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
The creator of the ‘Planet of Joey’ continued, mentioning other fellow artists like Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar: both are independent comics veterans and hosts of the weekly podcast ComicLab, where they share insights on creating, drawing, and writing comics, as well as navigating the business side of things. According to David, their podcast has been an invaluable resource, guiding him not only in improving his comics but also in marketing his work, building an audience, and finding ways to monetize his creations.
Lastly, David told us more about Jay Stephens: “He’s a cartoonist from the closest city to me, Guelph, Ontario. He has created a series of comic books called ‘Dwellings’ that are amazing and unique. They are eerie horror stories filled with gore and death but drawn in the retro, child-friendly, simplistic style of Harvey comics, which were comic books out when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s (think ‘Casper the Ghost’). He makes them look vintage with custom advertisements, and effects that make them look old and distressed like stains, folds and halftone patterns and has generally a fantastic overall aesthetic where great storytelling, cartooning, and graphic design come together.”
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Contractually Obligated
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
We were eager to know which aspects of sharing his comics with an audience David finds the most rewarding. He shared with us: “It has been so fantastic to finally share my comic—the characters and stories I’ve thought so much about over the years—with friends, family and complete strangers. The most rewarding parts are a few things really:
“It’s really neat to see both close and long-lost friends on Facebook/Instagram engage with the comic in different ways and what they get out of the stories. Some of the comics and story arcs are directly inspired by my hometown, so people I knew from my youth really connect with those memories and stories.
“I have also built up a new set of peers in the comics world on social media, getting kudos and praise from them and then also talking shop. On Twitter (not calling it X), we have a bi-weekly chat called #GABFEST25 where there is a facilitator (Mark Stokes, creator of Zombie Boy) who welcomes us to the chat and then asks a series of questions. A 2-3 hour lively discussion ensues where we talk about best practices for creating and marketing, our inspirations, etc. and I have found it to be incredibly inspiring and rewarding. (Hashtag #GABFEST25 on Twitter)
First Day on the Job
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Just a Job
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
“Lastly, I have both paid subscribers on Patreon (https://patreon.com/planetjoey) (Substack coming soon!) and people who have paid small amounts on my Ko-fi site (https://ko-fi.com/planetjoey) in the form of tips or purchased cartoony commissions—it has been quite overwhelming to think about my work connecting with people to the point where they open up their wallet in support to say ‘great work’ or that they want to own a piece of custom artwork by me.
“As far as my favourite strips, they are available on my website https://planetjoey.ca or my Instagram feed. My Ko-fi page also has story arcs separated out on the ‘gallery’ page, which makes the stories a little easier to digest.”
Suboptimal
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Soaking Wet
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Lastly, David shared with us some of his favorite storylines from the cartoons that he’s created so far.
We asked David to share some of his favorite works, and he gave us a fantastic list of his best ‘Planet Joey’ stories for you to explore:
- ‘Sunday Strips’: David’s “Sunday Strips” are inspired by the comics he loved reading as a kid. These longer-format comics, with their embedded logos, bring a nostalgic feel. You can check them out here.
- ‘Snow for Joey’: This Christmas comic is based on a true story from David’s youth, when the arena manager drove a Zamboni to his house as a joke and dumped a pile of snow. See it here.
- ‘The Mighty Ducts’: A childhood memory where David would listen to hockey games through the floor vent while he was supposed to be in bed. The ductwork plays a role in the panels. Check it out here.
- ‘The Gentlemanly Tradition’: A funny hockey story about an unexpected punch in the handshake line. David’s short stature meant no one expected it! Read it here.
- ‘Holiday Comics’: David enjoys creating holiday-themed comics. See some of them here.
- ‘Le Corbusier Chair’: A fun story arc about Herb getting a fancy new chair, with a feature called "Feline Physics" focusing on Joey’s cat, Penelope. Explore it here.
- ‘The Assignment’: Herb, Joey’s imaginary bear, gives Joey some questionable advice for a school project. It’s a mix of humor and absurdity. Check it out here.
- ‘Hockey Tryouts’: A story about Joey’s struggle to make the hockey team. Whether or not you play hockey, you’ll enjoy this relatable arc. See it here.
The Gentlemanly Tradition
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic
Image credits: planetjoeycomic