1992 – In March of 1992, Possum At Large debuted as a weekly comic strip in the University of Rio Grande’s student newspaper, the Signals. The strip centered on Jake, a frustrated, cynical commuter student who had to deal with living off-campus while still trying to relate to ‘student life’. Within hours of his debut, students and faculty were appalled and deeply offended by the antics of Jake T. Possum. There hadn’t been a local political satire in the paper since Keith Kneisel’s groundbreaking strip ended in 1990. Criticism had returned to campus with a vengeance! I served as writer and artist on the new strip. Inspired from the Kneisel material, I used my obvious lack of drawing ability to add to the humor and attitude of the material. 

1993 – The strip hit its creative stride. People hated me and wanted me dead. The Student Senate fought to have the strip removed from the paper. They failed, and Jake continued to relentlessly poke fun at them. Life was good.

Two other artists joined the strip that year. Jason Carpenter and Jim Barnett began penciling the strips, while Lambert continued writing and inking. Lambert and Carpenter began kicking around design ideas for a superhero costume for Jake, as well as an updated look for the characters in the strip.

1994 – I managed to graduate in Spring 1994 and Possum At Large came to a close. Near the end of the series, I hinted in the 3-part “the Death of Jake” story arc that there may be more to Jake than meets the eye. In the story, an Overlord visits Jake during a moment of frozen terror. The Overlord warns him of an uncertain future, and the importance of a fellow student named FlyBoy—a stick figure superhero. While attending high school in Jackson, Ohio in the 1980s, I created a mini-comic called FlyGuy about a rogue, time-traveling teenager who tries to alter the past to prevent a technological apocalypse. Possum At Large and the unpublished FlyGuy story fused together to form the outline of the comic book series.

In October 1994, I reprinted “the Death of Jake” strips (with new material) in an 8-page mini-comic called the Possum At Large Special Edition. I printed 100 copies and passed them out to fans of the strip.

1995 – After a year off, Possum At Large appears in Oh, Comics #8 in November 1995. The 3-page story, titled “What a Possum Dreams”, portrays a significantly darker vision of Possum At Large. In the story, Jake has a nightmare of being attacked by evil cyborgs in black trench coats. Similar to the “Death of Jake” strip, Jake appears as a superhero in his dream state. Columbus illustrator Don Schlotman penciled and inked the story.

1997 – After two years of bad writing and a general lack of focus on the material, Possum At Large made a second appearance in Oh, Comics (#9). This four-page untitled story expands on the dream scenario of Jake as a superhero, but ultimately fell flat and is considered the ‘weakest link’ in the Possum At Large continuity. This time around, I used Nathan Lovett, a cartoonist I hooked up with during my two years as an air personality for an alternative rock radio station in Dayton, Ohio.

1998 – I hook up with Willard Petrey, a mini-comic artist who co-published comics with writer Michael Carroll under the name School House Comics. Will and I begin collaborating on a four-issue mini-series that will reveal, once and for all, the complete story of Possum At Large. Will suggested the story be an “all ages” format, which is the polar opposite of what the strip was. The blend of action and pace of the story kept it from being an issue in the writing process, and I really dug how the book was taking shape.

1999 – After a year of development, Will Petrey left the business. Possum At Large was written, but not a panel of the story was ever drawn.

Later that year, I saw an ad in Kalamazoo Comix for a cartoonist named Joe Gravel. I contacted Joe based solely on an image of a cartoon bear’s head in the small ad. 

We struck up an interesting e-friendship, and it was obvious that Joe was the guy to bring Possum At Large to life. However, I became ridiculously unhappy with the material I had written, and ultimately Possum At Large would be filed away and forgotten.

2002 – After the joyous birth of my son Spencer, the urge to make a Possum At Large comic became insatiable. I had spent the last 5 years writing and producing comedy bits for the Gary Burbank Show on 700 WLW radio, and it was time to apply those skills to a flat, dead ‘all ages’ script. The goal was to make Possum At Large cool again. Joe Gravel was still available, and a year of collaborative bliss began.

By year’s end, I was working for an up-start comic book publisher and pitched Possum At Large to them. They gleefully accepted. I thought I was hot shit as I worked a deal to where I would pay printing costs in exchange for marketing and promotion from the company. I would retain 100% of book sales in exchange for merchandising rights by the publisher. Possum At Large was about to hit the BIG TIME. Life, again, was good.

2003 – I get screwed….bad! The publisher cashes my print check and disappears, leaving Possum At Large unpublished and dead in the water. In a last minute desperate effort, I decide to start my own company and publish Possum At Large on my own. Old School Comics is born! Possum At Large #1 debuts at the Small Press & Alternative Comics Expo in Columbus, Ohio. In June, a web site was born.

Well, that’s about it. If you want to publish your own comic book, don’t do it this way. Trust me! Don’t be a vulnerable, creative idiot. Just be a creative idiot.