I love making Johnson & Sir.
And not just for the T-Rex Sissy Fights.
Or the Noodle Trees.
Or Sir’s Sirness.
I love Johnson & Sir largely because of something that most readers don’t know about until today: the story behind why it exists.
Originally, Johnson & Sir started with my little sister and me hanging out and playing Jak II.
There are bad guys in that game called Krimzon Guards (which are pretty much elf police because everyone in that game was an elf or a talking beast). The fun part is, when you’re making Jak stand idle in the street or you’re just being bored, you can overhear the Krimzon Guards talking to each other and being bored.
My sister and I started to have fun with it and we spit-balled our own made-up dialogue between two Krimzon Guards, whom we called Johnson and Sir. And it was Johnson’s job to make Sir’s life as miserable and odd as possible. At that time, any time I drew them, it was a running gag that you would never see Johnson’s face (kind of like Wilson’s hidden face in the show Home Improvement).
Also Johnson cross-dressed. A LOT. And hit on Sir any chance he could.
For a few years, it stayed as an inside joke between my sister and me until I went to college. It was there that I shared the idea with my roommate, and then we went nuts with it and developed Johnson and Sir even more. There were insinuations of scandalous affairs, dry humor, the works.
Over time, my roommate moved out, college happened, and for a while I forgot about Johnson and Sir.
UNTIL ONE DAY…
It was in March of 2013. My older sister was in town for a few months until she could move to Arizona (long story). And by that time, I was dating Marc the Boyfriend for a bit. All three of us decided to go out to lunch together and just hang out.
While there, not only did I make Marc the Boyfriend giggle at the banter between my sister and me, but we both ended up talking about Johnson and Sir with him.
It happened a little like this:
Me: I’ve been thinking about getting into webcomics, but I don’t know what to make.
Sister: Dude, you should make a comic about Johnson and Sir. That shit cracked me up.
Marc: What’s that?
So afterward I sketched a few character designs, got a few ideas for strips from my sisters, and then Johnson & Sir was born.
Although Johnson & Sir has gone through a lot of changes in art, the humor is always there, and I hope it stays that way.
If you would like to read it (and you should, because it’s ridiculous and fun), you can start reading it here.
And then you will be part of a wonderful, fantastic inside joke.
