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• Shane Pangburn

Shane Pangburn's early interest in cartoons was reignited when at Southern Illinois University Carbondale the student newspaper ran an ad for a new cartoonist because the old one was fired for insulting an advertiser. Pangburn says he, "did a really lame spec" about two roommates and, after he was hired, "tried my best to keep the advertisers from getting mad."

He called the comic strip "Dormant Life." The first "Dormant Life" featured main characters Jim and Milo; roommates meeting in a post-9/11 world. Pangburn's comic debuted just

eight days after the historic 9/11 attacks.

"Dormant Life" ran for four years and became incredibly

popular - drunk-people-stop-you-at-parties-every-weekend popular. But now that Pangburn has graduated with a degree in film, and moved back to his hometown of Tuscola, he's begun a new comic strip, a post-college endeavor called "After Textbooks."

How would you describe "After Textbooks"?

It's a comic strip about trying to get out of college. So it's after textbooks. It's about a divorced dad who works in an office

that designs textbooks, basically because I currently work

in an office that designs textbooks. But I'm not a divorced dad, nor do I have children. But he does and he gets to see them on the weekends. And the rest of the time the comic is a drab, adult, office comedy. And on the weekends it becomes a family affair. So it basically runs the gamut of cartoonery.

What are your immediate and long-term goals?

Right now I work a couple of jobs, saving up money and trying to join the work world as a lowly intern. I'm working on a couple screenplays for submission and refusal by Hollywood. And I'm working on finishing the last few films I did while I was at school because ultimately I would like to be a filmmaker. I would like to at least write films for Hollywood or anywhere else that would have me. If nothing else in the film industry, I would like to be a fry cook. I think it would be great if, on every set, instead of craft services, they just had a fry cook. And so, you'd have these big films and basically I'd be their own personal Waffle House.

How did you decide to become an artist?

Instead of being say, a fireman, or an engineer, or a lawyer, I put forth the equally ridiculous dream of being an artist. I never decided what that meant. I haven't decided if I want to be a technical illustrator or an independent, experimental filmmaker. I do so much

[work], and it's so varied, that I end up sounding like such

a tool, saying "Oh I'm an artist! I make all sorts of art." I make music, except I don't play an instrument, and television ... um ... public television, and you know, films people don't watch.

You have a twin brother. How's that working out for you?

My twin brother went to school right here at the U of I, in engineering or something like that. I never really took to the same

interests as my brother, but we always pushed each other. I ended up doing mostly artsy stuff, and he ended up doing the ... what's the word? ... legitimate enterprises, or reliable, economically sound [work] He was the good decision maker and I was the kid who drew pictures. But we get along great. We still live together at a little place I like to call my parents' house. Ironically we continue to age at the same rate.

People always approach you with story ideas. What are some of the worst you've gotten?

Everyone always suggests a comic based on the last time they went drinking. So I get a lot of suggestions that end with vomit or an impr-

oper sex act. And I'm proud to say I've only drawn a couple of those. Especially in a college town, people think that funny is the lowest common denominator, and not that I'm that highbrow, but I've found that listening to people on the street is generally a bad idea.