After finding
Something Positive already here, and the cast explained, I feel compelled to add a bit to this node, as the artist, Randy, has been my best friend since sixth grade (we're both in our late twenties now). So, a bit of biographical information about the artist from someone who truly knows him. Randy was also was one of the primary witnesses in
Dissed by a Five Year-Old.
Randy Milholland and
Davan are more or less the same person outwardly. Both are quite bitter, both have a deep-rooted
misogyny that borders on psychosis. Both have been made this way by being, effectively, a good person who was taken advantage of once too often.
It is easy to assume that Randy is a very evil-minded person, but the truth is that, for his friends, he has always been the absolute pillar of reason, and always has a sympathetic ear. He is a hard worker; balancing a full-time job, college,
RPG, and running a 200-seat theater, in addition to drawing and authoring
Something Positive almost every day.
Randy went to Wilshire Elementary School in
Euless, TX. When I first met him, we hated each other. He had been drawing since he was about 5 years old, and was quite good. He was also sarcastic and mean-spirited. I was new, could not draw as well, and quite frankly, very susceptible to his teasing. For the entirety of fifth grade, we were
Dexter and Mandarb. Until one day we actually found someone we hated even more. From there on we became the best of friends.
His first few experiences in the dating scene were epic disasters, some of which are still discussed. But for some reason, he still had the patience to listen to an ex on the phone for hours on end, until he eventually found out he could remove all filters on what you would normally say, and simply be as bluntly truthful as possible, and people thanked him for it.
Eventually his friends moved away, including myself. We had all graduated high school, and were moving on with our lives. We maintained contact over the phone and emails, but eventually he decided there was nothing left for him in Texas. No way to grow. Off he went to Boston, where he has now achieved the fame of over 100,000 people per day taking time out of their day to read his comic.
His first love, more than any other medium, is water-colour. For a while he very nearly moved to
Arizona because they had a great water-colour school there. I was one of the people who talked him out of it. Sometimes I wonder whether or not Randy might have been happier there, especially if
Something Positive is any remote indication of his current life.