Hallway 100 Comics

Last week marked the introduction of one our new returning characters.  Caesarion, the spawn of Cleo.  Or Lil’ Cleo, for short.

Lil’ Cleo is a more recent creation, considering Hallway 100 has been in development for about 5 years.  What was the inspiration?  I’ve always found it hilarious when you have that bratty kid that you just cannot outwit.  The one that seems trustworthy at first, and you don’t realize he’s a maniacal sociopath until it’s too late.  It’s a classic character, but one you don’t see much now-a-days, so I decided this would be a perfect addition to the hallway.  We know Roma has a family, and so I briefly considered giving her a son, but it just didn’t fit right.  Cleo wasn’t the obvious choice, as I couldn’t see her as a parent… but then it all kind of clicked.  And of course, that meant Lucas was royally screwed.  😛

Cleo might be that cause of most of Lucas’ grief, but as a teacher she can only cause so much trouble without crossing the line.  And while she may cross the line in some areas, she takes her professional duties seriously.  That’s one thing that important to me when writing comics.  It’s okay to be as goofy as you want, but it’s vital to develop personalities for your characters and stick to them.  Lil’ Cleo offers a way around this, as he torture poor Lucas in even more hilarious ways.  Also, he may have one of the best on liners to date.

I always like to reward you guys who read the blog, so here are some fun facts about Cleo’s spawn:  he’s in middle school, he’s read more history books than your last history professor, he’s been trained in ancient military combat from all over the world (that’s right, he’s a ninja), he’s a prodigy at marksmanship (in all projectile-based weaponry), he’s named after the son of Caesar and Cleopatra, and he once contracted–and successfully overcame–the bubonic plague (true story).  And like any true history buff, he has a collection of quirky history t-shirts.  He’s also an annoying brat, but you already knew that.

The last few months of 2012 were opportunities for us to meet the core of Hallway 100, and now we’re starting to branch out slowly to the large cast of minor characters.  The great thing about minor characters is they tend to be more wacky and one-dimensional, allowing a literal more creative freedom.  Cleo’s son is going to be a memorable reoccurring character, and I’m glad he’s finally been introduced.

We’ll see more of Lil Cleo before the year is up.  Lucas isn’t the only character he’ll terrorize.  Neither high school students nor teachers are entirely safe.  The question of why he randomly spends the day at Mt. Caramel versus attending grade school will be answered.  We’ll also get to meet Mr. Cleo.

So it looks like, whether you like him or not, Lil’ Cleo is going to be around to stay.  Yeah, that’s happening.  What up now, son?

Coming up this week:  Look out for the return of Josef, the school’s pseudo mad scientist.  Forget who he is?  Check out his comics here, here, and here!

Here’s to an amazing week!

TY