The Conspiracy

YOU'RE FROM AFRICA! WOW! Really?

Um... yes? Well, South Africa to be exact, but I dunno why you're so shocked..., I mean... uh, it is only the second biggest continent... there's bound to be ALOT of people from it. Furries on the other hand are a bit rarer here...

So, uh... about furries?

Well? What about them? They're an interesting bunch, I'll give you that! I never knew there was so much negative publicity about them 'til a while after I started drawing the comic! I also must admit they have some rather scary ideas, but they are a pretty decent bunch of people (or dogs, cats, dragons.... whatever!)

Anthropomorphic animals are a great medium. To steal the line EVERY anthro comic has used, they are easy to relate to and believable in their actions of violence, love etc, 'cause they are different to us. THEY AREN'T HUMAN. I would pull a Scott McCloud on you, but he's better at this than me... go Google him or something.

Bottom line, I like drawing them, and I like other people that draw them. If you don't, I won't hold it against you.

I this IS a REAL furry comic, why is there none of that freaky animal porn stuff?

Ah right... yiff... Not every furry is into yiff you know... I'm not, and there won't be any in my comic. Can we get over the furry side of my comic now?

So uh... is this comic gonna keep on going, or is there a set plot?

Set plot for certain. I think comics that supposedly have a plot and then waffle around for who knows how long doing absolutely NOTHING story wise are boring. I have a definite ending in mind, and very definite plot between now and then. Some stuff may be altered, added to or subtracted from... but I know where I'm heading with this plot. It's not an incredibly long story, my update schedule leads to that.

So why/Where/When/How did you start drawing?

I've been drawing since I was old enough to hold something that would make a mark on something else. I also have never been a big one for drawing people... I got over drawing people in pre-school.

I never really did much outside of classroom doodles though. I did art as a subject in high school... not that I learnt much about art technique. Overhead projectors were the order of the day. How creative...

So in 2007 I was in first year varsity doing Mechanical Engineering, in the hope of designing and working on cars or something equally cool. Uh... bad move on my part... engineering degrees turn out to be less than exciting and more maths than any human should be able to do...

But one thing I did start doing in lectures was moving my doodles to a new level... comics! So they started out quite sketchy, seeing that I had never really drawn the human figure before. I was way more proficient at mechanical objects. That and still life to a degree. After drawing some basic anthro figures as a joke, I actually quite liked the style... hence The Conspiracy was born, and I carried on practising my drawing!

YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GUNS! WHAT A LOSER!

Uh... firstly... that's not a question...

Secondly... True, I'm not THE best educated in the realm of firearms. I can't name alot of guns on sight outside of Hollywood's favourites (I'm thinking AK47, M4, Glock, Colt .45, MP5 etc). I've fired several, but always with the owner/instructor nearby to assist. I don't own my own one, but I wanna try get into competitive range shooting when I have the cash.

I do however know a fair deal about gun safety and technique. Blame Apartheid South Africa if you must. My father and pretty much all my uncles where forcefully conscripted into the army to fight the omnipresent "commies". I've heard and read all sorts of war stories from South Africa's border war days. Training, frontlines, the lot. Even the story where my dad's R1 Rifle fell of the back of his truck. Luckily someone turned it in... a little worse for wear.

.50 Browning Automatic live fire training sounds like a hoot... in a terrifying kinda way...

I also read any and all material relating to firearms... Jeremy Clarkson's segment on the AK47 in his book "I know you got soul" is a highly recommended read. I also recently discovered that Wikipedia has entries on almost every gun ever made. It made me very happy...

But, now the part where you either think I'm completely lame or very mater of factly. How many of you rate you know how to use a firearm through video games? Hehe... lame, I know, but seriously, I watch all the making of's where game developers fire the real things. How much more detail on those weapons are there now in Call of Duty 4 compared to Castle Wolfenstein? The ping of an expelling cartridge in an M1 Garand, the huge, heavy (and frankly a bit noisy) rates of fire/safety switch on an AK47? The bolt actions rifle used by snipers, I rate most of you now the movement the bolt goes through without having held one before! I did... first time a used a bolt action rifle I knew.

I learnt to fly R/C planes in record time thanks to Flight Simulator. My instructor was a bit stunned that I had ten hours flight time and my solo licence... Off topic, but you get my point.

So I'm guessing you're an avid gamer then?

Um... sorta. I like video games... a lot... I mainly play First person shooters, flight sims and racing games. Anything with mindless and stylised destruction actually. Burnout is a hit, right up there w ith Black, and let's not forget titles like Halo! I love any WWII title, and tend to be more of a fan of them than modern-themed combat games. I'm not a big multiplayer gamer, mainly 'cause internet connections and I never really get on well. I LAN now and then though.

Lycan, Romulus, Remus, Cerberus and New Canis... You got a thing for Latin and Ancient Greek?

Well... that's an interesting one... I don't know a lot of Latin outside of these words...

Lycan was named at the absolute last possible minute. I had a few uninteresting names, but none of them stuck. While drawing Chapter 2, Underworld was currently doing some re-runs on the local movie channels. It had a nice ring to it, and it referred to werewolves, so I investigated. Lycan and lycanthrope is derived from Greek, lykanthropos; lykos ("wolf") and anthropos("man/man-like"). It was weird enough to be AWESOME! Only after I got into contact with more people in the fandom did I find out it’s pretty much THE most popular name out there... oh well...

Romulus and Remus, that really popped outta nowhere... I'm not even sure how I remembered it. The legend is that of the twin founders of Rome, where nursed by a wolf. There you had it... wolves... twins... perfect! There is a bit of a nasty twist in the legend where The Brothers kill one another... but The Twins aren’t building any empires, so don't worry...

Cerberus came about when I decided that I wanted to keep a trend of Ancient Countries legends. Cerberus is the three-headed protector of Hades in Greek Legend...

Three heads... hmmmm... that suited my plot better than I thought... but you all are gonna have to read on and see...

New Canis was easy... since my whole cast turned out canine, Canis, the Latin term for dog, was a no brainer...

Todd is an old English word referring to fox... I found out by accident... so I stuck with it!

My last ancient language name is a secret... Lycan's real name is yet to be revealed, but also has a play on this ancient language naming system...

Why are your characters eyes square?

THEY'RE NOT SQUARE! DAMNITASS!

I get this question a lot...

My earliest character designs are based on the first anthro designs that were on hand when I started... Disney Movies. I have a huge collection of them on VHS from when I was a kid. Needless to say I rediscovered them when I started cartooning. I based my designs loosely on movies like Robin Hood where the character had patches around their eyes, but stylised them somewhat. My characters are constantly evolving and (I hope) improving.

I ditch the patches in chapter 8...