Cartoon Alligator with Attitude Makes Hoxwinder Hall a Fun Treat

An email alerting me to new comic strip Hoxwinder Hall first came to my inbox a few months ago via a good friend up in Daytona Beach. Seems the Washington Post was running a special feature called "America's Next Great Cartoonist Contest". Cartoons? That had my attention. Time to check them out!

I clicked on over to the page and read down through the ten contestants. Immediately I was drawn -- yeah, I love those puns - drawn to Daniel Boris' entry. The characters were artistically rendered, and I liked the fun story line. Some have made comparisons to Calvin and Hobbes, but as I kept following the strip, and became more and more endeared to the characters, I think that Boris' creation stands apart.

Hoxwinder Hall features an animal loving 10-yr old young boy named Byron Hoxwinder. During a family trip to Florida he secretly brings back a heavy souvenir packed in his luggage. In the first cartoon strip, Rowdy, Byron's 16-yr old brother, complains about the weight of Byron's suitcases. "Hey! Everybody!" Rowdy calls out. "I think Byron smuggled Mickey Mouse back from Florida!" Byron responds with: "Or maybe I packed an alligator in my suitcase." I had to chuckle. After all, what 10-yr old boy wouldn't want to bring an alligator home? When the suitcase gets unpacked in Byron's room, we are introduced to the surprise stowaway -- Dozi. Dozi the alligator! Byron dresses him in a small red polo shirt as a disguise from the rest of the family.

For those of you who love to find the secret meaning in names, you may get a chuckle, like I did, when you look at Dozi's name backwards. Figured it out? It's Izod. To see the particular comic that pokes some fun at that, creator Daniel Boris kindly gave me permission to feature that episode here on Yahoo. Just click pictures 2 and 3, above, accompanying this article. (Too small? Click on the picture itself.)

Hoxwinder Hall was voted into the top 5 finalists of The Washington Post's contest, and even though the competition is over, it's still fun to see and read some of the judge's reactions to Daniel's entry. Try this one from Stan Lee... Yeah, that, Stan Lee: (Spiderman, X-men, Fantastic Four): "The gags are good and the concept of a kid and his big brother living with a wise-cracking baby alligator is a unique angle. I'm guessing that the alligator will be the mainstay of the strip. It should be, because that's what makes the strip unique."

Hoxwinder on the Web!

The laughs are just starting for Hoxwinder Hall, so if you've ever wanted to get in on the ground level of a new comic strip, now's your chance. New strips are published every week. The author has even made it easy to follow the further adventures of Byron, Rowdy, Dozi and the gang. Sign up on his Subscription Page and an email reminder is sent when the new comic has been posted.

But it's not just the web. It is the creator's desire to make the eventual jump to newspaper distribution. If you take a look through the material he has already, I think it's only a matter of time before one of those major newspaper syndicates picks up the phone and gives him a call. (Of course, they could always email him too... I'm sure he'd love to hear either way!)

I, for one, would love to have a cup of coffee in one hand, the newspaper funnies in the other, and laugh along with these characters.

Hoxwinder? Not a name you hear everyday!

Artist and creator, Daniel Boris, shared with me that the Hoxwinder name originally came from a woman he met at art school. He loved the sound of the name. Even told her he was going to use it in the title of his comic strip.

And that he did.

I love the name too, Daniel. And the strip. Keep up the enjoyable work!

Looking forward to seeing Hoxwinder Hall in the papers someday!

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More Hoxwinder Hall Resources:

Hoxwinder Hall's Official Site - Click Here
Hoxwinder Hall's Characters - Click Here

Subscribe to Hoxwinder Hall's Email List: Click Here
Hoxwinder Hall on Facebook - Click Here

Read all of the Judge's Comments from The Washington Post Contest - Click Here

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