About Nerd on the Street

There was a time when the comic strip artist and the comic strip writer had to exist in the same person, or live in the same town, or at the very least live in the same country. THOSE DAYS ARE OVER!

"Nerd on the Street" is the product of a mind meld of Brenda Kirk and Gareth Layzell, two geeks born on different continents. They've never actually met, but are convinced they can co-write a new cartoon that not only stretches the boundaries of supergeekery, but bulldozes through them to reach a new meta-uber-geekery that defies description.

Gareth will most likely be using the strip as a vehicle to mock both his Britishness and his geekiness. Brenda views it as a good opportunity to expand her already extensive range of boob jokes. Gareth will of course make good use of any opportunity to mock Bren's Americanness, and is sure to get away with it as long as Bren gets in enough boob jokes.

When asked who does what, they were initially reticent. "The strip usually just appears overnight," Gareth said. "Like some sort of scary vulture, or ninja. You know, all stealth -- and craving the meat of the dead."

"I would describe it more as a paranoid mongoose than a zombie ninja," corrects Bren. "Maybe a mongoose with a limp."

This is how Bren and Gareth knock ideas around. In theory, Layzell is the writer and Kirk is the artist. But due to Kirk's obsessive compulsive disorder, she tends to take over everything "just to make sure it's clean, clean, clean."

At present Gareth has no plans to play on the art side of the fence, but stranger things have happened, as American TV output proves year after year. "One time I watched an entire episode of 'Andromeda'," admits Layzell. "The purple bird was dead cute, but I still don't know how Hercules got in to space."

"He managed to kill 'The O.C.' before he left, though," adds Kirk. When asked how the process of brainstorming eventually leads to a finalized comic strip, the authors just shrugged and asked about dinner. "I could totally go for some pizza right now," confessed Kirk.

"I've already eaten. In fact, it's pretty much bedtime," Layzell commented. (The time difference being one of the main complications of writing Nerd on the Street.)

When asked her view on how the time difference affects her creative process, Brenda was less than forthcoming. "Look, either we get pizza or I'm outta here," she said.

And where do the characters come from?

"None of the character names (to date) have any significance," says Layzell. "It's bad enough trying to pick names at random without trying to hide meanings behind them too."

"Don't bother writing any more," Kirk said. "No one will read this far down."