This month, [GoComics is] celebrating a quarter-century of The Duplex, the syndicated strip by brothers Glenn and Gary McCoy that features Eno and Fang—a perpetual dim-witted bachelor and his loveable canine sidekick—and their long-suffering neighbors, Gina and Mitzi.
The Duplex’s journey began with Glenn in 1996. “It sprouted from a scribbled character in one of my sketchbooks,” he says. “I drew this big-nosed guy, with glasses, a weird curl on his head and a smart-alecky smirk, and I instantly felt like I knew everything about him.” Twenty-five years later, the strip is still drawn by Glenn and the gags pinch-hit by Gary.
above: the earliest The Duplex comic at GoComics (August 12, 1996)
GoComics interviews Glenn McCoy about the strip and humor.
Originally, my intention was to have half of the strips revolve around Eno and Fang and the rest around Gina and Mitzi. It was going to be a “when worlds collide” idea focusing on the differences between the sexes. However, as things progressed, I realized that I wasn’t biologically or intellectually qualified to speak for the female population. When I wrote gags, they tended to be sarcastic and deprecating, which fit Eno and Fang’s personalities more than Gina and Mitzi’s. Eno is just a better pitch man for my dumb brand of humor.
And about brother Gary.
A couple years back my work for movie studios got pretty intense. I was so busy that it seemed like I might have to take a hiatus or, even worse, retire the strip. My brother Gary is a funny, award-winning cartoonist who I’ve been working with on our panel The Flying McCoys for years. I would never have thought of using a gag writer for The Duplex in the past, but Gary and I are incredibly close and we share the exact weird sense of humor. Reaching out to him for help just made sense. He’s done such a terrific job that I get to enjoy the strip on a whole new level: as a reader. I still draw the strip, but I now enjoy the surprise of reading Gary’s hilarious gags.
Read the great interview at the GoComics blog.
But there is a problem…
excerpts from Editor & Publisher July 31, 1993; Cartoonist Profiles March 1996
The strip began in April of 1993. From The Seattle Times:
“The Duplex,” by Glenn McCoy, begins today in comics pages of The Sunday Times.
The earliest sample I could find was in The St. Louis Post Dispatch of July 12, 1993:
The Duplex © Glenn and Gary McCoy
So, congratulations and thanks to Glenn and Gary for 28+ years of laughter.