Tex by Jesse Atwell (signing “jesse”) is a new web comic strip at GoComics.
TEX follows namesake character Tex Clapsaddle, an ambitious and imaginative eight-year-old learning to navigate the world outside his comfortable childhood. His parents, Barbara and Wayne, and siblings, Austin and Missy, are along for the ride as each character faces their own wild and momentous experiences.
“TEX is a comic strip about that time in your life when everything feels brand new,” Atwell says. “If you look closely enough—with a beginner’s mind—every moment in your life has the potential to feel brand new.”
Tex debuted today (September 19, 2022) and GoComics interviewed the cartoonist.
When and how did you discover you had a love of cartooning?
I grew up in the ’80s. Creators like Bill Watterson and Gary Larson were rock stars to a little kid; they possessed a tremendous amount of mystique. Cartooning was alluring.
Some of my earliest memories are of my grandfather and I reading “the funnies” together. My mother and father were supportive as well, keeping me well stocked in Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side collections. I remember my childhood being very sunny, with lots of open space and time for drawing.
I also heard that cartoonists could earn several dollars a year working eighty hours a week. How could I resist?!??
I’m deeply influenced by lots of French illustrators like Olivier Tallec, Benjamin Renner, and Marc Boutavant. I also love folks like Matthew Cordell, Helen Stephens, and Quentin Blake. They’re absolutely fantastic. They do a really great job at walking the line between control and chaos. The spontaneity and urgency in their pen strokes are stunning and beautiful. Mo Willems too.
Richard Thompson… genius. Cul de Sac might be my favorite strip ever.
Make sure to follow TEX on GoComics where it will be updated three times a week.
And then read the entire Jesse Atwell interview.
Note that this is not the same as the Italian Tex by Gian Luigi Bonelli.
