Inspiration and Origins of Egbert the Egghead
Egbert the Egghead owes his origins and much of his style to Lewis Trondheim.
Michael lives In Wellington, NZ. On a visit to his grandparents in 2011, he had a trip to a library in Auckland. He found a book called Strange Stories for Strange Kids which featured work from a number of comic artists. Michael got to read the book during his visit and the story ‘A-MAZE-ING ADVENTURE’ from Lewis Trondheim made an impression.
Back in Wellington and one afternoon after school, Michael created his own multi-path story using many of the elements that he had seen in the Trondheim story. The comic story filled a sheet of A4 paper and featured Egbert the Egghead. Michael’s version, as you might expect of a nine year old boy, was a little more grisly and featured more blood.
Using the A4 sheet as our template we created Egbert’s The Caves of Doom as a choose-your-own-path webcomic.
The Caves of Doom – you choose your path
The Caves of Doom Poster – map of Egbert’s Adventure
Lewis Trondheim’s wonderful (and inspiring) A-MAZE-ING ADVENTURE comic is available in the book:
Little Lit: Strange Stories for Strange Kids (2001)
Eds: Art Spiegelman & Francoise Mouly
For more about Lewis Trondheim visit his webpage
We also like the multi-directional Quimby Mouse comics from Chris Ware
For more on Chris Ware visit the Drawn and Quarterly website
For the ultimate in choose-your-own-path comics look no further than Meanwhile (originally a self-published comic (2001)
Meanwhile: Pick Any Path. 3,856 Story Possibilities.
by Jason Shiga (2010 Amulet Books)
For more about Jason Shiga visit his webpage