I’m sure that some people may be curious about the buildings that Summer passes on her walk to clear her head. So I’m happy to supply some annotated coverage of her trek. In the first panel, she’s leaving her home, the setting that was central to Lisa’s Story. And in the second panel she’s passing by the house of the strip’s other iconic character, Harry L. Dinkle the world’s greatest band director.
Here Summer is passing by the original Westiview High School, the look of which was based on Eastern Heights Jr. High, the school where I taught art. She then passes by the house where I lived when I created Funky, and which I used for the first apartment homes of Fred and Ann Fairgood in Funky, and Pam and Jeff Murdoch in Crankshaft.
Panel one shows summer going by the building that housed the Lighthouse a home for juvenile status offenders, and the place where Ann Fairgood worked in the period between being riffed from her teaching job and before she and Fred adopted Darin.
In the second panel, Summer is passing the second apartment where Cathy and I lived, and, of course, where Ann and Fred moved as well. It was also the place where I created Holly Budd the marching band majorette and Funky’s future wife.
Summer ends her walk through the strip’s past at the rec center where her dad made his numerous attempts to jump off of the diving board. It’s where Summer gets the insight for the core of the book that she’s going to write.
