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Postage Due, a comic strip by postal employee Mike Morgan, appeared daily at PostalMag.com from May 2006 to December 2007!

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POSTAGE DUE
By Mike Morgan

I've been doodling since I was old enough to pick up a crayon. What boy hasn't spent time escaping the realities of science class by drawing pictures of rocket ship battles or underground bunkers complete with provisions for an entire army.  I had a fascination with comic books and kept a stack beside my bed and looked forward to tearing through the Sunday morning newspaper to get to the funnies.

I enjoyed reading Pogo and had aspirations of becoming a political cartoonist while in High School.  Instead, I enlisted in the Air Force where I developed different styles of cartooning while illustrating for various base newspapers.  I've drawn strips for a few hobby periodicals and illustrated several military publications.  I retired from the Air Force and held several maintenance jobs before applying with the Post Office.

After joining the Postal Service, I found myself surrounded by a diverse workforce with a wide range of work ethics. Originally, the strip was to focus around a Postal maintenance department and a group of its mechanics.  Postal lawyers in Washington, DC advised me to create a fictitious company to avoid infringements, (the term "Postage Due" is not controlled by the Postal Service.)  When UPS went on strike a joke circulated about UPS and FedEx combining to form one company...FEDUPS.  I use the acronym FEDUP to stand for "Fly-by-night Economical Delivery and Universal Packaging."

The Postal lawyers did me a favor for I feel the generic company and its ambiguous location allow a wider range of audience to associate with the strip.  I believe the humor will appeal to blue collar workers, the military, or just about anyone who knows a mechanic.  Lower level office workers may associate with Edith and her confrontations with upper management.  The strip is mainly drawn from the perspectives of those in the trenches.

Pappy was the first character I developed followed closely by Sparky and Lowbrow.  I polished these personalities over the course of several years to become the core characters.  Observations and conversations involving family, friends, and co-workers inspired most of the strips with a little imaginative exaggeration thrown in.  One thing is sure... there'll never be a shortage of material working around a Postal maintenance facility.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Pappy
 
Pappy's character portrays a retired Air Force mechanic who has become a bit of a cynic.  It could be that he's seen it all, done it all, heard it all to the point that very little surprises him.  He gets his name from the fact that he is the oldest member of the maintenance department.  There's not much that rattles him as he barely looks up from his newspaper while conversing with a co-worker but he is a wealth of experience, knowledge, and common sense.
 
Sparky
Sparky's character was designed to contrast with Pappy's although they manage to find common ground on most issues.  He's fresh from an enlistment in the Navy as an electrician, hence his nickname, but he's still naive and full of youthful optimism, just the sort of thing to make Pappy roll his eyes or shake his head.  It's likely that Sparky reminds Pappy of his younger self.  Pappy has taken Sparky under his wing and is showing him the ropes but, at the same time, Sparky may be tempering Pappy's cynical view.  When I'm writing dialog for these two characters, I sometimes feel as if  I'm having a conversation between my younger self and my present day self.  I feel the dialog works well even though the characters are separated by a generation.  They have a lot to offer, and a lot to learn, from each other. 
 
Lowbrow
Lowbrow is the last of the main characters.  This trio forms the nucleus of my strip.  Lowbrow is a maintenance supervisor and nemesis, (read protagonists), to both Pappy and Sparky...just one more thing they have in common.  Lowbrow is a conglomeration of the different personalities of every supervisor I've had to work for or with.  The maintenance department continues to operate smoothly in spite of him and his well-intentioned supervisory efforts.  His is a thankless job...one that I've tried temporarily.  It's nothing I'd care to do on a permanent basis.  I guess it's human nature to criticize those in authority and I try to avoid the cheap shots while maintaining a tongue-in-cheek approach.  Supervisors are an essential part of any organization and it has to be done by somebody.  I'm just glad I don't have to do it and for that, my hat is off to them. 
 
Augie
I've always thought that name was funny.  Augie portrays a character that is a bit of a dimwit.  Slower than molasses in the wintertime, his work ethics are right on the edge of "Why bother?".  I've met many personalities like his in my travels but these folks often surprise me with an occasional insightful observation.  I sometimes feel I under-estimate these folks and maybe some of them are just putting on an act.  They make life interesting even if they are exasperating at times.  With Augie, one never knows what's going on behind those half-closed eyes.  Is he a disinterested party or so far in over his head that his best comment is "No comment."  Whatever the capacity of his mental faculties, Augie fits the bill for a character that would be considered as sharp as the leading edge of a basketball. 
 
Edith
Edith is the sole female in the maintenance department.  She runs maintenance control in an efficient and professional manner.  She is responsible for scheduling work, accounting for tools and parts, inputting computer data, and being a part-time secretary, although that is not in her duty description!  In a field dominated by men, she is in the position to dictate and control their actions...much the same way my wife does for me at home.
 
Slick
Slick is the cool, suave, and sophisticated type -- full of confidence.  He knows his job well enough to be self-assured but arrogance is not his style.  He is more sociable than Oz and definitely has a better sense of humor.  He holds the highest technical position within the maintenance department as an electronics specialist.  He's responsible for software and computer systems.
 
Oz
Oz's character portrays a no-nonsense, all business type of person.  He's a retired Marine that doesn't believe in horseplay.  He plays it straight with little time for levity.  He is a true professional with the skills and experience to back him up as a building mechanic responsible for heating, air condition, electrical, and plumbing systems.  Oz represents those people who can always be relied upon to show up on time and do the job right the first time...and often go unnoticed and unrewarded for their vital contributions.
 
Max
Max is the maintenance manager.  Behind the scenes most of the time, his interaction with the workers is primarily through Lowbrow.  Max is high enough up the ladder that he has entered the political realm.  You'll notice he is always smiling.  His facial expression never changes no matter what the situation.  It's hard to get a handle on his real feelings when he's constantly wearing a smiley face.  The conflict between his vocal communication and facial language creates uncertainty as to his intended message.  Politicians are noted for their ability to say something that can be construed three different ways.
"The Postage Due / FEDUP logo is a registered trademark and all Postage Due characters are copyrighted. All rights reserved. No part of these comic strips may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means--electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise--without prior permission from Mike Morgan."

 

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