I could have made a comic about a group of animals who are all best friends.

They could travel around together, support each other unconditionally and never get on each other's nerves.

That sounds nice...

It also sounds really boring.

Instead, I made a comic about a group of very different creatures who have to figure out how to exist together.

And honestly, I think that's much more interesting.

Animals Have Personalities

Anyone who has spent much time around animals knows they're not interchangeable balls of fur, feathers and bad decisions.

• Some are outgoing.
• Some are nervous.
• Some want attention from absolutely everyone.
• Some would prefer you keep your hands to yourself, thank you very much.
• And some seem to have decided that your entire existence is personally offensive.

I love that.

When I'm creating an animal character, I don't want to take a human personality, stick some ears on it and call it an animal. I want the creature to feel like a creature.

That means thinking about how they move, how they react to things and how they communicate without necessarily using words.

That's especially important in The Golden Troupe, because the animals mostly behave like animals.

They don't sit around having perfectly articulated conversations in English.

They communicate through what they do.

A look. Morgh, STAHP. I get your eyebrows just do that, but you look mad all the time.

A movement. Aspa, I'll give you a reason to pin your ears.

Who they choose to stand beside. Maybe a little TOO close. RIOXIA.

Who they absolutely refuse to stand beside. Qui,. Get back here.

Sometimes that's all you need.

Meet the Problem Children

The Troupe consists of four very different animals.

Aspa is a fiery, moody mare. She's strong, protective and has very little patience for nonsense.

Morgh is an eager golden eagle with a serious fixation on hunting and an even more serious fixation on being annoyed by Aspa.

Rioxia, or Rox, is a cheerful cheetah who basically loves everybody.

And then there's Qui, a rather pompous saluki who has the general air of someone who has been inconvenienced by the existence of other people.

You can probably already see the problem.

Put these four together and you're not going to get a perfectly harmonious little friendship circle. They're not making friendship bracelets for each other, even if they had opposable thumbs. Except Rioxia. She'd make enough for everyone (and then some).

And that's exactly why I like them.

Found Family Doesn't Mean Everyone Gets Along

I think we sometimes get a little too tidy about the idea of found family:

• The characters meet.
• They instantly understand each other.
• Everybody becomes best friends.
• Roll credits.

But real belonging doesn't always work like that.

Sometimes...

• People don't always understand you immediately.
• Somebody annoys the hell out of you and you still end up caring about them.
• Somebody else's boundaries demands your full attention.
• You discover that the person you thought you couldn't stand is actually the person who will show up when things go wrong.

That's a much better, more dynamic story. To me, anyway.

The characters don't have to become identical. They don't even have to like each other all the time.

They just have to find a way to belong together.

That's Really What The Golden Troupe Is All  About...

The Golden Troupe is a hand-drawn fantasy comic about a past-life story set around 2,500 years ago during the Achaemenid Empire.

There's travelling and adventure and history and animals doing animal things.

But underneath all of that, it's a story about connection:

• What does it mean to find your people?
• What happens when you don't quite fit where you started?
• Can a bunch of very different creatures become a family without having to stop being themselves?

Those are the questions that keep me interested in this story.

And, to be so for real... drawing animals getting into trouble is pretty awesome too.

Come Meet Them

If you love animal comics, fantasy stories, found family or characters who are just a little bit difficult (or a lot a bit difficult), you can meet the Troupe and read the comic here.

And if you'd like to follow what I'm making between comic pages, you can join the Troupe here.

There's room around the campfire.

...just maybe don't sit directly next to Aspa.