How it all began. Part 3

So. I’d gotten the beginnings of an idea to do something cartoonish or comic-bookish, and I’d got a world that I wanted to represent. What I guess was needed was a catalyst.

Late in 2006 I applied for a more senior job within the Organisation. During the interview, the HR bod said something like, “If you get this job, you will have to be more corporate. Could you give me examples…” My brain exploded. And I answered, “Well, I’ve got a suit…” Needless to say, I didn’t get the job.

It’s a bit like the moment in the war film when the Kommandant of the POW camp says, “For you, ze varr iss over.” You realise that from now on the rules of the game have changed, but that you don’t have to play by them. It’s strangely liberating.

At about this time my wife was working on a (proper) book and asked me if I’d do some drawings for it. At the end of the day, all I ended up doing was an acorn and an oak tree, but that’s another story. As part of my scribbling I drew various versions of a demented-looking kid tapping at a laptop.

Again about the same time some buffoon from the Defence Ministry or somewhere lost a laptop full of sensitive information (like they do from time-to-time). And I thought that somebody like the kid I’d drawn would probably have nicked it and deleted all the government secrets while looking for porno.

This was how the first story (Reaching the LEARNER) began to form in my mind…