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James Usher

Ernie Anbert

Reinholdt Karl Heinrich

Guillermo Del Fumador

Isabela Cabeza

Anca Popescu

Saima Kahn

Who's this: Usher, who mostly goes just by his last name, is the main character of the strip. He is a recently hired employee at an office in Washington D.C. He's generally pretty compassionate but can get a little frustrated or freaked out by all the crazy things and people that seem to turn up in his life.

What was I thinking: He's plays the character of the normal man, found in any good sitcom or comic strip, reacting to all the wacky and bizarre things happening around him. He went from university to an office simply because it was where I found myself in real life, and I suddenly had a lot more material for a comic. This is why I restarted U-Boy.

There's been some speculation as to why he's named Usher. Well, just because I wanted a name that began with 'U', for 'U-Boy!', which is supposed to stand for 'University-Boy'. But, it also sounds kind of like, 'Hoo boy!', you know, which is what you can say when you're frustrated.

And no, it's not because my last name is 'Yoo.'

Who's this: Ernie is an office colleague of Usher. His hobbies include playing the game "World of Warquest" and listening to his extensive Cher CD collection. As a practical joker with an interest in unusual gadgets, his pranks often cause Usher some form of pain, directly or indirectly.

What was I thinking: The new characters in the comic are more directly based on real people. So Ernie, like pretty much every other new character, is based on someone I work with at the office. In real life, Ernie's counterpart plays "World of Warcraft", but as far as I know does not own any Cher music. He is also kind of a malicious guy in real life.

Who's this: Reinholdt is a "senior" resource at Usher's office. With a thick German accent and an unknown age that is definitely above 100, he is always willing to provide his unique viewpoint on everything as well as share his many years of experiences with the new guy at the office. Although he is pretty nuts and still upholds some ideals that should have died years ago.

What was I thinking: Reinholdt was probably the first new character I came up when I decided to revive the strip. He's based on a real person at the office where I work. He's not German and he didn't fight in Vietnam, but he is bald, wears glasses and is somewhat old.

Who's this: Guillermo is an office colleague of Usher's. He's very laid back and is constantly smoking, or at least has a cigarette in his mouth. No matter what, he always remains calm and is generally unenthused about everything, but that's just his nature rather than apathy.

What was I thinking: I admit, Guillermo is based on someone again, but I didn't really take as much from him. The "real" Guillermo is a tall man who used to smoke. So you can see the similarities already. But the "real" Guillermo doesn't have long hair or a mustache.

Recommended Guillermo comics
Dream Team
Hawt Topic
Up in Smoke

Who's this: An office assistant where Usher works, Isabela is constantly overworked by people who are clueless of that fact, and so has become very quick to anger and violence. Usher has discovered this firsthand many times.

What was I thinking: Isbela is based on someone whom I used to work with. She was usually the opposite of Isabela in terms of aggressiveness and anger. Although one time the "real" Isabela carried around a big switchblade. She never threatened anyone with it but everyone did question the reasoning behind carrying such a thing.

Who's this: Anca is an intern at the office. While sweet and attractive she is somewhat manipulative, although never malicious. She just knows how best to utilize whatever available resources for whatever task she wants done, even if these resources include people.

What was I thinking: Well this is quite a story. Anca is the first character I've created whose real-life inspiration actually asked to be in the comic. Initially I thought of creating a goth girl based on the "real" Anca, since she's from Romania (home of Dracula). But she didn't like it one bit. But then I had this funny idea for a comic where a girl would sit on Usher's lap to get him to do something. And the only female character was Isabela and it wasn't in her charcter to do that. So, I created a character who would, and made her based on the "real" Anca. Oh, and the "real" Anca finds it funny. In her words, "Oh great, I'm either the goth girl or the office slut!"

And no, she's never sat in my lap.

Who's this: A colleague of Usher's at the office. A stylish and confident woman hailing from London, Saima's high standards of taste and constant frustrations at people who fail to grasp them are always issues with her. That all goes out the window whenever she's near Guillermo, with whom she is so madly in love with he reduces her to a nervous wreck. But so far he seems somewhat oblivious to that fact.

What was I thinking: Saima mostly came about because the "real" Anca wanted one of our colleagues to also be in the comic. I think it was mostly because she wanted to see this other colleague made fun of. It took a while though because I never want to make characters for no reason; they have to serve some purpose.

U-Boy, the U-Boy characters created by and ©1999 - 2007 Ryan Yoo
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