Not a week goes by that I don’t check my inbox and see a variation of the following question: “Mr. Bell/Darrin/Moron, how do you get the characters in ‘Candorville’ to seem so three-dimensional? I want to work long hours for 1970’s wages as a cartoonist someday, but my characters seem so flat and lifeless.”Here’s how you do it, kids: stay in school, read as much literature as you can get your hands on, and always cross at the crosswalk (I don’t know what that has to do with learning about character development, but it’s a good idea anyway).Other tricks: Pay attention to the people around you, and create backstories for them in your head. See a homeless person? Create a story about how he ended up that way. Not only will you be on the road toward developing three dimensional characters, but focusing on the plight of another human being helps you develop your “compassion muscle.” Unless, of course, you come up with some calvinist backstory about how the guy’s homeless because he deserves to be, which would be a pretty boring, two-dimensional story.Or you can take the easy way out, and simply channel your inner loser. Be critical of yourself. Have you done anything stupid that you wish nobody would ever know about? Don’t repress it deep in your subconscious, where it’ll fester until it eats some choice part of your soul. Don’t live in denial. Confess your loserness to the world. Not only will it keep your soul from being eaten, it’ll give you some quality character development.Case in point:Of course, for this strip I used option A. I would never do something like this in real life.•••

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When Al Gore ran for the presidency, his opponents mocked his military service, because he had carried a journalist’s pen, not an AK-47, through the jungles of Vietnam. But the mounting death toll of journalists serving in Iraq should serve as a reminder that being a journalist in a war zone is a service every bit as dangerous. Some war zones are closer to home.Oakland Post reporter Chauncey Bailey was struck down by a masked assassin on a busy intersection in broad daylight this morning. I lived in Oakland for 7 years and I only met Chauncey once, in 2004 at the New California Media convention. He was an Oakland Tribune reporter at the time. What a character. A no-nonsense “just the facts” kind of questioner, but at the same time, his writing showed a person eager to point out the larger picture facts sometimes obscure. That probably describes most journalists, but with most journalists I know, that’s the hat they put on when they go to work, or else it’s just one tool in their trade. With Chauncey, it seemed from our brief meeting and the e-mails that followed, that that was who he was. A reliably double sided coin: all business, but on the flip side, all compassion.Chauncey was a race-conscious writer – a man who obviously wanted to use his talents to encourage the black community in Oakland and California to confront uncomfortable truths and to participate fully in society rather than remain balkanized and demoralized. Sometimes I disagreed with the conclusions he drew in his writing, but I never disagreed with his motivation or his idealism.Chauncey became interested in helping Candorville gain the attention of the Oakland Tribune. It isn’t easy for a new strip to break into new markets, even when it’s your hometown paper. Oftentimes, editors won’t look past the cover of the sales brochure, let alone read far enough to realize the cartoonist lives just 28 blocks from them. Chauncey gave my wife the publisher’s phone number, and we called and introduced ourselves. About a year later, the ANG, which owns the Tribune, added Candorville. This was after my syndicate’s editor flew out to encourage ANG to take a good look at the strip, but I don’t doubt that Chauncey’s help played a role.He profiled me in 2004 and wrote an article about my work for the regional black press. Actually, he sent my wife Laura a list of questions (I guess he knew who the efficient one was), I gave her my answers and she e-mailed them back to him. I never did see the article, because we were out of town when it ran and I didn’t want to bug him for a copy. But Laura and I looked through her old e-mail file and we still have the questions, and my answers. These pretty much sum up my impression of the man. Each question is concise, no-nonsense. All business. In that, you see Chauncey’s mind. But if you look at the subtext, you see the man’s heart.

===== Comments by cbailey@angnewspapers.com (Chauncey Bailey) at 6/09/04 3:08 pmI can do a feature on (Darrin) for the regional black press. tell me (50 words or less per question)1. His background.Darrin: My father’s black, and my mother is Jewish (white). I was born in South Central L.A. and raised in East L.A. and the San Fernando Valley. I was bused 40 miles per day to magnet schools. I graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a BA in Political Science in 1999, and chose to stay in Oakland.2. How he got started?Darrin:I edited my high school paper and continued pursuing journalism in college. I drew editorial cartoons and comic strips for the Daily Cal, and when I felt I was good enough I started faxing them every day to the LA Times, Oakland Trib and SF Chronicle. They all eventually started running them.3. Why?Darrin:I want to show a more developed view of Blacks and Latinos than I’ve seen in the comics pages. They’re either angry about injustice 24-7 or they’re the Cosby’s. Reality is a mix of all that. I want to show minorities with a wide range of thoughts and goals.4. Successes?Darrin:To my knowledge I’m the first and only Black cartoonist to have two comic strips in syndication, and the youngest (of any race) to do so. At 20 (in 1995), I was the youngest editorial cartoonist to be published regularly inthe LA times. My work’s been on CNN, and other television news broadcasts. I won several awards in college.5. Setbacks?Darrin:My first comic strip, “Rudy Park,” focused on the dotcom revolution until that revolution crashed in 2000. Most of the magazines that ran the strip went out of business. Then it was syndicated. Editorial cartooning setbacks came when papers began using more syndicated work and less freelance work. “Candorville” hasn’t had any setbacks – yet.6. Goals?Darrin:To reach as many readers as possible and present them with an image of African-Americans and Latinos that doesn’t gloss over the downsides of life, but that never loses its appreciation for the good in life. I want to show you don’t have to be angry to be passionate. You don’t have to be disrespectful to get respect.7. Tips for young Black artistsDarrin:Practice. Have something IMPORTANT to say and figure out how best to say it, whether it’s visual or performing arts. But don’t wait for someone to discover you. You’ve got to take initiative. Enter contests. Even if you don’t win, you’re getting your name out there. Submit your work in a professional manner to as many people as you can. Network – meet people in the industry you want to be part of, and do not be afraid to ask them for advice. Usually, they’ll be glad to help you.

What I want to know is, what was Chauncey working on, what had he already written, or what else was he involved in, that may have gotten him assassinated? But this is Oakland. Who knows if the investigation will go farther than a fruitless sweep of the East side and a shrug of the shoulders.

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