Cho, Frank 1971–

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Cho, Frank 1971–

PERSONAL: Born Duk Hyun Cho, 1971, in Seoul, South Korea; immigrated to United States c. 1977; married; wife's name Cari. Education: Attended Prince Georges County College; University of Maryland, B.S. (nursing), 1996.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Image Comics, 1071 N. Batavia St., Ste. A, Orange, CA 92867.

CAREER: Illustrator and writer. Creator of the comic strip and the comic book series Liberty Meadows.

AWARDS, HONORS: Charles Schulz award; Scripps-Howard award for best college cartoonist; Ignatz awards for outstanding artist and outstanding comic book, for Liberty Meadows.

WRITINGS:

University Squared: The Angry Years, Insight Studios, 1996.

Liberty Meadows: Big Book of Love, Insight Studios, 2001.

Liberty Meadows: Eden, Image Comics (Orange, CA), 2004.

Liberty Meadows: Creature Comforts, Image Comics (Orange, CA), 2004.

Illustrator of covers and writings by others, contributor to collections.

SIDELIGHTS: Cartoonist Frank Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea, and came to the United States with his parents as a child. He became involved with illustration at an early age, and while he was in college, he created strips for school papers, including his "University2." Upon graduating, Cho signed with Creators Syndicate and continued his strip under its new name, "Liberty Meadows."

"Liberty Meadows" is set in an animal sanctuary populated by homeless animals, and those who have some sort of psychological or emotional problem. The human caretaker is the voluptuous Brandy, and Frank, who was a duck in "University2," became a human veterinarian. Dean the pig is in detox; Ralph is a midget circus bear, and Leslie is a hypochondriac bullfrog. Other major characters include Oscar the wiener dog and Truman, a duckling.

"Liberty Meadows" was frequently attacked for its content, which some—including newspaper editors who dropped the strip—felt that Cho pushed the boundaries. Some complained that Brandy was too sexy, although decades earlier the figure of Al Capp's Daisy Mae caused far less stir. Over the five years the strip was in syndication, its distribution rose and fell, and at one point, it was carried by more than one hundred papers. After years of controversy, Cho ended the strip in December, 2001, although it continued in syndication overseas, and transferred his characters to a comic book of the same name.

On his home page, Cho answered questions regarding the strip, including one about the real-life model for Brandy. Cho explained that Brandy "is a composite of several women whom I have lusted after since second grade. She's based on Lynda Carter, Bettie Page, Candy Loving, and two girls from my high school, who, one of them particularly, looked like Brandy…. But personality-wise, I just kind of made her up. To be honest with you, I don't know how the minds of women work. So I just made her the most rational, sane character out of the bunch."

About Brandy's roommate, Cho said that "Jen is modeled after an old high school acquaintance of mine. She was a hottie. But, the personality of Jen is completely fabricated. I wanted Jen to be the complete opposite of Brandy. Jen is bad while Brandy is good. Jen knows that she is hot, and she has no qualms about using her looks to get what she wants (Wow, wotta woman!)."

In publishing Liberty Meadows the comic book, Cho had the freedom to express himself on any issue, be it violence, race, religion, sex, or drugs, although restricting himself to a format that is appropriate for teens and adults. Earning a number of prestigious awards, his work has been collected in several volumes, including Liberty Meadows: Eden, which Library Journal critic Steve Raiteri called "funny stuff."