Owly

AUTHOR: Runton, Andy

ARTIST: Andy Runton (illustrator)

PUBLISHER: Top Shelf Productions

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 2003-

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2003-

Publication History

The inspiration for Owly came from a series of doodles that Andy Runton drew for his mother while he studied industrial design in college. After a stint as a graphic designer, Runton was laid off in 2001 and considered pursuing a career in comics after being reintroduced to the medium through the works created by Scott Morse and Jim Mahfood and published by Top Shelf Productions. After many failed attempts at creating comics, Runton returned to the owl character he created for his mother.

Runton sold minicomics featuring Owly at local conventions and maintained a close relationship with Chris Staros, publisher of Top Shelf Productions. Staros provided editorial advice and, later, table space at conventions for Runton to sell his comics. Following advice from Staros, Runton applied for a Xeric grant to self-publish his Owly stories, but he was rejected. After watching the development of Runton’s stories over a year, Staros decided to publish the book himself. The first Owly book was published in 2003 and within five years, Runton and Top Shelf had published four more. A picture book featuring Owly and Wormy was also published by Simon & Schuster in 2011, with a follow-up scheduled for 2012. The sixth Owly book, A Fishy Situation,was scheduled for 2011 release. Runton and Top Shelf have also released several free Owly mini-comics that are available to download online.

Plot

Owly is a series of largely self-contained stories with simple plots. Volume 1 includes two short stories, while Volumes 2 through 4 are book-length tales. Volume 5 is a collection of previously unpublished material.

The Way Home (one of the two stories in Volume 1) opens with Owly trying to make friends with three small birds and a pair of fireflies—they are all terrified of him. A discouraged Owly heads home through a rainstorm and comes across a worm drowning in a puddle of water. He brings the worm home and nurses him back to health. When Wormy awakes, he tells Owly how he was separated from his parents during the storm. Owly vows to help Wormy find his family. Lost in the forest, wormy and Owly are guided by two fireflies. Unable to find his home, Wormy spots a broken sign that once indicated where his parents lived, and he assumes the worst. After a tumble down a hill, the two new friends suddenly smell food cooking, and they follow the smell to Wormy’s parents’ new home. Wormy’s parents are happy to see their son but panic when they see Owly. Wormy explains to his parents that Owly helped him. The next day, Owly begins his journey home, and Wormy decides to go with him.

In Volume 1’s second story, The Bittersweet Summer, Owly and Wormy are tending their garden when something suddenly flies past them. Using his binoculars, Owly spots a mysterious bird, and the two put out birdseed in the hope of catching a closer glimpse of this strange bird. A hummingbird appears for a moment but then flies away. Back at the tree house, Wormy and Owly read about hummingbirds and then visit Mrs. Raccoon’s nursery to purchase a flower that will attract them. With a nectar plant in place, two hummingbirds (Tiny and Angel) appear and make friends with Owly and Wormy.

The four spend the summer together. After summer is over, Tiny and Angel explain that they need to seek a warmer climate for the winter. Months pass; when spring comes, the hummingbirds return.

In Just a Little Blue, Volume 2 in the series, Owly and Wormy follow a bluebird back to its nest. Feeling threatened by Owly, the bluebird attacks and tells the pair to go away. While purchasing more birdseed at Mrs. Raccoon’s nursery, Wormy spots a poster for a bluebird house. Owly does not have enough money for the house, but Mrs. Raccoon gives him plans to build his own. Discouraged when they realize they have no wood, Owly and Wormy decide to dismantle their gardening cart and use the wood to build the birdhouse. With the help of Flutter, their butterfly friend, Owly and Wormy hang the completed birdhouse on the branch of a tree and wait. The next morning, Owly and Wormy hope to find that the bluebirds have moved into their new home, when suddenly they are attacked by the birds. Utterly discouraged, Owly, Wormy, and Flutter take down the birdhouse. During a storm, the bluebird tries to protect his mate and their fledglings. Owly and Wormy head outside in the rain to tidy their lawn when Flutter arrives and guides them to the bluebird’s nest that is nearly toppling over. One of the tiny birds is missing. They find it trapped in a thorny bush. Wormy wiggles between the sharp thorns and convinces the baby bird to come out. With the bluebirds’ home destroyed, Owly offers them the birdhouse he and Wormy built.

Volume 3, Flying Lessons, again features Owly and Wormy who see a strange creature flying through the forest at dusk. They draw the creature and bring their sketches to Mrs. Raccoon, who identifies the creature as a flying squirrel. Determined to befriend the squirrel, Owly and Wormy fill a bowl with dried fruit and nuts and wait. After dozing off, the pair wakes and sees the squirrel eating. As soon as the squirrel realizes the two are no longer asleep, he hides. Wormy explains to the squirrel that Owly is friendly but the squirrel runs off again.

Alone in the middle of the night, Wormy finds the squirrel, and the two become friends. After a long night of gliding through the sky, Wormy dozes high in a tree with the squirrel. The next morning Owly is upset when Wormy is missing and enlists the help of Flutter, who spots Wormy at the top of a tree with the flying squirrel. At the base of the tree Owly calls to his friend, waking the squirrel, who flies away, leaving Wormy stranded. Since Owly cannot fly to his friend, Wormy jumps down the tree, leaping from branch to branch. One of the branches snaps and Wormy falls, landing on a branch close to the ground. Owly takes his bruised friend home, while the flying squirrel watches. Upset by his inability to help Wormy, Owly is determined to learn how to fly. After many attempts, Owly gives up. Still struggling with the idea of a friendly owl, the flying squirrel shows Owly how to glide through the air. Owly returns home with Flutter and their new friend Rocky, the flying squirrel, to tell Wormy about his new talent.

In A Time to Be Brave (Volume 4), Wormy is scared of a dragon that appears in a book Owly reads aloud. To distract Wormy, Owly suggests that the group go outside and play ball. Wormy’s worries reappear when he sees a peculiar animal behind a tree. Wormy is convinced it is a dragon. Frozen with fear, Wormy neglects to see the ball that bounces off his head and crashes into a newly transplanted tree. Assessing the damage, Owly supports the tree with some rope and fastens a wire fence around it, protecting it from further harm.

That evening while preparing for bed, Owly and Wormy hear a strange noise. Outside, they find the animal from earlier that day with its paw caught in the fence around the tree. Upset that his actions hurt this creature, Owly tries to help, but the creature snarls at him. Wormy is terrified, still convinced that the creature is a dragon, but remembers how happy he was when Owly helped him when they first met. Wormy crawls through the fence and frees the small animal, which quickly runs off. With the help of Mrs. Raccoon, Owly and Wormy search the forest until they find the small creature. While Owly nurses the creature’s sore paw, Mrs. Raccoon consults one of Owly’s books and discovers that the animal is an opossum. Owly and Wormy leave the opossum a get-well card by his bed, but when they awake, the little animal is gone. They return to the damaged tree to find the opossum and hand him the card. The opossum reads the card and realizes that Owly is truly a friend. With all their other friends, the three read more fairytales together, including one with a dragon. Wormy reassures his new friend Possey that dragons exist only in stories.

Volumes

•Owly:The Way Home & The Bittersweet Summer (2004). Owly meets Wormy for the first time, and the two meet Tiny and Angel, a pair of hummingbirds.

•Owly:Volume 2,Just a Little Blue (2005). Owly and Wormy help a bluebird family find a new home.

•Owly:Volume 3, Flying Lessons (2005). Owly learns how to fly with the help of their new friend, Rocky the flying squirrel.

•Owly:Volume 4, A Time to Be Brave (2007). Wormy mistakes an opossum for a dragon, but Owly gives his friend a lesson in bravery.

•Owly:Volume 5, Tiny Tales (2008). A collection of previously unpublished stories, including Top Shelf’s Free Comic Book Day stories, the first Owly minicomics, and other short comics.

Characters

•Owly, the protagonist, is a caring but often misunderstood owl. He loves making new friends with all creatures of the forest and is extremely protective of them.

•Wormy is an enthusiastic worm and Owly’s best friend. He also loves making friends and has a strong sense of adventure but often requires Owly’s support when facing his fears.

•Mrs. Raccoon runs the nursery that Owly and Wormy visit for their gardening needs. She is generous and helpful. She is also resourceful with a vast knowledge of animals and plants.

•Flutter is a supportive and helpful butterfly. She often acts as a messenger because of her ability to fly.

•Tiny and Angel, appearing in Volume 1 only, are a pair of playful and caring hummingbirds who befriend Owly and Wormy.

•Little Blue is a baby bluebird who is tentative and afraid to take risks. He is rescued by Wormy in Volume 2.

•Rocky is a skittish yet friendly flying squirrel that Owly and Wormy befriend in Volume 3. He also has a strong sense of adventure.

•Possey is a misunderstood opossum that Owly and Wormy befriend in Volume 4. He can be quick to anger in order to protect himself from predators.

Artistic Style

Runton’s personal connection with nature and love of childhood animal characters saturate the pages of Owly. Runton cites characters such as Babar, Paddington Bear, Curious George, and Lyle Lyle Crocodile as major influences for his own characters, ones that display a great deal of charm and personality. All the characters in Owly were modeled after silent animal characters like Snoopy, Woodstock, and Dumbo. Without dialogue, Runton relies solely on his artwork to convey the emotion and personality of his characters. Inspired by Disney films and Saturday morning cartoons, Runton gives his own characters the same simplified visual design.

Owly’s black-and-white art features Runton’s precise brush strokes that look simple but convey subtle emotions and thoughtfulness. Runton’s artwork is clean; he strikes a good balance between white space and detail, conveying a strong sense of place while keeping the story readable.

Three to six panels per page make the series a fast-paced read and ideal for younger readers. Throughout the series, Runton highlights select sequences using a single panel in the middle of the page. This is often to illustrate the importance of the passing of time or to bring attention to a particular action sequence. Because Owly is a wordless graphic novel series, Runton employs a mix of symbols, icons, and pictograms to convey the dialogue between characters and to move the narrative along at a quick pace.

Themes

After reading any volume of Owly, it is clear that the major theme of the series is friendship. The friendship between Owly and Wormy becomes the model to which all other friendships are held: friends should support, help, and protect each other. These qualities are reflected in each book, as Owly and Wormy attempt to make friends with other creatures of the forest. Owly and Wormy exemplify Runton’s values of friendship by saving the baby bluebird in Volume 2, staying persistent in befriending the flying squirrel in Volume 3, and taking care of the opossum’s wounded paw in Volume 4. On the surface this may seem sentimental, but for younger readers, it provides a strong sense of security.

One of Owly’s more complex themes uses metaphor and allegory to convey the importance of challenging stereotypes and prejudice. Owly’s difficulty in making new friends is reminiscent of the stories of Casper the Friendly Ghost, who was so often judged solely on his outward appearance. Many forest animals are afraid of Owly because of his innate predatory nature. Throughout the series, however, Owly subverts this instinct through his kindness, helpfulness, and generosity. Wormy also is able to step outside his perceived capabilities. A worm can be viewed as a weak, passive species, yet Wormy demonstrates a high level of bravery and action throughout the series.

Nature is also an important theme as the forest acts as a venue for learning: Owly and Wormy learn more about the forest and its inhabitants, as do young readers. The series is packed with information about plants and animals. Mrs. Raccoon acts as the conduit for these learning experiences.

Impact

Of the increasing number of comics being produced for children, Owly is one of the first graphic novels aimed specifically at very young readers. Recognizing its place in this category, Top Shelf Productions selected Owly for six consecutive years as the feature character in its annual Free Comic Book Day offering. Runton’s series has been embraced by the general public for its nonviolent subject matter, strong values, and endearing characters. Owly has been embraced by educators. As a wordless graphic novel that uses icons, symbols, and pictograms, the series is viewed as accessible for all literacy levels. More important, the series has been used to teach inference to young readers, a key skill in reading comprehension. The series has also been praised for connecting with visual learners, English-language learners, and text-shy readers and for motivating children to attempt more advanced reading. With educators using Owly in their classroom, Runton has made available a lesson-plan packet on his Web site.

Librarians have also been extremely supportive of Owly, a fact that is reflected in the creation of an Owly and Friends “READ” poster for the American Library Association. Owly has received consistently positive reviews in both library journals and book trade magazines. These reviews refer to the series as charming, genuine, delightful, and representative of an innocence found in early children’s literature and, by extension, early comics for children, such as classic Harvey and Gold Key comic books.

Owly’s wide appeal is also reflective in its fandom. While aimed at young readers, the series has strong reader loyalty of all ages. Runton has expanded this demand for Owly with available merchandise, including T-shirts and plush toys. In addition, Runton’s mother handcrafts a limited number of hats, purses, and buttons in keeping with the series family-friendly spirit. With such a devout fan following with both children and adults, Runton is committed long-term to producing Owly stories.

Further Reading

Spires, Ashley. Binky the Space Cat (2009).

Tanaka, Masashi. Gon (2002).

Varon, Sara. Robot Dreams (2007).

Bibliography

Runton, Andy. “Into the Woods: Andy Runton Talks ‘Owly.’” Interview by Shaun Manning. Comic Book Resources (December 11, 2007). http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=12132.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “Declaration of Independents: Andy Runton.” Interview by Karen Maeda. Sequential Tart (September, 2004). http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/sept04/doi‗0904.shtml.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. “What a Hoot: Runton Talks Owly.” Interview by Justin Jordan. Comic Book Resources (February 23, 2007). http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=9435.