Floridian Discusses Doing a Daily Comic While Dodging Hurricanes

By: Dave Astor When "Clear Blue Water" creator Karen Montague-Reyes evacuated her Florida Keys home on Oct. 23 as Hurricane Wilma approached, it was the seventh time she and her family fled a hurricane in the past two years. How does a cartoonist and mother of five keep up with a daily comic strip under those circumstances?

"It's tremendously disruptive," admitted Montague-Reyes, when interviewed Friday morning by E&P.

But she manages, as her Wilma experience exemplified. Among the mounds of stuff Montague-Reyes packed before leaving the Keys (she and her family didn't know if their house would survive Wilma) were cartooning supplies. These included a hard drive and scanner (not so much to use as to protect), lightbox, paper, pens, and more than a year's worth of "Clear Blue Water" ideas scribbled in notebooks. "Whenever something hits me, I write it down," explained Montague-Reyes, whose partly autobiographical comic stars a multiracial family of seven.

Just before she left the Keys on Sunday, Montague-Reyes sent Universal Press Syndicate her "Clear Blue Water" comics for the week of Nov. 28. (She usually sends strips on Mondays.) Then her family drove to the Miami home of the cartoonist's mother-in-law. Montague-Reyes said she was aware Wilma would probably hit Miami, too, but figured it would be safer there if a storm surge hit the Keys.

While in Miami, Montague-Reyes wrote "Clear Blue Water" scripts for the week of Dec. 5, but -- as in her past hurricane sojourns at her mother-in-law's -- had difficult drawing. "People tend to stand around and look at what you're doing," she said. "It makes me nervous!"

Montague-Reyes and her family returned to the Keys on Wednesday, and found their hurricane luck had run out. The previous six hurricanes caused little or no damage to their house, but Wilma was not so benevolent. "Half of the screened front porch was crushed, and the other half acted like a sail when the wind got under it and ended up in the backyard," she said. "An 80-pound cement block supporting one of the porch posts punched a hole in the roof."

Rain got through the hole, causing water damage and mold and leaving a smell that pervades the house they rent from the National Park Service, for which the cartoonist's husband works. Montague-Reyes said it's possible the NPS may ask the family to leave the house permanently because of the mold -- after which they might move to whatever part of the country her husband could find another NPS job.

Montague-Reyes has mixed feelings about that, noting it would be a relief not to constantly deal with hurricanes but that she'd miss their Keys house "terribly." The former Californian has lived there for eight years.

The house -- on a property that saw Wilma knock down one of four big trees and shear branches off the other three -- got power back Wednesday and phone and Internet service Thursday. "We have a different power company than Miami, and the Keys are tiny comparatively, so we always get our services back sooner," said Montague-Reyes. But some power lines are still down, so the cartoonist is not letting her children (who range in age from 12 to 4) leave the house. And with cable out and no school until Monday, she added, the kids are bored.

Meanwhile, Montague-Reyes is drawing her strips for the week of Dec. 5 in preparation for sending them to Universal this Monday.

Given how hurricanes have permeated the cartoonist's life since she began "Clear Blue Water" in May 2004, is that reflected in her comic? So far, the answer is no. Montague-Reyes explained that since she does the comic several weeks in advance, she can't predict exactly how a hurricane would play out and would also risk inadvertently making light of something very tragic. When asked if she might perhaps introduce a hurricane story line in a flashback format, Montague-Reyes said that could be a possibility.

The cartoonist said that as difficult as Wilma has been for her family, many other Floridians sustained more damage to their homes, might not have power for weeks, and are stuck in long lines waiting for ice, water, food, and gas. Numerous Hurricane Katrina victims had it much worse than that, added Montague-Reyes, who concluded: "We have been very fortunate."