New 'Ink Pen' Strip Features Unemployed Cartoon Characters

By: E&P Staff An employment agency run by cartoon characters trying to find jobs for out-of-work cartoon characters is the setting of a new comic that was launched Monday by Universal Press Syndicate.

The agency in "Ink Pen" is run by Bixby the rat and Fritz the dog. Among their clients are Hamhock, a naive pig trying to break into show business; Captain Victory, a morally bankrupt superhero; and Ralston Rabbit, a high-brow, bow-tie-wearing bunny stuck doing physically violent commercial work.

"Ink Pen" was created by Phil Dunlap, a Massacusetts native who has worked in advertising in Los Angeles for the past three years. The Tufts University graduate also spent two years doing freelance storyboard work for clients such as Saturday Night Live, MTV, U2, and Jay-Z. Dunlap's cartoons have appeared in alternative weeklies in San Francisco, Arizona, and New York.