The Wizards of I.T.

I know... the above title is almost the same as the epic Parker and Hart strip. Difference is, this strip was intended to parody an actual group of I.T. wizards working for a Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology subsidiary organization named CiTRi (Corroborative Information Technology Research Institute) during 1994. While you're trying to pick your way through that title, try to picture my problem in trying to make fun of these boffins' when, at the time, I could hardly grasp the meaning of I.T. itself.

A few back-ground details. I was originally commissioned to do the comic strip by the publisher of the CiTRi group quarterly magazine. About all he told me was the phone number of their in-house Editor. That lady negotiated my fees for the task, telling me the board had decreed that the heavily technical publication needed a 'lighter' touch in the form of cartoons. She also undertook to provide me with plain-english technical information on what CiTRi was doing. When I received the info., I immediately saw a remarkable parallel between CiTRi research elements and the famous 'Alice in Wonderland' story. To this day, I have no idea what the co-incidental project names meant ... so, it would be fruitless to ask. Suffice to say it was much easier than I had initially feared. Only snag after that was in a character study where I had named the Mad Hatter 'Hacker' which they thought may not be quite appropriate. Obtaining payment for the work was not difficult ... but unique. Believe it or not, RMIT at that time had no mechanism for paying outside contractors for services not available within campus. I had to temporarily join the institute as a staff member! Didn't get a gown and mortar board though.

The only other oddity of note was the main character. It turned out to be a caricature of the CiTRi CEO, whom I had never met or seen a likeness of prior to delivering the finished strips for publication. He later commissioned me for cartoons and cover designs for another august industry magazine ... so, obviously no umbrage taken. The strips below all appeared in the first CiTri magazine after the cotract, followed by a similar number in following issues thru' 1994/5.