Coulrophobia

Yes, there is a word for an excessive or irrational fear of clowns: coulrophobia. I figured there must be a word for it, so I looked it up. Sure enough. Coulrophobia.

I was getting my teeth cleaned today, and the hygienist told me she'd checked out the site a few times, but that she doesn't like clowns. Now, disliking and fearing are different things, but the issue is the same: there are people who don't want to read the strip simply because it's about clowns. I suppose it's no different than someone not wanting to read Garfield because he or she hates cats, or not wanting to watch Yogi Bear cartoons because he/she is afraid of bears. But it's frustrating. I decided to do a strip about clowns because no one else was doing that. And I decided to make them everyday people--that is, put them in offices, factories, shops, rather than in a circus--because I wanted to use them simply as a vehicle for humor. The whole "life is a circus" metaphor.

Yes, they live in tents (which have framed doors and windows, not canvas flaps), but that's a play on our world if it were inhabited by clowns, just like the stone houses and real-pig garbage disposals in the Flintstones. Maybe if these people got to know the strip, they'd feel better. I do plan at some point to start using the same characters and give them names, but that requires drawing them the same each time, and that seems like a bit of a burden. No one ever said Gary Larson should have the same cast of characters!...although I'll concede that there was frequently the familiar cow, fat kid with glasses, fat woman with glasses, etc. Anyway, maybe having a familiar clown named Rupert or Elvis or whatever will enable coulrophobics to embrace (figuratively, not literally!) the denizens of QlownTown.

Hey, maybe I could actually cure some clown-haters or -fearers by exposing them to clowns that they might see as often as, or even more frequently than, their favorite uncle Howie. Familiarity breeds contentment, sometimes. Therapy through the funnies.

In the meantime, if you're telling anyone about QlownTown and they say, "Oh, but I hate/am afraid of clowns", explain to them that these guys are a harmless vehicle for delivering the same off-the-wall, insightful, literate humor that other cartoonists--some of whom may be among his or her favorites--do. Once they start appearing in newspapers, they'll frequently be in black and white anyway. Maybe that will be less threatening or offensive. But it's the 21st century. Isn't it about time we accepted all people of color...even if it's just makeup?