Cartoonist Of The Moment: Ben Driscoll

I found Ben Driscoll’s adorable webcomic Daisy Owl through a link on Ryan North’s ever-popular Dinosaur Comics. The comic started back in July just as something Driscoll was posting on the Cracked.com forums, but he has since moved it to its own website as its popularity has risen. The comic is about the lives of Mr. Owl, his two adopted human children Daisy and Cooper, and his bear friend Steve. For the most part, the art is very simplistic, with characters comprised out of straightforward linework, minimal shading, and plain grey backgrounds. But don’t let Driscoll’s modest style fool you. In an occasional strip readers get a glimpse of his true artistic talent; Driscoll creates detailed, lively and beautiful scenes that serve as the backdrop of his characters’ world. This panel, titled “The Decent,”as well as a few others, are available for download as wallpaper on Driscoll’s site:

Daisy and Cooper tip toe down the steps of their treehouse in Ben Driscoll's "Daisy Owl"

In a way, Daisy Owl is a strip about unconventional families. Most of the time, the fact that Daisy and Cooper’s father is an owl is taken for granted, but occasionally the comic will show the specific obstacles Mr. Owl confronts as an adoptive parent. Steve also has an unusual background. As a half-grizzy, half-polar bear adopted and raised by humans, Steve occasionally suffers identity issues and struggles to reconnect with his “bear roots.” Each character in Daisy Owl is a misfit in some way. Even the minor characters, like Jeremy, a kid who has a rare condition that makes him queasy around large numbers, or Kate, Steve’s at-times-overly-candid love interest, are quirky and bizarre and give the comic as a whole its unique personality.

At it’s core Daisy Owl is a lighthearted and sometimes absurd story about a family, but the way Driscoll uses humor to brush up against more serious topics yields incredibly heartwarming results. Through the comic, the Owl family shares their thoughts about death, experiences with diversity, and express their deepest fears, and while really these moments are supposed to be funny, I also find them somewhat touching. And I think that’s kind of the point in Daisy Owl. First you laugh at the joke, and then you feel good because this owl, this bear, and these two human kids all love each other so much even though they are impossibly different.

I love this comic because it makes me smile on a daily basis. Driscoll’s ability to recreate childlike wonderment in the mundane, and ridiculous banter between friends, and wild and far-fetched backstories for each character make this seemingly simple comic quite complex and engaging. Driscoll talks about some of his influences and where he intends to take the comic in an interview that you can read here. If you are ever feeling down, go read this comic and you might feel just a tiny bit better about the world.