Page Created: 02/20/25. Last Updated: 03/18/25.
TIM RICKARD
ONLINE
Website: <http://www.brewsterrockit.com/home.html/>
Brewster Rockit @ Go Comics: https://www.gocomics.com/brewsterrockit
Brewster Rockit @ Tribune Content Agency: https://tribunecontentagency.com/premium-content/comics/brewster-rockit-space-guy/
Brewster Rockit @ Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster_Rockit:_Space_Guy!
SOCIAL MEDIA
FaceBook: <https://www.facebook.com/brewsterrockit>
Twitter: <https://x.com/brewsterrockit>
Meeting Date: February 8, 2025.
Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference
Attendance: 18
Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A w/Comic Strip Creator
Notes:
Four people attended the post-meeting discussion.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2025 Philip J De Parto:
The threat of bad weather caused a change in meeting venue and speaker for the Saturday, February 8, 2025 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County. Instead of holding the gathering with fantasy writer Henry Neff at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, the group went online with newspaper cartoonist Tim Rickard through zoom video conference.
Tim Rickard writes and draws BREWSTER ROCKET, SPACE GUY, a strip which appears both in print and online. Brewster is the square-jawed, dim-witted commander of the R U Sirius space station which orbits the Earth and is our point-of-contact for the wide arry of aliens interested in the planet. His department heads are competent but foul-tempered Operations Officer Pamela Mae Snap, Mad Science Officer Dr Mel Practice, and work-adverse Chief Engineer Cliff Clewless.
Our speaker stated that he was an art geek as a child. He would constantly draw monsters, rocket ships, dinosaurs, and other oddities. He would do quick, little sketches on the moisture-fogged windows of businesses when his parents brought him to stores and restaurants. He was totally disinterested in academics and barely graduated high school with a "D" average.
Afterwards he took a job in construction and realized "this isn't fun." Kentucky Wesleyan College accepted him as a probationary art major. Tim had talent and drive. He earned his degree and launched a career as a graphic artist. He also pitched idea after idea to the newspaper syndicates and collected rejection after rejection. He created BREWSTER ROCKIT, SPACE GUY figuring that as long as he was going to be rebuffed, he might as well get rejected for something he liked instead of emulating whatever was hot at the time.
The strip caught the eye of an editor at the Tribune who felt the work had merit but needed refinement. Tim was given an unpaid three month trial period to prove that he could produce a daily strip. He succeeded and BREWSTER ROCKIT, SPACE GUY debuted on July 5, 2025.
Additional Meeting Notes appear on the SFABC website under 2025 - 02.2015 Meeting.
Meeting Notes:
An art geek since he was a child.
One time his folks took him to a store. When they turned around they saw he had drawn something on the condensation of the window.
Drew constantly in class: rockets, dinosaurs, monsters.
Not interested in school - had D average in High School.
Worked in construction after graduation: this isn't fun.
Got into Kentucky Wesleyan College as an Art Major on probation due to his bad grades.
Graduated and become a graphic artist.
There was interest in a CGI Brewster Rockit movie around 2010. He went to Hollywood, met people, but nothing ever came of it.
Would love to do an animated Brewster Rockit short if he ever finds the time.
Keeps an Idea File on his phone notepad.
Did Brewster Rockit crossover with cartoonist Scott Metzger one time ten years ago.
Lots of NASA employees, including Marc Raman, JPL Chief Engineer for Mission Operations & Science.
Heard from son of Eugene Parker, son of Eugene Parker from NASA's Parker Space Probe.
Brewster is so dumb he's like Homer Simpson.
Doing a comic strip is like doing a movie in your head and you don't need a budget.
Alien races include cat people and dog people who are at war.
He likes to create aliens from everyday objects such as:
Tool People
Coin People
Finger People
Cheese People
Fruit People
Cavemen
Corporal Mittens grew out of cat people strip.
Did an extended LOTR / Star Wars cross over.
Elevator mistaken for a transporter inspired by The Office.
Ikea spaceship.
Likes puns.
Original Oldbot design served with cease-and-desist order from Dino De Laurantis for similarities to Lost in Space robot.
Brewster is well-meaning, but dim.
Pam is smart but sharp-edged.
His character Bucky was the mascot for a LA science fiction fan club.
Riffs on Star Wars because the characters are so visual.
Has featured blogging androids.
Harlan Ellison liked "I have no nose and I must sneeze" strip.
He has also riffed on Star Trek, Doctor Who, & Stargate.
Creating a comic strip is not much different than ditch digging. They both entail a lot of repetetive work.
Day job is in graphic design and illustration. He worked for as a house illustrator for a newspaper. He is now a freelance commercial illustrator. He did illustrations for CMS Center for Medicare.
Has done illustrations for the fusion technology industry.
Brewster cartoons have made it into the International Space Station.
Started out drawing in black & white and scanning into the coputer. Now he composes the whole thing on the computer with Adobe Illustrator.
Influences - Calvin & Hobbs. The Far Side. Bloom County. Mad Magazine. Poor Richard's Almanac.
Most of his mail is complements, not criticism.
Doesn't do merchandising.
Has toyed with a Brewster Rockit Game.
Doesn't look at his royalty statements. Has no idea how many newspapers carry the strip, but it's less than it used to be because the whole newspaper industry is cratering.
He submitted a wide variety of comic strips to the syndicates, but all were rejected. He figured that he might as well draw something he liked so that he would get some enjoyment from the work despite the rejection.
Science fiction is a really hard sell because you have to write the strip on two levels, one for the fans, and one for the general public. One of the editors at Tribune thought that Brewster Rockit had potential, but needed refining. He accepted the strip on an unpaid three month trial basis. Rickard had to polish his product and prove that he could deliver a daily strip. The strip officially debuted on July 5, 2004.
Tim Rickard is a perfectionist who needs deadlines or he would never finish anything.