Michael R Jukes

No I'm Not He Is Michael R Jukes

Flying Snake was born in the mid 1980s in Brooklyn. I'd migrated there from Dallas after moving to Dallas from Little Rock. I was living in Brooklyn doing artwork, pasting up a magazine in the city. I did some drawings and sent them to Little Rock and sold them in a gallery. This flying snake appeared from a random group of drawings. After moving back to Little Rock several years later I began doing illustrations and cartoons for a local newsweekly. There were many random cartoons that were published but I threw in that flying snake in one. After a few more random cartoons had run, the staff at the paper said "Give us more of that snake." I was obliged and he reappeared. He started out very primitive, total nonsense focused on silly. Bad drawings, bad puns, unbearably corny etc. At first he had the run all to himself, cocky and full of irreverent attitude. And he'd shout while he was flying, "SKREE SCRAW!"At some point his friend Oyyo came along. Of undetermined origin and specificity. He became his sidekick and foil. Flying Snake became relaxed and confident and things rolled off his back. Oyyo assumed the angst and anxiety. A little rage and half-cocked unpredictability was predictable. Reckless 'doing it my way' sensibility. Flying Snake the ideal, Oyyo, not so. Two sides of the coin. Enjoy!