Update: Broken link fixed. Thanks to reader Mithandir for pointing it out.
Damonk mentions in passing that the artist of On the Playground is only twelve years old. Wow. OTP is a funny strip. The drawing is only good for a twelve-year-old, but learning to draw takes a lot of time, and I'm sure Alan Anderson will develop just fine. The gag-writing, on the other hand, goes way beyond that level. The timing, dialogue, characters, and the gag ideas themselves just work which is hard to do at any age. And you don't get the feeling that there's a child's sense of humour at work. It has a child's perspective on the lives of younger children, but that's a good thing. Alan knows these characters well.
Count Your Sheep fans, take note of this Ship Cameo. In fact, this strip deserves special praise, because Alan has given the teacher a personality and an imagination. There are many who wouldn't bother with that and make the authority figure a faceless dullard.
