This is the earliest drawing of Alex I can find, from 1983. This is so early, in fact, that back then he wasn’t even called Alex– his original name was… Ketel. I can’t imagine now why I ever thought that name was a good choice. For that matter, every once in a while I have to sit back and wonder how ridiculous the other characters’ names sound. I’ve been writing about them for so long that I don’t notice any more, but… Zandarin? Fusella? I ususally console myself with thinking that many of us get stuck with names we don’t particularly like because of some whim on the part of our parents– these guys just have to learn to live with it, too!

We figured out pretty quickly that “Ketel” wasn’t going to work at all. There was a brief period of time in which he was known as “Kay”, a time in which I was reading Camelot 3000, so no coincidence there, but eventually we agreed on Alex.

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