"Chez Cuckoo" began as a guest strip in a Norwegian comic magazine called "Far Side Gallery", created by Gary Larson. In Norway, it's known as "Kollektivet". The comic has been featured in various newspapers, magazines, books, and softcover albums for different publishers over the years.
Starting in 2018, Lien started publishing "Chez Cuckoo" in English for the first time, and Bulls Press now distributes the comic in Norway and internationally.
"Chez Cuckoo" has a bunch of characters. There's Ronny, the most popular character and a black metal musician in the band "Blacktööth". He hangs out with his pals Svein and Metal-Egil, a big-time womanizer who loves to party and might have a bit too much to drink.
There's also Kathy, Ronny's ex-girlfriend and the mother of their son, Balder. She's intelligent but sometimes too trusting, always on the lookout for a good-looking guy to date. Her main goal is to raise her son differently from his father, Ronny.
Balder is Ronny and Kathy's son. He has a small but close-knit group of friends, including Liza and Mortimer. He's a boy with a vibrant imagination who admires his father.
Mounir is a liberal Muslim working as a Warehouse Manager. He had difficulty gaining positive attention from women until he met Agatha.
Agatha has been Mounir's girlfriend since 2018. She's a fan of horror movies, spicy food, travel, and shoes.
Greta is a proud lesbian who doesn't shy away from it. She often vents her frustration about her weight on those around her, especially men. Originally from a rural area, she tends to use strong language.
Emma is Greta's fiancée and a skilled practitioner of the obscure martial art Pung-Fu. While not as angry towards men as Greta, she swiftly makes sure those who pay too much attention to her body regret it.
Madlyn served as Mounir's secretary at work for many years. A romantic, passionate, and completely unpredictable woman.
Toby is a dedicated Bob Dylan fan. Possesses a collection of vinyl, comics, and various other items. He makes a living by writing texts that almost nobody wants to print.
Ina is Toby's ex-girlfriend. She parted ways with Toby in 2017 and has been absent from the comic ever since.
"Chez Cuckoo" is a captivating and definitely off-beat comic featuring interesting characters and entertaining stories. Bored Panda got in touch with Torbjørn Lien, the creator, to find out what fuels his creative fire and get some insights into the quirky world of "Chez Cuckoo".
Torbjørn spilled the beans on where his ideas come from: "Ideas can pop up from my own experiences, things I read or hear about, or completely made-up situations. I also get inspiration from other comics, mainly classics but also from modern comics and cartoons I stumble upon online.
'Chez Cuckoo' has been around for so many years that the characters kind of live their own lives. They've developed their own personalities. It's a bit hard to explain, but sometimes I can throw them into a situation, and then I just lean back and see what happens and what they do."
As you might've noticed, the "Chez Cuckoo" universe has a bunch of unique and charismatic characters. When asked about the origins of this diverse cast, Lien explained that he wanted a lot of characters because he was afraid of running out of ideas. "And I wanted to make them as different as possible to play them off each other and see what kind of humor came out of it. All the central characters are a bit based on various sides of myself, I think. But they are also inspired by various people I've known over the years, and a lot of pure imagination," he added.
Out of all the characters, we were curious if Lien has a favorite. He said, "I find it most fun to draw Greta, who is also a character I really love. Over the past year, I've had a long story about her and her fiancée Emma, and a wedding that went down the drain. In connection with that, there are a lot of readers, especially on Instagram, who are almost hostile towards her and say they hate her. For me, it's the opposite. Greta is a very vulnerable character with low self-esteem and self-control, trying to cope with life as best she can using bad language and bad temper as a shield. How can you not love her? But otherwise, I love all my characters in different ways."
The creative process has its good and bad moments, so we talked to Lien about the challenges he faces as a comic artist and how he deals with them. "Every new comic strip I make is a challenge because I feel like I still have so much to learn," he replied. "I've been making comics for over 30 years, but I still feel like a beginner.
Commercially, it's tough because the competition is so fierce. There are so many amazing comics in my genre out there, and I have to constantly try to stand out and grab the attention of new readers. 'Chez Cuckoo' hopefully stands out because the style is a bit 'old-fashioned,' inspired by classic newspaper strips.
The most important thing is that new people find my comic, enjoy it, and are willing to spend a bit of money on it so that I can keep making it."
Lien's wish is simple yet profound – he hopes his comics can bring a smile and perhaps even a laugh to people."A little breather in a busy day. And perhaps some self-reflection. I don't believe my comic can change anything important in a world that's unfortunately too messed up. But if my comic can bring a bit of joy to someone, I'm happy."
