The first UPI comic.
UPI was a short lived stick figure comic printed by Tech News in the Fall of 2001. It was written and drawn by "Alex Thomas," who mailed comics in from a Hotmail account to keep his true identity a secret. The title was a clear parody of WPI and the comic was intended as a light hearted parody of WPI campus life. Some of the early topics lampooned in the comic included the Insight program and WPI's cost.
Only a handful of the comics were printed. However, later in the year, 10 UPI comics were submitted to Pathways for publication.
Characters[]
- Wedge - Named after The Wedge, Wedge was the main character of UPI. He wore pants (without a shirt) and had spiky hair.
- Steve - Named after Apple's Steve Jobs, he wore a strange one piece cloth covering. He also sported a goate, a parody of the "hipster" image of Apple users. He was Wedge's main friend.
- Britney - Named after Britney Spears, she had a pronounced bust and a personality combining many negative female stereotypes. She was known to cheat on her boyfriend, for example, and harbored a dislike of Wedge rats (calling them "smelly").