Questions and Answers about Abby and Norma

by Erika Hammerschmidt

- Go back to Abby and Norma - Email Me - Go to my art page -

Where did you get the idea for the title "Abby and Norma"?
From the word "abnormal," of course. Specifically, from Igor's misreading of that word in the movie "Young Frankenstein."

Is "Abby and Norma" intended for children?
Not really. It's true that there's virtually no swearing in the comic (I think Abby says "damned" in one strip, but it's in the phrase "damned if you do, damned if you don't"). However, the characters' conversations do often touch on things like sex, violence, ethical philosophy, religious interpretation, quantum physics, and other stuff the average kid-- or the average adult, for that matter-- won't really relate to. The target audience, I guess, is eccentric twenty-somethings like me. If I had to give the comic a movie-type rating, I'd choose PG-13... though it's certainly tame compared to many PG-13 movies.

Which one is Abby and which one is Norma?
Norma is the one with the shortish blond hair and the red V-neck shirt. Abby is the one with the long brown hair and glasses, usually portrayed in an orange shirt. She's a bit more nerdy than Norma, with a language obsession and a penchant for making awful puns. She's usually the one who comes up with bizarre insights about life when the two of them are sitting at their table together.

Does Abby have autism?
Abby has Asperger's Syndrome, like me. It's considered to be on the autism spectrum, but not everyone calls it autism. Her Asperger's is pretty much like mine: social ineptitude combined with strong academic skills and a gift for thinking outside the box. It's because of people like her that Asperger's is called "the nerd syndrome."

Does Norma have autism?
I think of Norma as an autism ally. She's not diagnosed with anything; maybe she could get diagnosed if she wanted to, or maybe she couldn't. She's never had problems severe enough to try for a diagnosis. But she's definitely a geek, and she's sympathetic to the concerns of the autism spectrum.

How old are they?
They're college seniors. They will probably be college seniors forever; things are very convenient that way in comic strips.

Is Abby based on you?
Pretty much. Abby is what I was like in college, except she's a little better at coming up with witty comments on the spot.

Are all of Abby's opinions your opinions?
No. Some of them are my opinions, and some of them are opinions I used to have, but others are just in there because I thought they'd make good comic material.

Is Norma based on anyone?
No, but I would have loved to have a friend like her when I was in college.

Who's Cathy?
Cathy is the one with the big blond hair and the pink low-necked top. She doesn't like Abby and Norma, and the feeling is mutual. To Abby's dismay, she and Cathy both have part-time jobs at the same bookstore.

Is Abby's job based on your job?
No. When I do or say something funny at my job, I occasionally adapt it for use in an "Abby and Norma" strip, but Abby's job itself is nothing like mine.

Is Cathy based on anyone?
Cathy is a combination of all the traits I didn't like seeing in other students. She's obsessed with her appearance, her social life, and looking and acting normal. (Strangely enough, though, she does show the occasional flash of intelligence, and she spends more time talking with Abby and Norma than you'd expect. Maybe, deep down, she's a closet nerd.)

Who are Hans and Ron?
They are friends of Abby and Norma's. Hans is an uber-geek whose insane parents have rejected him for not being one hundred percent antisocial. Ron is a Star Trek fan who speaks only in palindromes. If they were inspired by actual people, I would probably be living in a different universe.

Why aren't Abby and Norma dating Hans and Ron?
Aw, come on. I didn't have anyone to date when I was in college; why should they be having more fun than me?

Who are Sharon and Karen?
They're Abby's seven-year-old twin cousins. Sharon is the one with the pigtails and the fascination with wordplay. Karen is the one with the bun and the fascination with weird logic. Needless to say, Abby loves hanging out with both of them.

Are Sharon and Karen based on anyone?
No. I have lots of fun little cousins, but none of them are really like Sharon and Karen. Sharon and Karen are what I'd want to be like if I were someone's little cousin.

Is Abby's mom based on your mom?
No. Mostly, Abby's mom embodies the annoying things about moms, very few of which actually apply to my own mom. She's not a representation of anyone, more just a warning of what not to do if you're a mom.

What about Sharon and Karen's mom?
Pretty much the same, except she deals with an earlier phase of motherhood.

Why all this emphasis on bad parents?
Aw, the negative side of life is just so much funnier than the positive side! Seriously, though-- every comic in the newspaper seems to be focused on good parents dealing with badly behaved kids. That's awfully discriminatory, and I just wanted to turn the tables on them a little.

How often do you post "Abby and Norma"?
Every weekday at 1:01 a.m. The exact time used to vary a lot, because I wrote all my own HTML, so I couldn't set it up to post automatically. Now, however, I have it on a Nucleus site, so I can upload five strips at once and schedule one to post on each day of the week. Yay content managers!

You used to post it less often, right?
Right. When I first started posting "Abby and Norma," I posted it whenever I came up with a new strip. Sometimes it was three or four strips at once; sometimes I didn't post for weeks. Then I got more organized and started posting every other Friday, and then every Friday. Then it was every Monday and Friday, and finally, after the hundredth strip, I started posting every day from Monday through Friday.

Why is "Abby and Norma" on two different webpages?
Until October 2007, I didn't really know how to use a content manager, and I posted each strip manually, making individual HTML pages for them by hand. Eventually, though, I got sick of that, especially since I was busy and found myself missing updates all the time. Now I'm posting it with Nucleus. All strips after #76 are on my Nucleus page at www.abbyandnorma.com, and all earlier strips are on their original HTML pages.

Why is the text of the comic written below the comic?
I want people to be able to find "Abby and Norma" by using a search engine to look for words and phrases that are in the strips. Obviously a search engine won't find words that are part of a picture, so the words have to be in text form somewhere. And if you hide the text so that a search engine can find it but it's not visible to the viewer, the search engines have ways of noticing that you've done that, and they'll list your page as a spam page and block it. Besides, I don't want to hide it; I want people to be able to see the text, and copy and paste it somewhere if it interests them.

Copy and paste it? So is "Abby and Norma" completely open to the public? Don't you have a copyright?
I'm okay with people copying "Abby and Norma" as long as they give me credit. I have a job that pays the bills, more or less, and I have a published book and speeches that bring in a bit of extra money. "Abby and Norma" isn't for profit, it's for getting ideas out there.

Are you ever going to print a book of "Abby and Norma"?
Maybe. Someday. Depends how interested people get. Meanwhile, I've got plenty of Abby and Norma merchandise for sale.

How do you come up with your ideas?
I carry a notebook with me everywhere. Whenever something funny happens (either in the real world or inside my head) I write it down as a possible "Abby and Norma" idea. I have a whole lot of strips waiting to be drawn and posted.

How do you draw the strips?
I use Gimp. I used to use Appleworks Paint, but I'm moving up.

Do you draw the strip from scratch every week or do you just put together pieces you've already drawn?
I have a dozen Gimp documents full of characters, body parts, props, backgrounds and speaking balloons. I paste them together as needed.

I've looked at the rest of your art page, and I know you can draw better than that.
Yes, I can, but not on demand every week. Besides, that's not a question.

- Go back to Abby and Norma - Email Me - Go to my art page -