PRINTScott Ross is Columbia's resident comic book artist
A local barista is the creative mind behind The Dancing Bear comics
Allison Pasek
Scott Ross works on his comics at Lakota Coffee. Ross distributes a bi-weekly comic book at downtown businesses such as Lakota, Get Lost Bookshop, Uprise Bakery and Maude Vintage.
June 23, 2011 | 12:00 a.m. CST
For those who don’t look for it, it can go undetected: a tiny black and white folded paper book, about the size of a deck of cards, placed atop the cash register at Lakota Coffee. This little zine is the brainchild of barista Scott Ross, 26, who draws, assembles and distributes his quirky comic series, The Dancing Bear, throughout Columbia twice a month to places such as his work, Lakota, Get Lost Bookshop and Uprise Bakery. He has been distributing the comic books since late February.
Within the six small pages of The Dancing Bear is a collection of images featuring diverse characters, which include a number of talking vegetables, some angry traffic cones and Amos, The Prophet with Poor Language Skills.
Related ArticlesThe Dancing Bear seemed to be the next step for Ross, who progressed from the doodles that littered his notebooks in high school and college to a tangible book.
No great comic series can have its start without a name, though, and The Dancing Bear’s title was inspired by a doodle. “In the men’s room at Eastside Tavern, there is this drawing of a bear in a tutu,” Ross says. “I think that put (the idea) in my head.”
The pages of Ross’ comics possess a distinct flair. His drawings have an unkempt appearance, and he often finds puns in the mundanity of daily life. His alien versus predator comic, for example, features an illegal alien pitted against a sexual predator, an intellectual spin on a sci-fi classic.
At 10, Ross began drawing in his witty manner. Humor takes time to perfect, after all. Ross’ roommate, Grace Simpson, used to exchange letters with Ross while at church camp when they were young.
“The letters I got from Scott were hilarious,” Simpson says. “There would just be robots in the margins.”
Lakota regular Pierce Wade is a Dancing Bear reader. “If you grew up reading the Sunday comics, seeing a lot of animal characters and outlandish characters, (Ross) does that in a way that doesn’t seem tired,” Wade says. “He seems inspired by them.”
Armed with his handy G-2 gel pen and sketchbook decorated with photographs from National Geographic, Ross unwinds by working on his cartoons at Uprise Bakery or Lakota after work. His inspiration is generally impossible to trace. “The last explanation I gave, I think I called it mental diarrhea,” Ross says. “It really is just the random crap that pops into my head.”
In addition to his bear comics, Ross maintains another outlet for his cartooning called “The Young Learner’s Guide to American Wildlife,” which features both The Dancing Bear comics and additional drawings online, including the illustrated adventures of common character Dangerpus, a sinister octopus with knives and other various weapons. He updates these Web exclusives along with The Dancing Bear pages twice a week on his website, younglearnersguide.com.
But the future of The Dancing Bear is up in the air. Ross will be moving to Lawrence, Kan., in August to pursue a master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Kansas. He still wants to keep distributing paper copies of The Dancing Bear around Columbia, but he isn’t sure of the logistics yet. Regardless, The Dancing Bear will survive on younglearnersguide.com, and it’s had a good run, or dance, in its print form.
