Returning to Transcona

For those of you not in the know, there's a section of Winnipeg viewed with disdain known as Transcona. This is where I grew up and this is where I became the neurotic mess that led me to becoming a cartoonist.

Transcona is often mocked by others for being stuck in the past. Whether it's dudes in mullets driving Camaro's to the maligned bar The Oak, Transcona is a suburb unto itself.

Transcona was a separate city until 1972, two years before I was born. It was incorporated into the city of Winnipeg

Hi Neighbor Sam

The Hi Neighbor Sam statue used to sit at the border of Transcona welcoming people into the Town. It's been move a couple of times and repainted and rebranded (it was an advertisement for Canadian Tire for a time). It again sits on Regent welcoming people into the suburb.

Now, as for the comic above, why would I be looking at a flamingo and saying "Just like being back in Transcona"? Well, for a time the majority of Transcona homes had pink plastic flamingos on their front yards. No one is really sure how the trend started but it became a staple for homeowners in Transcona and something that the little town became known for. I even had a pink plastic flamingo of my own for a time.

This was another comic inspired by real life. The background is simple. I was at the Winnipeg Zoo and looking at the flamingos and thought to myself "It's just like being back in Transcona."

No big story here. But it does help to explain why I am the way I am. 

You can read an article on it by Louise Hedman here.

Transcona was at the time a somewhat iconoclastic town and the perfect breeding ground for a cartoonist. It's no wonder that I wound up like I did. At the same time I wouldn't trade it for the world.

~Brother K'Bob