If you're in the mood for a heartwarming comic about a family full of four-legged loved ones, look no further than "FurBabies"! This strip follows the adventures of nine-year-old Kate Buffet, who resides in a bustling city and shares her life with her animal family: Stella the poodle, Shawm the Afghan hound, their puppy Sirius, and Floof the kitten. The twist? The pets can communicate with Kate!

"FurBabies" documents the fur family as they navigate species identity, bathing routines, and the eternal debate of whether food is better on the table or on the floor. This is creator Nancy Beiman's first comic strip, but she has written and illustrated two animation books: Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts and Animated Performance: Bringing Imaginary Animal, Human and Fantasy Characters to Life.

To celebrate the momentous one-year anniversary of "FurBabies" joining the GoComics family, Beiman participated in a Q&A. Learn about how "FurBabies" has flourished in its first year and what's in store for this fur fam.

One year of "FurBabies"! What have been your most memorable moments in creating this comic strip and sharing it with GoComics readers?

I got the idea for the FurBabies in December 2022. Designing the characters was the easy part. The relationships are an ongoing process. The characters' personalities changed over the past year because of reader reactions to early strips. It is an amazing experience to receive comments in real time. Some gave me ideas for story arcs. Others showed me that I needed to go in a different direction with the characters. I completely rewrote Stella and Kate and toned down Floof and Sirius. Shawm is the only character who has the same personality he started out with.

Do you have a favorite character to write and draw? (I know, I know. It's like asking you to pick a favorite child.)

The main characters have complementary personalities and are all fun to write for. The dog family works in teams: Floof and Sirius are like Laurel and Hardy, sometimes adversarial but always there for each other. Stella and Shawm are a bit like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, although Stella has matured a lot over the past year and is no longer primarily concerned with fashion. Shawm is fun because he is a big kid. Kate is the hardest character to write for but she became more fun when I realized that she made plenty of mistakes but could figure out an unusual way to solve them. She will never learn to bake, though.

What's your routine for coming up with a new "FurBabies" idea or storyline?

It is a young strip, so the only recurring gags are Kate's baking fails, Floof and Sirius teasing one another, and Stella's extreme poodle cuts and fashions.  A few story arcs developed branches. Stella's New Year's resolution to become a therapy dog led to the vet office story arc, then Floof and Sirius wanted jobs, too. Kate befriended wild animals since she can talk to all of them and this got her out of the apartment, and she now has some human friends.  Changing seasons and nature bring new story arcs. Sirius is a baby and everything is new for him, so he frequently introduces new settings. He can ask awkward questions. I use technology as a gag but not too frequently. I write down gag ideas that can be standalone and use them between longer arcs. Ideas can come from family or from the news—I read a lot of human interest stories.

Without giving away too much, can you clue readers into what may be coming down the pike in "FurBabies"?

I am interweaving three story arcs. The first one started on May 21 and the second and third will begin in July and possibly continue through August.  There will be a change in location, exotic characters, and a crucial pickleball game. I know the characters now and that makes it easier. I visited most of the locations that will appear in the comics. That is one relic of my Disney training—research! 

Do you have any favorite comic strips that you look to for inspiration?

I adored "Peanuts" when I was a kid and read it differently now that I am writing my own comic. It's great that I can see '"Peanuts Begins" in its own section and contrast it with the classic Peanuts to see how Charles M. Schulz developed his characters over time. They are a crash course in comics creation. Lynn Johnston's "For Better or For Worse", read once a day as they originally appeared, provides a totally different experience from reading them all at once in a collection. The pacing is different. I also have loved discovering new strips. I love "Dark Side of the Horse", "Harley", "Wannabe", and "Ten Cats". I follow older strips like "Non Sequitur", "B.C." (old and new), and "Spirit of the Staircase". There are too many others to list here. I'm thrilled to get comments from other creators and learn a lot from looking at their work.

Be sure to read and follow "FurBabies" on GoComics, where a new strip releases every day!