About The Creator

Let me explain. I have noticed how “Carl” is a funny name to a lot of you: Commercials, TV neighbors, blue-collar nobodies, Gary Larson comics, idiot relatives, dopey cops. Basically, when a writer is thinking of the dullest, most unimpressive, dumb-guy name, “Carl” is a common choice. I’ve noticed. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. But I’m taking it back! I have decided to name all of the dumb guys “Carl” in my comic. I am going to saturate the comedy market with Carl. Someday, it will be uncool to make jokes about Carl. I mean, unless your name is Carl, like me. Then it’ll still be cool. Clearly.  

Creator Bio

My first newspaper comic strip was published in Illinois State University’s student paper. It was a simple comic featuring a bear and bird and some other animals. There was no big concept. The bear and bird told a ton of bad jokes and got punched in the face a lot. The cartoon was named Best Cartoon or Panel by the Illinois College Press Association in 1996. I drew it for a couple years at school and for a semester after graduation. People seemed to like it, but the cartoon syndicates had very little interest. I decided to end that strip and attempt a new comic to catch the eye of a newspaper syndicate. Every year between 1998 to 2005, roughly one new fully realized comic idea was rejected by all newspaper and syndicate professionals who saw my work.

My friends and coworkers continued to enjoy these unpublished comics, so I decided to create a webcomic for this smaller group. The Chicago White Sox had just won the 2005 World Series and everyone was pretty excited about it. My new cartoon became a serial comic strip story that followed the ups and downs of the White Sox throughout the 2006 season. I cast the White Sox as a band of pirates who battled other pirate crews (the Pittsburgh Pirates were a baseball team) on their quest for more gold. Before the real White Sox got out of spring training, I was contacted by a local newspaper in the Chicago suburbs. They wanted to run my comic in their sports section. Around the same time, the VP of Acquisitions at Universal Press Syndicate contacted me to ask if I’d ever thought about creating a comic for syndication. I said, “Yes. I’ve thought about it. In fact, I have a bunch of rejection letters on your letterhead.” He told me The White Sox aren’t popular enough for syndication, but I should keep him in mind when I came up with other things.

I followed the White Sox, in serial story mode, for three seasons. After they were pirates, they were space travelers in 2007 and they were a Quixotic band of knights in 2008. I self-published a book with these comics in 2009, and quickly sold all of them. Beyond the White Sox stories, the newspaper published my weekly panel, “Smells Like Mascot,” to cover all Chicago sports. In 2013, the local suburban newspaper eliminated most of their budget for original sports content, and “Smells Like Mascot” went with it. I soon started creating a daily non-sports comic panel for a general audience, and I got back in touch with my friend at Universal Press Syndicate. He thought the new comics were a good fit for GoComics, and That New Carl Smell was born.

By day, I work in the printing and marketing industry. My wife and I live in the South Suburbs of Chicago with our 4 kids.

Cast Info:

Carl is not a common name, but the writers of the world commonly attach it to the average dumb guys in their stories. Carl Skanberg, the author of this comic, has decided to flood his comic with Carls to draw attention to the mistreatment of his fine first name.