Born and raised Merrittonian Freeman Wong says there’s nothing quite as rewarding as holding a newly published book with your name on it in your hands.
The 25-year-old who grew up doodling in between school classes and shifts at Crystal Gardens in Merritt, is the author/illustrator of Monkey Business, a graphic novel that details the adventures of Wong’s original characters Tulip and Tom.
“Drawing has always been a hobby of mine and I wanted to create something that would make people smile,” said Wong.
Printed in November, the self-published book contains over 800 pictures detailing the adventures of Tulip and Tom as they investigate a murder in the Congo and a decline in the monkey population. Along the way, the duo teams up with different animal friends including a pair of monkeys named Butterscotch and Tapioca.
“I wanted to create something that was accessible,” said Wong, describing Monkey Business as an action story with a bit of mystery. “I wanted it to have entertainment value, but also to have a deeper meaning as well.”
Beneath the surface, Wong’s story calls attention to the real issue of poaching in the Congo, he says.
The black and white version currently in print took Wong eight months to create, but he is working on a colour version, which he says will take more time.
Last week, during a visit to Merritt from Vancouver where he works at Covenant House, Wong donated a copy of Monkey Business to the Merritt Library, but it hasn’t spent much time on the shelves. Wong also spoke briefly to participants in the Library After School Club who were very eager to check out the book.
Wong told them how he had started doodling when he was young and how he had always wanted to publish a book. In fact, his first try at a something like a graphic novel was in his Grade 8 class at Coquihalla Middle School where he created a series of stories about his classmates.
“I’d pass the stories around during silent reading breaks and I accumulated almost 150 pages of drawings over the space of two years,” he said.
His mother, Branda Wong who used to own Crystal Gardens, joked that sometimes she thought her son doodled too much, but said he always knew how to work hard when it was time to work.
After high school, Wong attended the University of Toronto where he studied history and sociology, but he continued to draw post-graduation and started submitting some of his drawings to various websites before he started his company Doodle-Works and began work on his book.
“It’s definitely rewarding to see a polished book that I’ve made,” said Wong. “It’s a lot different to the stapled stories I made in middle school.”
Monkey Business is only the beginning for Wong who plans to market his book at upcoming comic conventions in Vancouver and then create a sequel.
Anyone interested in ordering a copy of Monkey Business can order it online from www.doodle-works.com, where a preview version of the book is available.
