Profile 4: Oltan

 Another profile for another major character. This time, what's up with that weird talking Jack-O-Lantern? Find out more in his profile below!

Full Name: Oltaneous Bacterium of the Endless Dark, Oltan for short

Age: Several thousands of years old, way too many to count

Favorite Food: Cheeseburgers, the greasier the better.

Theme Song: Just Dropped In by the First Edition

Abilities: Vast supernatural knowledge, spooky demon inside him

History: Oltan's life was one single boring long moment. Created to guard one particular door in the Underworld. That was his life. His entire existence for thousands and thousands of years was standing in front of a door so no one else got in. Nobody ever tried to get in. No one really cared or wondered what was behind the door. But someone had to guard it, so Oltan got stuck with the job. 

It gave him time to read up on the world above and all the strange happenings going on. Learning deep knowledge and lore of the supernatural world. Along with all the amazing things in the human world too. Always wanting to try their mysterious dark beverages and meaty looking sandwiches. Though he assumed it would be a dream, nothing more. He wasn't the type of demon that got to go upstairs and mess with humans. No, he was stuck down there for as long as the clocks kept ticking.

Or so he thought, until one day he noticed a soul getting ripped out of the afterlife. It kept getting closer, flying up, up, until it accidentally pulled him along for the ride up to the real world! His dream came true! Oltan opened his new eyes, looked out on the world and realized he was a carved pumpkin. Well, beggars can't be choosers and Oltan was just happy to be on Earth!

At first Billy's mom considered sending him back to the Underworld, but after some begging and pleading she was convinced he could stay. Billy and him became fast friends with Billy finding his knowledge super helpful in various situations. Oltan now lives the high life, eating delicious greasy food, yummy sodie's pop and various other sweet treats. 

Oltan's one real weakness is his laziness. After countless years of just standing around, actually doing anything of value lost it's luster and he got used to just leaning against a door napping half the time. Usually it's not so bad, but in some dire cases he can tend to take a while to really come through in the end. Despite that flaw, he is Billy's best bud and has his back.

Creator History: Much like Zindy after I lost the lake plot, Oltan's character formed fairly quickly. I still wanted a pumpkin-based side-character. Changing him from a pumpkin-headed boy into a living Jack-O wasn't much of a stretch. 

His original character was never super well developed previously. He was a boy with a Jack-O for a head, that Jack-O powered by the magic water of the lake. I just took that and merged the idea of his resurrection being what brings a bonus soul or two up with it. So Billy brought back Oltan by mistake, or perhaps some cosmic scale giving him the help he might need down the line.

Oltan's main inspiration comes from the Dude, main character of the Big Lebowski (ask your parents, kids) one of my favorite movies. I already had a character heavily inspired by the Dude in a previous story idea, so I kind of reused his personality for Oltan. A laid back, carefree slob just going through the motions and the flow of life.

One of the few changes I made along the way once Oltan started to crystalize was how he got around. Originally Oltan had no legs or arms, he was just a talking Jack-O, so Billy as gonna drag him around in a little red wagon. A cute enough image, but a real pain in the butt to draw I quickly realized. I eventually realized he should just be able to walk around and do stuff on his own, for expediency at the very least.  It also gets to show off just how lazy he is. He can do and get just about anything but chooses to just lounge about all the time.

His name is fairly random. I think I was just riffing on the idea of the old Zoltar fortune telling machines. Those things always creeped me out as a kid. It was a random placeholder name and I liked it so much it just stuck.

I'm aware I've kind of changed his design a bit further to the point he looks more bell-pepper shaped than pumpkin-shaped. It's something I plan to reiterate and address as the series goes on, try and round him out a bit more to look like a normal pumpkin again.

My favorite gag and something I plan to do more of is in the Mr. Radical Deer Mouse comic. Where we see Oltan and Georgie playing the game together and Georgie sits in Oltan's empty head. In general we'll see Georgie use Oltan as a chair/mode of transport from time to time when he gets lazy. Let's just assume cuz he's a demon the fire doesn't burn little Georgie.

Oltan may not always be there right when you need him, but he does show up, and he's a pretty solid dude at the end of the day.