the new series. The rest of each issue featured random stories, several of which went on to appear in other places at other times. "Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hard-Boiled Shaman", for instance, became a DC Comics miniseries. Cud lasted eight issues. In 1995, LaBan moved over to Dark Horse Comics, where his third series Cud Comics ran another eight issues, until 1998. Though Cud Comics had almost the same name as the Fantagraphics series, it was otherwise very different. LaBan described it as "an attempt to create a sort of Generation X Freak Brothers". Every issue featured several stories about Eno and Plum, a "slacker" couple living in the city. Eno was a lazy Generation X stereotype interested chiefly in watching cable television, while his girlfriend Plum was more of an active go-getter. Other major characters included Plum's dad, Seymour Riverpeace, a wealthy aging, pot-smoking hippy; Catherine, Plum's unhappily single girlfriend; and Edgar Reamington, a yuppie who was always trying to steal away Plum. Most of the stories in the first four issues were collected in a 1997 paperback. He cites both Archie Comics and Gilbert Shelton as influences. Edge City In 2001, King Features Syndicate syndicated Edge City, a daily comic strip drawn by LaBan and co-written with his wife, Patty LaBan. Edge City (e.g., a community outside the boundaries of what people traditionally think of as the city and its suburb) looks at modern family life through the eyes of the fictional Ardin family. In the strip, Len and Abby Ardin are a Jewish-American couple dwelling in the far reaches of suburbia, in a life very different from the one they lived growing up. Between managing their careers and taking care of their kids, Len and Abby barely have time to wave to each other as they hurry off to yet another meeting, carpool or errand. And while their neighborhood is incredibly diverse, it seems like everyone, no matter where they're originally from, lives pretty much the same way. Edge City continues to run in papers throughout the country, and a paperback collection was published in 2007. Other work LaBan's comics, cartoons, and humorous illustrations have appeared in a vast number of magazines and anthologies over the years, including Blab, Mad, Nickelodeon Magazine and Details. He works as a freelance illustrator and writer for various comic book companies, most notably DC Comics and the European behemoth Egmont, which publishes books