Former DTH cartoonist relaunches book of comics on Chapel Hill

Bill Cokas got his start drawing cartoons for this very paper.

A 1988 UNC graduate, Cokas drew a running series of comic strips and editorial cartoons for the Daily Tar Heel during his time at the University.

Now — 14 years after publishing “The Man From UNCle,” a paperback collection of his comics — Cokas is using the tools of the Internet and social networking to relaunch his book.

Although Cokas said that some of the comics’ subject material is dated, current UNC students should have no trouble connecting to it.

“Eighty to 90 percent of the strips should be relatable to any student anywhere,” he said.

The comics poked fun at daily life at UNC and occasionally spotlighted campus or national events.

“The comic strips grew as I grew as a student, from a wide-eyed freshman who was confused and away from home to an experienced senior,” Cokas said.

Then, in 1998, 10 years after he graduated, Cokas collected his strips and — with some additional commentary ­— published the book.

Cokas said he placed a few ads and did some minor promoting for the book, but it didn’t take off as he had hoped.

“There wasn’t a network like there is now, no way to get a hold of everyone at one time,” he said.

“Now there are all these free resources out there if you have the time, and I have nothing but time.”

Andrew Neal, owner of Chapel Hill Comics, said that he has also used the recent social media developments in his store’s marketing techniques.

He said that Facebook in particular has helped the store target certain groups of fans.

“It’s very effective for things that have a market and works well for promoting store events and series to fans of specific things,” he said.

Neal said the new customers that social media has brought to the store were already comic book fans — they were just unaware of the store’s existence.

“If there’s something specific you can tie your audience to, social media works great,” Neal said. “But it doesn’t always work to create an audience out of nothing.”

The Bookshop of Chapel Hill is another local business that has taken advantage of Internet tools and social media.

Betty Schumacher, manager of the Bookshop, said online purchases account for approximately 50 percent of store sales.

“It’s kept us in business,” she said. “The additional exposure also brings more people into the store.”

Cokas said he hopes to use social media to reconnect with the network of fans he had when he was drawing for The Daily Tar Heel in the ’80s.

“The best time to publish this book would have been right as I graduated when all my peers were still around me,” Cokas said.

“But now I have more opportunities to reconnect with them and hopefully get more copies sold.”

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.