Octavius

Octavius Xailenrath is the self-insert avatar of the cartoonist, Johann-Octavius Xailenrath Gans.

He is the successor to other cartoon 'selves' that the cartoonist has created in his childhood, such as Gonzales Del Penguin.

Octavius made his debut in 2005, headlining the comic called "Shrimp Fried Riot", so named for the 'shrimpy' little chibi style that the characters were drawn in at the time, as well as the cartoonists favorite Chinese food. This drawing style was inspired by the chibi versions of the Teen Titans drawn by Todd Nauck in the page margins of DC Comics' "Teen Titans Go" comic from around 2005 or so. (Based on the GOOD version of the cartoon, before the name was co-opted for that abysmal cartoon currently running.)

Octavius, and that entire 20 strip comic was based loosely around his life in Bellingham, Washington, complete with photo backgrounds from the city, and chibi versions of his friends.

When the cartoonist's life crashed changed, and he went back to the project a few years later, he renamed it "My Own Personal Apocalypse".

Since then, he has stopped and started SFR/MOPA a couple of times, each with Octavius at the helm, but, the personal nature and the cartoonist's life-long streak of bad luck generally makes the project feel like some sort of illustrated cry for help.

The Cartoonist has even gone so far as to try and shift focus to a version of his own (fictional) son, Octavius Xailenrath, Jr., aka "Ozzie" and his sidekick, Mutt, in order to put a more optimistic spin on the project, but, such a thing didn't bear fruit without the personal connection - and the misanthropy.

Octavius was still used as the personal avatar for the cartoonist, up until mid July 2021, when The Cartoonist tried to restart the project (AGAIN) as a bit of catharsis. Within the new strip - currently named "Octopus Ink", the character of Octavius began devouring other cartoon versions of himself in order to 'unify'. Cherry-picking various aspects of each version - such as "Johnny Phnx"'s general look and his 'son', Ozzie's name - the newer version of The Illustrated Avatar Formerly Known As Octavius is currently trying to build an all-new comic from the inside out.