A word from the author

Wilbur Kookmeyer is a “kook”—a term in the surfing world that defines the very opposite of cool. The concept for Wilbur originally formed in my mind as a kind of revenge against the pseudo-surfers who began showing up at the beach in the mid-1980s.

Early Wilbur 1986

At that time, surf culture was being hijacked by quick-buck con men who shamelessly exploited it for profit. Beach culture was cynically analyzed, bought out, reinterpreted, repackaged, mass-produced, and then presented to the world as the authentic “surfer look.” The traditional beach hierarchy—where respect and coolness were earned through surfing ability—was tossed aside. Coolness could now be purchased off the rack at K-Mart.

You didn’t even have to surf to be a surfer anymore. Someone could move to the beach from Ohio and, within three days, be considered a “surf dude” simply by dressing the part and saying “gnarly” a lot. They arrived in droves, ripping off our image and overwhelming us like a flood. The dam had burst, and we were slowly drowning.

So I made it my duty—through humor—to do my part in stemming the rising tide of kookism. Thus, Wilbur Kookmeyer was born.

Wilbur 2005

After creating a few Wilbur Kookmeyer comic strips for Surfer Magazine, a realization hit me like a bolt of lightning: Wow—we’re all kooks. Every single one of us. Sure, I hated the Arizonan poser in lime-green day-glo trunks and mirrored wraparound shades. But wasn’t it me who showed up at the beach in the summer of ’74, trying to fit in with a puka shell necklace and black velvet sandals? Oh, the hypocrisy. Oh, the horror.

We’re all kooks—or at least we’ve all been kooks at some point in our lives (some longer than others). No matter how cool we may appear, there’s always a little bit of Wilbur in all of us. The Wilbur Kookmeyer comic strip became not only a satire of “them,” but also a satire of “us.”

What is cool?

Wilbur 2013

Wilbur’s sole quest in life is to be known as a “cool” surfer. This raises the questions: What is cool? Who decides what’s cool? Is there an absolute standard? Is today’s cool cooler than yesterday’s? And what about tomorrow’s cool?

I don’t try to answer these questions in my strip. I simply ask them—and suggest that the people who think they know the answers might just be the biggest kooks of all. As we gaze into the mirror and fall in love with our own coolness, we fail to notice that tomorrow’s cool is already waiting in the wings, ready to mock us.

In a surf culture overflowing with egocentric posers and pretentious trendoids, Wilbur stands out by being so uncool that he somehow becomes cool. Through Wilbur, my goal has been to turn coolness upside down—so we can learn to laugh at ourselves.

As you enjoy the world of Wilbur Kookmeyer, maybe you’ll recognize a bit of yourself and have a chuckle—or at the very least, recognize your friends and laugh at their expense.

Sincerely,

Bob Penuelas