I’m Chris Conty, author of Aspie Mouse. I saw my first comic book (Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, featuring Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, etc.) at age five, and created my own comics, using my own characters: 3-Man (three arms), Double Man (two bodies), Stair Ways (tiered body), etc. I used the same format as Dell used: 32 pages inside plus a 4-page cover. Initially I put squiggles in the balloons (hadn’t learned to spell yet). For eight years, I churned out comics for my friends — creating and giving out more than I got back from six friends combined.

My last & best creations were 19 straight monthly 16-page “Stupid Mouse” comic books. No superhero, Stupid Mouse was “special” however: he survived by behaving … well … “unexpectedly.” He’d want to play with cats instead of running away, but the cats would knock each other out, leaving Stupid Mouse to wonder why cats seemed to sleep all the time! Half-way through 9th Grade, two months before I turned 15, I just stopped writing comics. Thought I needed to “grow up” to be a lawyer, teacher or something (my dad kept saying, “Get a profession first, then be like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle if you want to write or act, etc.”). And I knew I wasn’t really an artist — even though my JHS Art teacher, Miss Garfield, would give me A’s for the same comic-like drawings my 6th Grade teacher (a generalist) had given me C’s. Also, I realized the best-selling comic books were of super-heroes like Superman – whose Steve Reeves TV-version I loved watching — but the comics version mostly left me cold. Instead, I stayed loyal to the so-called “funny” comics meant for younger kids. My favorite? Chip and Dale! Slowly, I evolved more toward Mad Magazine — even into my 30’s — as more raunchy humor magazines — such as National Lampoon — didn’t really satisfy me the way Mad did. I can still recite verses of their musical parodies and other features.

Meanwhile, starting around the same time as I gave up writing comic books, I started asking, “What’s wrong with me?” I kept asking that question, or its uglier variation “Why am I so defective?” for the next 40 years. Meanwhile, instead of drawing comics, I’d invent planets, countries, subway systems in imaginary cities, and baseball players in made-up leagues who’d still be leading the league in hitting into their 40’s. My daydreams were elaborate, but while I’d draw maps, etc., I never converted any of these imaginary worlds into something publishable. One of my college roommates thought I was “playing with myself” all the time, when I was actually holding two toy soldiers in my hands and dreaming up these fantasy worlds.

Despite being smart – getting into Yale from a Bronx public housing project — I kept: blurting out thoughts that upset others; hearing how I was “weird;” driving people crazy asking too many questions; losing jobs, etc. Meanwhile, I had no clue either about finding a career or how to do the boy-girl thing, even after I started dating senior year of high school. I could no more imagine getting married while I was in college than I could imagine how I’d fly to the moon with a running start!

I did end up in publishing, but not on the creative side: I sold, acquired & developed college textbooks, and was quite successful initially – getting along great with the professors, though less so with the publishers (guess I was too honest!). Found I had a knack for selling to fellow Aspie’s (I believe many college professors are on the Autism Spectrum) & later helping professor-turned-authors write successful textbooks — thanks in part to my intuitive understanding of how books were put together (in 16 & 32-page signatures) based on the comics I once drew.

After a lot of personal growth work — most useful being the ManKind Project (mkp.org); I can’t thank these men enough for teaching me integrity, mindfulness, and especially how to forgive & love myself, trust others & witness (vs. judge) my own & others’ actions — I  finally learned to trust enough (the universe, myself, men and women) to open myself up to being mentored, changing my political views, and really listening to the impact I had on others. That allowed me to surrender to a great patient woman (vs. pushing her away) and finally marry at age 55!

In first grade, my son was diagnosed with Asperger’s. After the shock wore off (“But he doesn’t have a flat affect!”) — & I read more to learn what I could do to help him — I realized I too had many “Aspie” traits: sensitivity to sounds & touch, socially near-sighted (not clueless), and as my elementary school report cards kept saying, difficulty “working and playing well with others.” Yet instead of flat affect or computer savvy, I’m just the opposite (I now know ASD is about opposites!): overly dramatic, say what I shouldn’t, ask many questions & correct every spelling & grammar error I see — oblivious to the feelings of the teacher or boss I’m correcting, or how I’ll pay for it dearly later (get fired, lower grade). Ask professionals who work with those with Autism, and they’ll say there may be as many who are verbose like me as there are like that stereotype I had.

When the DSM V came out & said “there’s no more Asperger’s” — it’s all one “Autism Spectrum,” and my son & I (along with my mother, father, father’s father, father-in-law, a brother-in-law, a sister-in-law, etc.) are or were all somewhere on it (I judge) — I then realized most of my life-long friends also had either some or many “Aspie” (and/ or ADD/ ADHD, my “companion difference”) traits, though most won’t admit it to avoid having a “label.”

So what was “wrong” with me? Nothing! I’m just different. I have a Betamax brain in a VHS world. My intuition, logistics, verbal ability (spoken better than written, given my heavy use of inflection — as actor, graduation speaker, etc.) & creativity are strong. My wife will ask, “How’d you DO that?” On the other hand, I have to be much more careful than most people as to how my social “blindness” can get me in trouble. I need to stop & get feedback before I take impulsive action that my mind believes will lessen my chronic anxiety (universal issue for those with ASD). My “executive function” shuts down, & social awareness ceases. If I don’t get that feedback, any short-term anxiety relief I get by being impulsive will turn to shame, as I’ll be told yet again that I’ve eroded others’ trust in me, respect for my wisdom, & done long-term damage. So I’m learning how to stop myself before I act impulsively (often anyway), get present, & even act with “grace,” vs. flight, freezing or fawning (3 other common ASD “meltdown” responses to anxiety) and let my strengths from the same “unexpected” thinking shine.

Finally – after decades of ignoring my gift for creating comics with original plots – I remembered that my original Stupid Mouse character had been created by a kid who threw a tantrum when Tweety (always) got the best of Sylvester. I identified with Sylvester (though I’ve since learned that’s intentional, and most readers identify with Sylvester, or Wile E Coyote, etc.), not as bigger & stronger than Tweety (though he is), but as similarly clueless about “social dynamics & consequences.” As a kid with unidentified “High Functioning Autism,” I wanted me & my socially blind & socially near-sighted tribe-mates to succeed in spite of (or because of) doing “unexpected” behaviors that isolate us, get us mocked, etc.

Since learning about my own Autism, I realized that “unexpected” thoughts and behaviors that sound strange to most people aren’t all or even mostly “unacceptable.” Unacceptable is hitting, biting, humiliating. On the one hand, many negative “unexpected” behaviors and spoken thoughts may not be illegal or grossly insulting (at least not intentionally); however, expressing these so-called “negative thoughts” can lead to serious social sanctions! On the other hand, good “unexpected” behaviors and writings led to Mozart’s music, Einstein’s theories, Greta Thunberg’s address to the United Nations, etc.

I’m no Mozart or Einstein, but once I learned about my Autism, I realized that if I recast Stupid Mouse as Aspie Mouse, I could in my own modest way use the advantages of my “unexpected” thoughts and behaviors from this part of myself that I now had a name for, and use it to do good for my newly discovered tribe. Now it makes sense why I created Stupid Mouse originally — now resurrected as Aspie Mouse — it’s a way to show someone with Autism who thrives! So time for me to share my “gold” with others!

As these Adventures keep evolving, your feedback is most helpful! What would you like to see improved? Use black ink? Go full color? Get a different artist? Cut down on dialogue? What jokes/ plot lines work well and which fall flat? May I unintentionally trigger some kids on the Spectrum with something I should take out? Don’t worry about offending me: thanks to 30 years of men’s work, I “take what I like and leave the rest” (as they say in 12-step recovery programs). I don’t take things personally as I did earlier in life. My goal is to help others in my “Aspie tribe” see themselves in a good light & succeed in life by seeing how their positive traits can well serve both themselves and society. Or as Aspie Mouse would say, “… thrive by doing the ‘unexpected'” (being oneself). I need your feedback to do that successfully!

For those who seek help in understanding and dealing with Autism, especially high functioning autism (my preferred, though controversial “label”), here are two great resources (more will be in the appendix):

    1. Been There; Done That; Try This: An Aspie’s Guide to Life on Earth, Tony Attwood, et al, 2014, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (17 chapters of Aspies’ self-reported issues in order of percentage who mentioned it: Ch. 1, Anxiety; Ch. 2, Low Self-Esteem; Ch. 3, Difficulty Accepting Change; Meltdowns, Depression, Disclosure, Relationships, Friendships, Educational Settings, Getting & Keeping Jobs, etc.).

    2. AANE (Asperger’s & Autism NEtwork), aane.org (New England-based resource center for adults and adolescents on the Autism Spectrum, based in Watertown, Massachusetts)

Christopher R. Conty October, 2020, Updated May, 2023 chris@aspiemouse.com