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Saying good-bye to Pickle

Three years ago at the UA Sidewalk Deli (now On Deck Deli), a cafeteria server asked Jim Burgess if he wanted a pickle with his sandwich.

Neither the server nor Burgess realized the importance of that one simple question.

"If you were in the deli for more than five minutes you probably heard 'Want a pickle with that?' 100 times." Burgess said. "My friends started calling me Pickle after that woman, (and) still call me that now."

Since the "deli-incident," the 23-year-old cartoon artist has produced more than 375 Pickle comic strips for the Arizona Daily Wildcat. As a fine arts major graduating in July, Burgess decided to retire Pickle to the archives of his desk and the memory banks of the University of Arizona student body.

It is no wonder people still call him "Pickle"- he looks just like the character he has been doodling since high school - right down to the thin, blond hair atop his head.

John Tongate, a creative writing senior and his friend of four years, the resemblance between Burgess and Pickle is uncanny.

"They are really similar in how they handle things. They both think they're right but they're actually way off," Tongate said. "(Burgess) will make a joke of anything just to get back to common ground. He has a light-heartedness to him."

Part of the strip's popularity is that students can relate to Pickle's antics. Burgess said the inspiration for the humor comes from the daily faux pas of his own friends.

"I tell my friends to watch what they say around me because it might end up in the paper the next day," Burgess said with a grin. "I'm going to be sad when I'm not in there everyday."

However, Pickle is rarely a solitary comedian. He is almost always getting into trouble with Susan, a character Burgess modeled after ex-girlfriends and several other female friends.

Pickle also enjoys the company of his friend, Bert the bartender, modeled after Albert Herrera, Burgess' friend of three years.

"I was pretty excited to be a cartoon character, " said Herrera, a math junior. "It's neat to be in a comic strip."

Despite Pickle's popularity, Burgess maintains a great sense of modesty.

"I like Calvin and Hobbes," he said. "Actually, this guy e-mailed me the other day and said Pickle was his favorite cartoon next to Calvin and Hobbes, and I was like, 'Are you out of your mind?'"

For now, Burgess has decided to concentrate on more immediate events like graduation and job opportunities. Even though this might mean the end of Pickle for the UA, this is just the beginning for Burgess, who had an interview with a local Web designing company this week.

But Burgess said that memories of the Pickle comic strip will always bring him back to his days as a carefree, college student.

"I once had a teacher who said 'If you really want to know what's going on in the world, just read the comic section,'" Burgess said with a laugh. "If you want to know what's on people's minds or what people are doing, then read the comics."