Backstory From My Old Comics: Zumo is a giant, talking worm. He is the only non-robotic friend of Honen Calzoun, and even then calling him a "friend" could be stretching the meaning of the word. Zumo likes being sarcastic and making fun of Honen at every opportunity, so it's not even clear why Honen tolerates him, except that maybe he needs Zumo's money to fund his projects. Zumo has a habit of gambling which sometimes lands him in trouble, but other times he gets really lucky and strikes it rich. Zumo's mind has a tendency to wander when he gets bored, and he's been known to simply leave in the middle of battles to go get something to eat or fall asleep. He's lazy and lecherous - hitting on women even if they aren't his own species.

Zumo claims to be of a race known as "Annelids", although he is the only known member of said race in the world. Despite how much he picks on Honen and depiste his somewhat-irresponsible nature, it's possible that he does really care about him. Zumo had happened upon Honen when Honen was a very young child abandoned in the jungles of Oni Island. For reasons even Zumo does not really understand, he felt sorry for him and took care of him, and to this day, Zumo still feels a responsibility to look after him, even though he'll claim it's because it's too hard for an Annelid to get along in the world on its own.

Zumo's age is unknown.

Character Design Notes: After I wrote and retconned the preliminary untitled IA series, I decided to keep Dr. Honen Calzoun on as one of the main villains in the "canon" series. However, after he broke off from the Quixotic Tigers, I decided he needed someone to interact with. I went through my old sketchpads and plucked a sarcastic-looking little worm design and made him into Zumo. Although Zumo did appear in a number of episodes that I actually drew, I seem to have lost most of those panels to the winds of time. Oh well, I've made some new ones. The only major design difference besides technical cleanup is that I added white spots to his red backside.

Zumo in The RAU Gallery: Near the end of the original series, Dr. Honen Calzoun put aside his differences with Nucleo McRaven and his friends to help them defeat Droma and Zimosa, since Honen realized that they were a threat to the existence of the entire world. Zumo, of course, went with him, and since then the two have attempted to resign to a normal life working at the Grimmora University. Zumo works there as a hall monitor and custodian. Though he enjoys the social aspect of living in Grimmora, he doesn't really like his job. He still doesn't truly believe Honen will ever give up being a villain and tries his best to coerce him into becoming one again.

First RAU Gallery Appearance: Study Hall Blues

Zumo from an old panel. One of the few I still have.

Zumo is sitting between Image Arcane and Bazil Kyradius on the bottom right. (Click for larger image.)

Torque, Honen, and Zumo.

Color version used to make front page footer image.

This is from an old elementary school sketchpad. The "worm" in the upper right corner is clearly what I used to make Zumo.