Otto Bahn is an up-and-coming crazy cabbie making his way through the streets of Japanifornia.
He lives out of his car, navigating a digitally inspired city where characters from all kinds of
genres coexist, and the boundaries between reality and fantasy blur. The city is
populated by local "celebrities": faces that look almost familiar, like they've
stepped out of adjacent, knock-off versions of everyone's favorite video-game
franchises.
Otto's calm, grounded persona constrasts sharply with the other crazy cabbies tearing
through the city: doing stunts, diving down alleyways, even driving off cliffs doing
everything and anything just to get you to the park. They do it for the love of the
game... literally. And so does Otto! Every ride becomes its own chaotic adventure, and
Otto always has a front-row seat to the madness.
As I began developing Crazy Cabbie, I realized that I have always been picky
with the media I consume. There are really only a handful of video game characters
and story worlds I feel I know well enough to spend time with, and that selectivity
has shaped the scope and ambition of this series. While it posed a challenge during
creation, it also helped me focus on the characters and narratives I care most about,
ensuring that each moment reflects deliberate engagement rather than superficial
adaptation. This selective approach parallels Boillat's observations about the
translation of cinematic stories into mid-twentieth-century French comics, in which
careful mediation allowed audiences to access narratives they might otherwise
have missed (Boillat). Similarly, Crazy Cabbie negotiates the adaptation of
interactive game worlds into sequential, visual storytelling, creating a form that
is both familiar and unique.
From the beginning, I was drawn to the idea of crossovers: how characters from
different worlds can meet, collide, and interact in ways that reveal new facets
of their personalities. This fascination informs both the narrative and visual
design of Crazy Cabbie. Crossovers allow exploration of continuity, homage,
and improvisation simultaneously, creating a space where established characters
can encounter unfamiliar contexts, and where genres can blend in unexpected ways.
Works like Alan Moore's In Pictopia and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
demonstrated the narrative possibilities of crossover, showing how beloved
characters could be reimagined and interwoven in surprising ways. Similarly,
Space Cabbie and Odd Taxi highlighted how a central guiding perspective
(a taxi driver, in this case) can serve as a vehicle (haha) for a constellation
of characters, maintaining narrative cohesion while allowing for playful
exploration of narrative space. I especially like the humor and parody
Space Cabbie achieves. I'd also like to note that blending the titles of
Crazy Taxi and Space Cabbie together is what inspired the title of this
series, with these two franchises shaping the direction of Crazy Cabbie.
In crafting the crossovers in Crazy Cabbie, I wanted interactions that
felt meaningful and fun, not gimmicky. Each encounter is designed to highlight
character dynamics, explore genre conventions, and play with narrative logic,
creating a digitally inspired, interactive world where readers can perceive
ripple effects of actions across space and time. In many ways, these crossovers
function as miniature transmedia experiments; Chute and Jagoda argue that
comics exist as nodes in broader media networks, where narratives migrate
across contexts, invite engagement, and leverage both material and temporal
forms (Chute and Jagoda). While Crazy Cabbie exists primarily as a
web comic, it reflects these transmedia sensibilities: readers actively explore
subtleties in character behavior, panel design, and sequential choices, much
as they would in a video game or alternate reality game.
For me, accessibility and reader engagement are central to the project.
I have deliberately designed the comic so that readers of varying familiarity
with the characters or genres can enjoy the story, while those attuned to
specific references can discover deeper layers. The Extras page functions
as a guide and invitation, directing readers to features like parody,
reinterpretation of familiar characters, and visual nods to video game
design embedded within panels. Some elements are immediately legible,
while others reward closer attention. For instance, Hopper, the Frogger
frog, is a playful reinterpretation that allows me to experiment with
character and form. By highlighting these choices on the Extras page,
I provide a structure that encourages exploration without requiring prior
knowledge of every reference, making the comic approachable, interactive,
and inclusive for a wide range of readers.
Many of the project's creative experiments emerged from the challenge
of adapting well-known characters in ways that felt both authentic and
flexible. I deliberately limited how much I altered certain figures,
creating a tension that drove narrative and artistic decisions. I
realize there's room to take more creative liberty in parodying some
of these characters, but I didn't do this much in early episodes.
(An example that comes to mind is the TV show Elementary, which reimagines
Sherlock Holmes as disgraced and struggling with addiction and positions
Watson as both a doctor and a sober companion.) These kinds of
reinterpretations inspired me to think about how far familiar characters
could be pushed while still remaining recognizable. These narrative
experiments are complemented by visual design choices that reference
video game aesthetics, sometimes layering multiple allusions within
a single panel. Together, the interplay of narrative, visual, and
interactive elements creates a space where genre, parody, and homage
intersect, encouraging readers to engage with the story actively.
Long-term, Crazy Cabbie aims to expand its network of crossovers,
deepening character interactions and exploring increasingly complex
narrative collisions. Each installment builds on the interplay between
characters and worlds, testing the limits of continuity, genre, and
narrative form while maintaining accessibility for new readers. I
envision the series as an ongoing platform for experimentation: a
space where narrative, visual design, and reader interaction converge,
encouraging participation and discovery. This approach reflects Chute
and Jagoda's insights into comics as flexible, networked media, while
also building on Boillat's observations about the careful mediation
and translation of stories across contexts.
Ultimately, Crazy Cabbie is about the thrill of crossover, the joy
of discovering unexpected connections, and the creative possibilities
that emerge when characters, genres, and media intersect. By focusing
on characters I care about, imagining other out-of-franchise
characters they might encounter, and structuring the comic to guide
and reward exploration, I aim to create a narrative that is both
familiar and surprising, playful yet grounded. The Extras page
functions as a lens through which readers can engage with parody
and visual references, highlighting the intersections that excite
me most as a creator. Through crossovers, interactivity, and careful
attention to accessibility, Crazy Cabbie situates itself at the
crossroads of comics, gaming, and transmedia storytelling, reflecting
my curiosity about how stories, characters, and media interact across
genres and contexts.
Boillat, Alain. "Perspectives on Cinema and Comics: Adapting Feature Films into French-Language Comics Serials during the Post-war Years." European Comic Art, vol. 10, no. 1, spring 2017, pp. 9+. Gale Literature Resource Center, dx.doi.org.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/10.3167/eca.2017.100103. Accessed 20 Dec. 2025.
Chute, Hillary, and Patrick Jagoda. "Special Issue: Comics & Media." Critical Inquiry, vol. 40, no. 3, 2014, pp. 1-10, doi.org/10.1086/677316. Accessed 20 Dec. 2025.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Caitlin Chan is an artist and computer science
student at Rutgers University, graduating this year. She creates
character-driven comics that blend the everyday with the strange,
often experimenting with narrative, visual, and interactive elements.
Her previous work includes Wrong Planet, a sci-fi one-shot
about a biometrics-compliance engineer navigating systems of control
while discovering alien love, and Morning Ritual, part of the
Fruitpocalypse series, which begins whimsical before sliding
into a dark apocalypse. She is also the author and illustrator of Low Tide, a
supernatural slice-of-life comic about small-town life, strange
neighbors, and learning how to be human.
Her current project (you're reading it here!), Crazy Cabbie,
is an ongoing webcomic inspired by Crazy Taxi,
Space Cabbie, and other genre-spanning titles, using crossover
and parody to explore storytelling across media.