And there you have it. For the first time in series history I have released a character’s nationality and back story.

Why is Karen from Iceland? I can’t easily answer that. When I first imagined the character, her name as well as her nationality seemed to suddenly come packaged with her. She was an Icelander named Karen, it was as easy as that.

As much as I enjoy developing Karen’s background, revealing her nationality presents me with potential continuity problems. Back Office isn’t set in any particular city or country. This is intentional as it gives me the freedom to modify locations as I need them, but also opens up the comic for interpretation from readers in most countries.

If I state that Back Office is set in North America, then I might encounter cultural issues with that location, just as I would if I declare the comic to be set in Europe or Asia. Having Karen from Iceland hopefully doesn’t damage this too much, given that Iceland is roughly half way between Europe and North America. It’s also equally feasible that she has travelled elsewhere to work, allowing Back Office to be set potentially anywhere in the industrialized world.

I hope you enjoy this new window into this character 😀