When Adam Bassett was a kid, his father came home with books of comic strips — anthologies of favorites such as "Garfield" and "Peanuts."

He poured through them, soaking in the subtle humor and styles of the authors. Then, as he got older, he began to find an outlet in creating his own.

Today in the print edition, we debut the fruits of his labors for more than a decade with "Roger That." It's a comic strip from the Buford graphic artist that, he said, he started at age 9 and has been developing ever since.

"That particular strip I started when I was 9 years old," Bassett said of "Roger That," which you can find on Page 3C of today's Times. "I've done lots of strips in my life; I really started when I was 6, but that particular one I've stuck with all these years."

The elementary school-aged characters use simple humor and wordplay to grapple with issues of growing up, relating to others and little misunderstandings. They are more an ongoing story, Bassett said, rather than tales inspired from everyday life - although their situations are ones with which everyone can identify.

My style is definitely influenced by ‘Peanuts,' especially the ‘Peanuts' from the 1950s and '60s, when I feel it was at its peak," he said, adding that the "Peanuts creator, Charles Schulz, is one of his favorite artists.

"He is right up there. I also like ‘Krazy Kat' - that was a kind of top strip in the early part of the (20th) century," he added. "As a kid I really loved ‘Garfield.' In fact, at one point I think the strip topped ‘Peanuts,' but it's gone way downhill from there. I also loved ‘The Far Side,' too."

Born in Atlanta, Bassett works for a printing company in Norcross and is also a freelance graphic designer.

He lives with his fiancee Lisa and her daughter Maria.

He said he got into graphic design when he started seeing pictures pop up on the Internet, where the creators used Photoshop to create the digital effects. He learned the program and got into the design industry.

It was a similar situation with the comic strips, he added. Rather than setting out to absorb every comic book out there, he just read the books his dad brought home. Eventually, it soaked in.

"As a little kid, you just do whatever pops into your head," he said. "It inspired me, that's all I can say."