By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

Every Thursday, holding a place of prominence in The Benicia Herald, Les Overlock offer his observations on life to his friends and neighbors.

“The Buzz,” which celebrates its four-year anniversary Monday, has become a Herald — and Benicia — mainstay.

“It started out on a complete whim,” said Overlock, a Benicia artist whose work has been displayed in galleries and businesses all over the city. “I remember I was sketching in front of Cafe Voltaire. They were probably the closest thing to a true coffee house. You can get a different kind of motivation from there than say a Starbucks or a Peet’s.

“People used to convene there, and in a sense they kind of ‘buzzed.’ That’s where I came up with ‘The Buzz.’”

But the comic wasn’t titled “The Buzz” at first. When it debuted on May 28, 2008, it was called “Teatime in Benicia.”

“That lasted for one issue I think,” Overlock said.

“We went through 28 different titles,” he recalled. Eventually he and former Herald editor Richard Parks whittled it down to fewer selections, and “The Buzz” stuck.

Overlock said when he approached Parks about the idea, “I remember there was a pregnant pause, and he said, ‘Let’s give it a try.’ That pregnant pause could have gone any direction. It hadn’t been done, and I saw a need.”

Parks, reached by email Thursday, recalled the meeting. “Les Overlock’s comic ‘The Buzz’ was inevitable!” he said. “Since the 18th century folks have been drinking in cafés and taIking, and I saw no convincing reason to turn him down.”

Through his one-panel comic-slash-artistic rendering, Overlock keeps a running commentary on different aspects of Benicia and Bay Area life — for the most part, without touching on inflammatory subjects.

“I never ever try to get political, I never want to get religious, I never want to get anything that would really push anybody in any direction,” he said. “I want people to just say, ‘Oh, yeah! I remember saying that!’ or, ‘Yeah, I thought that but I didn’t say it.’ Those kinds of things. It happens so much.”

Nor does Overlock use any names of places in his comics. “I put no names — I’m not trying to advertise for anybody or anything. I just try to keep it in the Universe,” he said.

“There’s a lot more to ‘The Buzz’ than people might think. I’m not saying it’s one of those deep, thought-out things, because it usually comes in a wave. It starts on Sunday, and usually crescendoes on Monday.”

Overlock knows that people read his comic, and he appreciates it. “If they’re touched by something, that’s been the greatest reward on the planet. I’ve had so many people — never the same person — come up and say crazy stuff.

“I was in Raley’s, and this person I know came up to me. This is somebody who has never made a comment about anything that I’ve done, and he says, ‘Man I could really relate to your Buzz last week.’”

One of his favorite comics to date? “One of the best ‘Buzzes’ is that Om Phone. It was without a doubt the easiest one,” he said. “I’ve had different people whose judgement I really trust really like that.”

“The Buzz” is undergoing a slight transition, Overlock said. But he’s not giving anything away. “The less said, the better.”

“I want to give people a little jolt of the big and the little picture, and how they relate to each other,” he said.

Though “The Buzz” has been going on for four years, Overlock has really had “no expectations. If it goes another four years, God bless it.”

Or as Parks put it: “Long live ‘The Buzz!’”