This strip began life as University2 in The Diamondback, the campus newspaper of the University of Maryland at College Park. Frank (the neurotic doctor) was a duck, and Leslie (the hypochondriac frog) was a lima bean (exactly what sort of legume he was supposed to be was a source of constant debate on campus), but Ralph the midget circus bear and Dean the male chauvinist pig (and that's pig as in boar, not pig as in boor) survived the transition from college paper to syndication. Other college-strip standbys like unauthorized lifting of characters from the other strips and blatant shots taken at the other cartoonists (which of course would make absolutely no sense taken out of context) didn't make the cut.
And then there's Brandy, the object of Frank's affection. Frank Cho's artistic treatment of this particular female form drew both high praise (for its quality) and harsh criticism, especially with the infamous scratch'n'sniff Brandy -- a full-page-length panel of the woman lying down wearing nothing but a strategically-draped bedsheet. This sort of thing also had to go with syndication, but it was fun while it lasted.