The Koan of Warwick cartoon strip was created in
1990 or thereabouts, using a remarkably similar format to
Nev's 'Mr Slug' cartoon (three almost identical frames).
It's main character is, in fact, a piece of modern art on the
University of Warwick campus (in the UK) that was designed
by an artist called Lilian Lijn. The Koan is about 4m high,
banded with flourescent lights, and rotates with a noisy
grinding noise. Originally, it was intended to be placed on the roof of the Arts Centre, but it was discovered that the
roof was not strong enough to bear its weight.
The Koan is the unofficial mascot of the university's Science Fiction society, and is secretly worshipped as the avatar of a god by the Koan Worshipping society. Or maybe they only do it to annoy the born-again Christians.