'ORANGE' ARTIST SEEKS WORLD DOMINATION.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

In June 1995, the release of ``Rhymes With Orange'' by King Features Syndicate made Hilary Price, then 25, the youngest woman with a syndicated comic strip.

Nearly five years later, Price has the same goal: ``world domination.''

And she plans to accomplish that little feat . . . how?

``What is the road to world domination? I wish I had a five-star general to help me with that question,'' said Price from her home in Massachusetts. ``Well, there might be another book coming out or I have these subliminal messages flashing across the Web site. That's going to help.

``Getting into more papers helps, but no plush toys or air fresheners for the foreseeable future.''

For the record, ``Rhymes With Orange'' appears in more than 100 newspapers nationwide, and ``another book'' would be a follow-up to the first ``Rhymes With Orange'' collection published by Andrews McMeel in 1997.

And while we're not going to hazard a guess at the connection between plush toys and air fresheners and world domination, the remark seems very much in character for the cartoonist who has tackled such topics as reindeer performing ``The Wizard of Oz'' (``Help, I'm molting!''); a night at home with electric eels (think surge protectors) and the diary of a sport utility vehicle (``Tuesday: We hit a pot hole!! Thrills galore!!'')

The outside world and all its idiosyncrasies is Price's source of inspiration. ``Rhymes With Orange'' contains no plot lines and no recurring characters. The behavior of dogs and cats will always have a place, but so will politicians, neurotic behavior and shopping trends. ``If you say anything today,'' Price warns her interviewer, ``I'll use it.''

``I'm not a very introverted person,'' she adds. ``It's a social process. I kind of feed on social interaction.''

Even her dreams have produced toon fodder. A recent nighttime interlude that featured Price going on a bagel hunt using a propped-up shoe box, a piece of string, and a stick of butter and soy sauce packets as bait.

``I changed it a little for the strip,'' says Price. ``Even when I was dreaming it, I thought, `Maybe this will be a cartoon.' ''

A native of Weston, Mass., Price graduated with a degree in English literature from Stanford University. She spent several years in San Francisco, working as a copywriter for an advertising agency, and later publishing a weekend cartoon, ``Price'' in the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1997, she moved back to her home state, settling in Northampton.

The cartoon title is Price's reference to ``the singularity of the strip's perspective.'' There is no word in the English language that rhymes with orange, although as Price points out ``door hinge'' comes close.

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Photo: Hilary Price