ArmadaPaw

1. James was an awkward kid. He was bullied at school, and was kinda bookish and scrawny in his younger years. He came out as gay in college, and set about distancing himself from any kind of stereotypes, because he hated the idea of people thinking of him only as the nerdy lil gay kid. He played college football and beefed up, graduated suma cum laude from a biology program and became the grumpy old Doctor James Wright that we know now.
2. James is a loner - he resents most people, and his only friends (ie, Alan,) are only the people persistent enough to talk to him often. James will never pursue a friendship.
3. In an early page of chapter one, Alan mentions a 'Chris,' as an ex-boyfriend of James'. There is no Chris. James made Chris up to stop Alan from trying to set him up with people.
4. The last serious relationship James has had was in college, and if he's honest, he's probably still sulking over the breakup that was over a decade ago
5. In expansion to the last point - James doesn't make emotional connections very easily, but when he does, he holds tight to them.
6. In one of the very earliest drafts of Astral (like, when it was going to be a novel and not a comic,) James' had a yogurt maker that he loved. He found the act of making yogurt calming, and made more yogurt that any one person would ever be able to reasonably eat - It's a weird, obsessive little character quirk, and I like to think James has that yogurt maker boxed in a cupboard somewhere, and that he takes it out and uses it when he's stressed.
7. James has a half-sister, who calls maybe once or twice a year. She's a school teacher, and they're not close. That lack of closeness is probably James' fault. He had a perfectly fine childhood, and parents who were supportive of his coming out.
8. James has had no interest in stars and space whatsoever, at least before the story started. He took an astronomy course in college as an elective, but dropped out because it bored him.