Fridays come and Fridays go but diamonds are forever. And a girl’s best friend.

A man’s best friend is his dog.

No wonder the sexes don’t get along.

That one sex is from Mars (a freezing desert) and the other is from Venus (a burning hellscape) might also be a problem.

Or maybe some folks just think too much about fitting diverse groups of sentient apes into easily defined boxes so they don’t have to think much any more?

Uh…

Anyway. It’s Friday. This is the Newsletter.

Nonsense abounds!

These Days …

It’s dark when I go to work. It’s dark when I go back home.

Yay.

Lovecraft Kids

The final scenario of in the Eldritch New England Holiday Collection was –

Christmas In Kingsport –
Our six protagonists gather once more in the home of their Great Aunt Nora, for what they expect to be a very boring Christmas Eve.  However they are rescued by their beloved older cousin Melba, a carefree flapper and black sheep of the family, who takes them on adventures undreamed of across Kingsport and Beyond the Walls of Sleep.  But what begins as a magical holiday adventure soon turns into a nightmare for the cousins, as they are targeted by demons. They must solve a mystery before Christmas morning, to return peace on earth and good will towards certain members of their family.

Talking to Myself (Part the Next)

Scene: The Studio. The Cartoonist sits in front of his computer. To the left of his keyboard is a cup of room temperature coffee. To the right is a fat, orange cat. It’s asleep on a stack of “important” papers.

The Salesman enters. He’s carrying his own cup of coffee. It’s fresh and hot. He sips.

Salesman – “Are you doing anything useful?”

Cartoonist – “I’m thinking.”

Salesman – “So … no?”

The Cartoonist looks at the Salesman. The Cartoonist rolls his eyes.

Cartoonist – “Ha. Ha. What do you want?”

Salesman – “I want you to draw a comic that’s easily marketable but I’ve mostly given up on that ever happening. So, instead, I’d like you to clarify something you said last week.”

Cartoonist – “I don’t remember what I said yesterday. Last week might as well be last century.”

Salesman – ” ‘Punk rock. Zines. Getting the work done and getting it out.’ What did you mean? You didn’t really explain it.”

Cartoonist – “I was trying to articulate the philosophy driving Red Storm Elegy.”

Salesman – “That’s still a terrible title.”

Cartoonist – “Would you prefer Sunk Cost Elegy?”

Salesman – ” …. maybe?”

Cartoonist – “Sunk Cost Elegy it is. Anyway – the philosophy …”

Salesman – “Are you going to want me to write a manifesto? Manifestos are so 20th Century.”

Cartoonist – “No manifesto. Are you planning to listen? If not I can go back to staring at my monitor.”

The Salesmen sips his coffee. He makes the “lips zipped” motion over his mouth.

Cartoonist – “For the last couple of years I’ve been having a hard time doing comics. Which is frustrating because doing comics is pretty much all I’ve really wanted to do since I was a kid. I’ve done a lot of art but it’s primarily been single illustrations because – ”

Salesman – “Because the cats sit on your drawing table and demand your attention?”

Cartoonist – “That’s part of it. When it was just Kemo and Sabé they weren’t on the drawing table as much. After Sabè died, Kemo got on the table more. We got Crunch with the idea that Kemo would pay more attention to him.”

Salesman – “That didn’t work out the way you planned.”

Cartoonist – “No. Crunch and Kemo play but when he’s not playing with Kemo, Crunch likes to be close to me. Like, on my drawing table or my computer or the papers next to my mousepad.”

Salesman – “You could get rid of the cats. Or at least put them in another room when you want to work on art.”

Cartoonist – “Sometimes I have put them in another room but that’s not a solution. We have cats because we like cats. And this isn’t really about the cats. This is about working around distractions. There will always be distractions. So how do I do that?”

Salesman – “I’m assuming you’re going to tell me.”

Cartoonist – “I do all my art digitally. At least, all my comics. I still like working with pencils, paper, ink, markers and paint. I’ll keep doing physical illustrations. Maybe I’ll do enough of them I can start doing art shows. Or something.”

Salesman – “That would be a good thing actually. That I could market.”

Cartoonist – “I will be creating my comics with my Wacom tablet in Clip Studio Paint and, until I master CSP, Photoshop. The big advantage to working this way is instant access. No more having to get out the paper, set out the ink, find the brush or the pen. No more scanning in pencils and converting them to bluelines. No more clean up. I just open the file and start working. In the past I’ve always felt like I needed at least an open half hour or more before it was worth working on art, now I can just take advantage of random five minutes. I don’t have worry about ink drying, either on the page so I don’t screw up an illustration by smearing the ink, or on the brush so I have to wash it.”

Salesman – “Yay. You can work more and faster. Yay. Technology. What does that have to do with punk rock and zines?”

Cartoonist – “It’s … hmmn. I’ve known a lot of creative types who get caught up in making their work perfect. One of them justified it as “bad art is forever” and he didn’t want “bad art” in the world with his name on it. But “bad art” is subjective. Stuff that is considered genius now was panned by critics when it was first produced. Stuff that is considered bad still has fans who love it. I rarely finish anything to perfection. I just get to a point where noodling more will make it worse. The art isn’t perfect; I can see things that could be improved but I don’t know how to improve them without starting from scratch so I call the work done and move on.”

The Salesman sips his coffee. He makes a puzzled face.

Salesman – “It sounds like you’re saying that you’re okay making bad art.”

Cartoonist – “Sort of yes but also no. I’m never going to try to do bad work. I’m saying that I will always make the best art I can and then move on. I will always see ways I could improve but I’m going to leave it up to others to decide on whether it’s bad or good.”

Salesman – “So … punk rock and zines?”

Cartoonist – “Passion and enthusiasm and ephemera. Part of idea behind punk rock was that you didn’t worry about whether you could sing or play your instruments, you just formed a band and played music. Zines were (and are) made by people who just wanted to make a publication. Nowadays there are tools and programs and services that will allow you to make something that looks pretty professional but, back in the day, it was all cutting and pasting and xeroxing for, maybe, a few dozen copies of something.”

Salesman – “You’re not telling me things were better back then?”

Cartoonist – “God no. I’m using punk and DIY creation as a reference. I’m saying that I not let my ignorance stop me. About learning as I go. I’m talking about doing art without concern for perfection or commercial appeal. About finishing a project in order to finish a project.”

Salesman – “The phrase ‘without concern for commercial appeal’ disturbs me. You started this year planning to do Mighty Nizz comics. I get that your flow was interrupted by concern for other people’s health issues and the Billi 99 kickstarter stuff but Nizz is probably the most commercial thing you’re thought of it. It’s simple. I can sell simple. Your other things … they’re a mess. They require explanation. People these days have the attention spans of fruit flies.”

Cartoonist – “My brand is “weird stuff that requires explanation”.

Salesman – “Your brand? Talking about ‘brand’ is my wheelhouse.”

Cartoonist – “So figure out a better way to describe it. Might Nizz is still on the table. So is The Surrilana Depths. And Kaiju Weather. And The Witch Engines. And a bunch of things I’m not going to mention because I already sound too ambitious to myself. Sunk Cost Elegy is the first album.”

Salesman – “First album. That’s what the European cartoonists call their books. I can work with that. Sunk Cost Elegy: a Scifi Samurai Western. By David Lee Ingersoll. Is this going to be a webcomic or a print book?”

Cartoonist – “I’m aiming for print but we’ll see. And it’s more of a Punk Scifi Neon Noir now. And I’m thinking of using a pseudonym. ‘David Lee Ingersoll’ is a mouth full. “Moebius”. “Madonna”. “Prince”. Single name pseudonyms are cool.”

Salesman – “You make the art. Leave the branding to me.”