Open on: the Skookworks studio. The Cartoonist sits in front of his computer. He is typing. A black cat is slumped on his lap. It’s impossible to tell the time of day. The room has no windows. Two of the walls have built-in floor to ceiling bookshelves. The desk on which the computer sits is cluttered with scraps of paper and pens. The drawing table next to the computer is similarly cluttered but with a different variety of pens and pencils and the papers have more art on them.

The Salesman wanders in.

Salesman: “Hey.”

The Cartoonist doesn’t look up. Cartoonist: “Uhm?”

Salesman: “Did you listen to the Planet Money podcast about buying a superhero?”

The Cartoonist stops typing. He looks at the Salesman. Cartoonist: “Of course I did. We’re the same person. If you’ve done something, so have I.”

The Salesman rolls his eyes. Salesman: “For a guy with a lot of imagination you’ve got a narrow focus. Just pretend we’re two people so I have something to write about in this week’s newsletter.”

The Cartoonist rolls his eyes in exactly the same way the Salesman had done. Cartoonist: “I’m writing the newsletter while we’re talking. So keep talking.”

The Salesman frowns. Salesman: “Why isn’t the Writer writing the newsletter?”

Cartoonist: “We can only be so many people before I get confused. Let’s stick to the point. Or find one. What about the Planet Money thing did you want to talk about?”

Salesman: “What do you think?”

Cartoonist: “I think the Archie comics guy was right, Micro-Face is a terrible name.”

Salesman: “Not that. What do you think about us digging up our own public domain superhero?”

Cartoonist: “Another one? We’ve already got five. What do we need another for?”

Salesman: “All of our guys have been used by other people. Why not grab a more unknown character and use that?”

The Cartoonist stares at the Salesman. The cat yawns and adjusts its position slightly.

Cartoonist: “Having some recognition helps us doesn’t it? These characters all have some reputation outside my drawings. A more unknown character might as well be a completely new character.”

Salesman: “Have you at least looked at the Public Domain Superheroes catalog?”

Cartoonist: “I’ve looked there and at this list. It’s easy to get overwhelmed. There are thousands of characters listed. Lots of gods and goddesses from old myths. Lots of daring aviators. Lots of folks who wear masks to fight crime. Lots of Flash Gordon wannabes.It’s fun to look but it’s hard to get more than a glimpse at any one character.
And I think the public domain status of some of the characters is questionable. The lists were put together by fans not copyright lawyers. I’d rather not get inspired by some character, do up a bunch of designs and then get sued. That’s not fun.”

Salesman: “I’m just trying to figure out an angle to take to promote our work. It’s … weird.”

Cartoonist: “Isn’t that an angle. ‘Weird stuff’?”

Salesman: “There’s a lot of weird stuff online. I’m trying to figure out a more focused branding to use.”

The Cartoonist makes a crumpled up paper sort of expression. Cartoonist: “Do you have to use the term ‘branding’? Isn’t that outdated by now?”

Salesman: “I googled it before you typed my dialogue. It’s still in major use.”

Cartoonist: “I hate marketing catchwords.”

Salesman: “Deal with it. You’ve got to play the game to get rich.”

Cartoonist: “A. If we’re trying to get rich we’re going about it wrong. B. We’ve got a day job to pay the bills so we’re doing this for the fun of it.”

Salesman: “You’re doing this for the fun of it. I want us to be rich.”

Cartoonist: “You’re only a tiny part of our personality. The rest of us doesn’t care about being wealthy. Some parts of us are morally opposed to great wealth.”

Salesman: “The Mail Carrier wouldn’t mind retiring. Soon.”

Cartoonist: “He does have an exhausting job. And I would enjoy spending more time drawing.”

Salesman: “Right! So I’m trying to figure out a more focused branding for our merchandise. The stuff in our stores is all over the place. Cute cartoon animal greeting cards. The Mighty Nizz. Cthulhu stuff. One-off scifi and monster illustrations. I’m thinking we’d better off having a half a dozen more directed stores instead of a couple general ones.”

Cartoonist: “Have you wandered off the point? I thought we were talking about our superheroes.”

Salesman: ” …. Right. So we’re not going to revive some obscure public domain character?”

Cartoonist: “Not today. Our stores are a jumble because we just jumped in and started putting them together with what we had on hand. We’re past that stage now. I’m designing images for the available merchandise. I’m having fun. I’ve got plans for Stardust, Octobriana, the Heap, Fantomah and the Face.”

Salesman: “Are you doing new comics?”

The Cartoonist makes that crumpled paper sort of expression again. The cat hops off his lap and wanders out of the studio. Cartoonist: “Ask me that when the Mail Carrier has a long vacation. Comics take time and concentration and those are rare commodities in this studio. Meanwhile, I’m working on some fun designs.”

Salesman: “Fun designs that I’ll be able to sell?”

Cartoonist: “They’ll be designs I’d want to wear myself.”

The Salesman sighs. Salesman: “More weird and obscure things? You hate me, don’t you?”

These Days …

Happy Friday! Thank you for dropping by.

This issue is a shorter one, a bit of breather between finishing the greeting card conversions and starting discussing the next phases for the online shops.

It’s been a weird couple of weeks. If you read my last newsletter you know that we (me, my wife and our housemate) have been quarantined because our new housemate is recovering from covid. The responsible thing to do after exposure is to stay away from other people for 14 days. So no work outside the house. No delivering mail.

Last week I was in a bad mood. I like my routines. This wasn’t in my plans. It wasn’t a vacation. I may have complaints about the number of hours I work at USPS but working there gets me the paycheck to fund the rest of our life. Not going to work makes me nervous. Not going to work because there’s a potentially deadly disease in my living space adds to that discomfort.

This week I was in a lighter mood. Our housemate has been getting better. Neither Sarah nor I have had any symptoms of covid.

I’ve been able to use the home time to get a lot of designs completed for my shops. Chemo, the black cat, has been acting as my executive assistant. He was waking me up at 3 am before quarantine and he has continued to do so now. Most of the new work is available now in my Redbubble store. I’m really happy with how the new stuff has been turning out. I’m enjoying the challenge of creating images that both suggest stories and look good on t-shirts (and mugs and blankets and shower curtains and phone cases and ..). I will be showing the process steps for each design in upcoming newsletters.

We’ve been rearranging the space a bit so our new housemate has room for her own stuff and has a place to work on her paintings. We’ve been giving away furniture. Chemo and the new grey cat, Flax, have been getting along.

We plan to all get tested for covid tomorrow or Sunday. Assuming we’re clear I’ll be back delivering mail next week. I’ll be getting my second Pfizer vaccine the week after that.

Yay.

I hope that things in your world are looking bright. If you need to wear shades, put them on. Everyone looks cooler in shades.

See you next week!