Artstuff

I originally posted the following seven pages individually back in 2012. Here’s my explanation of them from the first post (copy and paste is a wonderful thing) –

It’s an odd experience when I find a piece of art I’d completely forgotten that I’d drawn. As soon as I see it again I recognize it as mine and I may even remember some of the details of its creation. This page and the six pages that follow are really vague in my memory. I suspect that a big part of the reason for this is that I didn’t write the story that’s being illustrated. When I’m illustrating someone else’s story I don’t feel the same attachment to the characters that I do if I’m the writer. It’s not that I put any less effort into the art, it’s just that the characters usually don’t stick around in my head after the job is done. They didn’t originate with me. I draw their portraits and they move on.

In 1993 Brave New Words had shut down. I was still friends with the publisher. We talked on a regular basis and he brought me projects to work on. One of those was a miniseries about the apocalypse. I think. He was going to write the script and I was going to draw it. I think he intended to shop it to a publisher. I don’t think he planned to publish it himself.

The series was called Wonderland. I’ve found parts of the script for the first issue. There’s a lot that happens off stage with characters reacting to things that the reader hasn’t seen. I believe it concerned a group of people who were out to prevent the end of the world. A lot of stories are about that. I remember that he wanted to the art to be high contrast black and white. If I remember correctly, he didn’t send me a full script. He faxed me the script in pieces. This was in 1993. I had a Mac desktop that I was sharing with my room mate. There was no email or internet.

The project didn’t get any farther than a script for the first issue and seven finished pages on my end. We moved on to other things.

Story Seed #37

What happens next? What’s the story here?

I’m giving those pages up there to anyone who can come up with the rest of the story. (Not the physical pages I’m afraid. I don’t know where those are.) The original writer is done with it. Even if I still drew like that I won’t be doing anything with the story. I’ve got enough other projects on my plate. But if you’ve read those pages and thought, “I know what should happen next!” – have at it.

Other Newsletters

In Strange Animals, Aditya Bidikar writes about comics, lettering comics and writing comics. Among other things. I’m always interested in improving my craft so I enjoy reading discussions of it by other creators. Bidikar lives in India so he provides glimpses of the world that I don’t see out my own window. He works in the American comics industry, primarily as a letterer. Every American industry offshores.

Lifestuff

I’m writing this on Sunday morning. I’m not expecting to try to update on Tuesday morning. I’m tired. Mondays and Tuesdays have generally been the busiest days of the week at my station. On Mondays we have to clear out the back up of parcels and mail that couldn’t be delivered on Sunday. On Tuesdays we have to deliver that Red Plum coupon thing to every address that hasn’t figured out how to get themselves taken off the mailing list. (The unsubscribe form is here.) For the last two weeks we’ve had the double difficulty of increased parcel numbers (the third highest increase in the Seattle area) and having a substitute crew of parcel clerks doing the sorting.

Substitute clerks were necessary because our regulars were quaratined at home after one of them tested positive for C-19. The clerk is aparently doing fine and the rest of the clerks have aparently tested negative but quarantining was considered best practice. I’m feeling basically healthy and I’m unlikely to have had enough contact with the clerk (any of the clerks) to have picked up the virus. I’m not very social at work. I tend to go to my case and focus on getting my mail ready.

We’ve also been short carriers. USPS is being reasonable and letting folks who are concerned about their risks to take sick time, no doctor’s notes needed. For those of us coming to work it means we’re having to carry extra whether we’re on the “Overtime Desired” list or not. Last Monday I worked 7 am to 7:30 pm. Tuesday I worked 7 to 7. Other carriers were out even later.

The likeliest chance of infection for the carriers comes during our regular “stand-up” gatherings when management gives safety talks and passes on news from upper management. It’s hard to maintain six feet of distance from other employees and still hear management speak. On Saturday they called a meeting and had us all stay at our cases. The clerks paused in throwing parcels and, since the carrier weren’t next to each other crosstalking and management really projected, it was possible to hear what was said.

If one of the carriers comes down with C-19 our station will be shut down. That would suck. Not for me. I’ve got plenty of sick leave. It would suck for the people we serve. Our station covers four zip codes – 69 routes. We deliver a lot of … crap. Propaganda, unwanted ads, stuff that barely gets looked at before the customer tosses it into recycling. But we also deliver bills and news and medicine and personal letters and shutting down the station would cause so many problems.

We’ve got masks and gloves and sanitizer. The station was sterilized according to recommended CDC procedures after the clerk tested positive. I’m doing my best to take care of myself so I only carry mail not C-19.

For those of you “sheltering at home”, I feel for you. I hope you have good company and plenty of books. I hope your windows give you a good view. This is not the new normal. This is temporary. Be kind to each other. See you next week.