Love! Exciting and new!
Make the day special, print ’em out, cut ’em out, hand ’em out, act shocked at the restraining order!
MacGuffin
At least that’s over. Or not.
Hokey smokes. What was that? Two and a half years? For real?
Well, at least there’s this.
A new beginning? Hope springs eternal, indeed still in the face of the coming year.
“Nothing should be out of the reach of hope. Life is a hope”
Indeed.
Who will pay the check and what will be left for a tip?
Once again the High Holiday is upon us. And so is a comic, for once in far too long.
If you find the spirit of Samhain upon you here are the past Halloween comics, as well as an archive of InkTober nonsesne.
Some of the lesser known craft beers
Hello. Management is happy to report we are not dead yet. Always an upside when it comes to continuing to “get things done” as they say on all the popular life coaching cult accounts.
Who doesn’t love a good artisan craft micro brew? Made with hops named after some historic Victorian agricultural hero…water from a tiny mountain stream guarded by six generations of a rural family…labels lovingly painted by a manic outsider artist. Related: I am available to write your brewing company marketing copy.
Back in the ‘days of my yout’ as they say, before I acquired a liking for different kinds of beer, you’d sometimes order something you never head of and it was a game of chance with the devil. Once in a while they’d bring over that tiny brandy glass and you would think “Dammnit it’s a barley wine” but buddy it’s already on your bill so buck up and drink down.
Regardless. The comics continue, though sporadic. Hoping we can do something about that. Today’s is a swing at formatting for Other Viewing, so if you check it out on Instagram, you’ll get the idea.
BIGGER version below you can scroll through because you deserve good things.
Pandemic Hijynx
Status report. Also testing out some new inks like a damnable caveman.
MURICA SALAD
A culinary choice reflecting these turbulent times.
What have we been slacking off on while sheltering?
I think people fall into two groups……either during the lat few months you have been very very busy, or very very bored. I’ve been on the busy side mostly. No mushrooms on the belly yet.
It’s fair to day this has turned a corner into a “cast of characters and also other things I want to draw” type of comic. Weighed this back and forth and decided these things really have their own life and at certain points it’s best to let them be what they want to be.
This originally started as “practice” in a sense. The idea was to do SOMETHING – to make a comic on a schedule, feel out posting, the process, find the dips and challenges and so on. At the start I told myself there was no attachment to the characters and no long term goals, so I was free to just wing it.
Ten years later and still winging it. A lot learned but also I did end up holding on to these characters for better or worse. No fame, but still that drive to keep making these that only other people with the same obsession would relate to I suppose.
The internet wants you to stay healthy.
The internet has returned, as it is always wont to do.
Folks the internet really only wants whats best for you. Always.
Salty miscommunication
So it’s happened. Color has entered the process. For why not.
When I began this it was an exercise limited to black and white, testing the waters. Eventually it became a Thing, and then some hatching and noodling was added. Eventually after that grey washes.
And here we are at the dawn of color.
To be honest the comic audience has been very….niche. So in the interest of shaking up 2020 and perhaps a new direction, trying something different. Partly to expand the comic itself, also to get my hands on this pen tablet that someone was so very kind to hand off to me and has spent far too much time languishing next to the video cabinet. It was done in ink on bristol, with a gray ink wash for some shading then colored in ye digital. Who knows perhaps at some point it will be soup to nuts digital, but I do so much love the feel of an ink brush so, hard to say.
I have been thinking about the future of this comic and discussing comic lifespan, weighing options and thoughts about where, if anywhere, this is headed. There were a few thoughts about putting the Pin of Fate on this and trying another comic, another format. Still uncommitted, but the other ideas may not be ripe so onward we go.
Uncanny Valley of the Dolls in 4D
And here it is, suddenly the High Holiday is upon us. Seems my initial InkTober steam has run out, although partially it was to get a Halloween comic ready in time. As usual, the theory of “make quick comics for holidays” evolved into a complicated test of comic fortitude as I continue feeling out this ink wash angle. It was incredibly fun to do.
At Finster’s tonight it’s attack of the scary dolls and doll related entities. Who are these strange, stunted spooks? I AM GLAD YOU ASKED AS HERE IS A HANDY KEY I MADE FOR YOU BECAUSE I CARE FOR YOU SO VERY VERY MUCH:
- Pinhead from Puppet Master (1989): I’ve never seen this movie but have been aware of it since it came out. The aggressively possessed puppets of André Toulon.
- Tunneler from Puppet Master (1989): I should find it and watch it. The concept disturbs me.
- Blade from Puppet Master (1989): And stop motion for the win am I right?
- Fats from Magic (1978): I watched this movie years ago and the preview still creeps me out. The movie is equally unsettling.
- Chucky from Child’s Play (1988): Another character from the age when horror movie creeps could get a run of films with deteriorating value without much effort. Not a slam.
- Pinocchio from……Pinocchio (1940): I’m sure there is someone, somewhere who finds Pinocchio scary. I will say any movie where a boy turns into a donkey and never turns back is clearly the type of thing that sits in a kid’s subconscious for a long time.
- Tiffany from Bride of Chucky (1998): You have to admire the legs that the concept of “The Bride of….” has had over the years in movies.
- Otto from The Great Gabbo (1929): Safe to say the first freaky puppet of film. Arguably the great-great-great-great-grandfather of…
- Billy from Saw (2004): The latest real iconic doll. You see that face and you know you’re gonna have a bad day. Although you will spend half as much on shoes from now on.
- Brick Bardo from Dollman (1991): Okay technically a real person, but the right size and it’s in the name.
- Robert the haunted doll: The real deal and the most well known. Ironically the most innocent looking of the group but with the most frightening reputation.
- Annabelle the haunted doll: Two things to know about the haunted doll in the movie franchise – one, she is real and two, she looks nothing like that freaky prop. She is actually a Raggedy Ann Doll. Which honestly is way more scary if you take even five minutes to think about it.
- Zuni fetish doll from The Trilogy of Terror (1975): The most terrifying of the bunch, hands down. Brought to life from Richard Matheson‘s short story Prey. If you have ever seen this this detestable thing running around shrieking it is burned into your brain. High grade nightmare fuel. Find it and watch it. Why should i bear this burden alone?
- The clown doll from Poltergeist (1982): Next to the melting face the most upsetting part of that movie. From the first look you knew this little creep was going to do something horrible before the end credit. What decent parent would even buy this for a kid? Child abuse is what it is.
- Talky Tina from the Twilight Zone episode Living Doll (1963): This is why I don’t buy my kids any toys with a face. You want to end up like Telly Savalas? Then don’t buy dolls and for God’s sake don’t join the Russian army and board a train with a prehistoric creature in a big wooden box. It’s just common sense people.
If you’re up for more Hallow-skroode-een check out the Halloween archive yonder.
So Oíche Shamhna Shona Duit. Keep the gold chain on the doll.