witch! turn off that flashlight!

I don't even really want to scare anybody, I just want to draw something, look at it, and say 'that's pretty creepy, why did I draw such a creepy thing'

This comic is true. (Well, except that I ever stayed up at night trying to draw a spooky thing). Occasionally I get the impulse to try and draw something scary. I have a hard time saying where exactly the impulse comes from; it may just be because it’s entirely unlike what I usually draw. But the thing is, just like in real life, if I ever actually scared anybody I’d feel terrible. I have played one Scary Prank in my memory and I apologized almost immediately afterward.

This is a bunny trail, because you’re possibly curious about what that one prank was — when I worked at the theatre, I went upstairs to the projection area to get something while the shows were running. Those projectors were old and noisy, and with all five on you really couldn’t hear much outside of your immediate vicinity. Steve was cleaning one of them and didn’t notice me up there, so I walked closer to him, pointed and made a face like Donald Sutherland at the end of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Then I waited a few seconds for him to stand up, turn, and see me standing there. It startled him pretty badly, but even though he laughed about it right away I still felt bad and really had to question why I did it in the first place.

So…Interesting Times won’t be turning into a horror comic any time soon, is what I’m trying to say. [June 12, 2012]

Interesting Times Friday Mailbag: "A Dubious Offer"

Please send your comments, questions,
and yes, even your questionably valid offers
to journalcomic at gmail dot com

Come on! Do it!

[BEGIN COMMENTARY] I’m very happy with the artwork in this comic, starting with the Eustace Tilley shout-out in the middle panel (full disclosure: I’ve never read the New Yorker, but that’s sort of an iconic image and it captured what I was going for).

CARINA in the last panel looks like something you’d have to fight in Contra or Mega Man so of course I am happy with that too. Mostly it’s because of that big sort-of-skull on top, which honestly was an accident. When it comes to cartoony supercomputers I draw a big rectangle and start adding details, usually massive cables and lots of little lines. The “orbs” just made it look like a face, suddenly. [May 25, 2012]

"Look Mom, LOOK! I made something on the internet!"

Today’s guest comic appears courtesy the enigmatic “EK R”.
He also included what he termed “major Google fodder” with his e-mail,
which I have decided to share with you all.

There is a guest comic today because I am more than a hundred kilometres away
from my tablet. But fear not! Tomorrow through the end of the week
should see me back at the wheel.

BEGIN COMMENTARY: I honestly never knew who EK R really was, and his work is almost as baffling now as it was then. That…that’s all. [March 24, 2012]

Interesting Times Friday Mailbag: "When You See It"

HAIKU:
Question for me, huh?
Send it to journalcomic
at gmail dot com

BEGIN COMMENTARY: That picture was, as you’ve probably guessed, my usual habitat whilst living at my parents’ house. The Playstation cabinet was an actual retail fixture in its former life, but the Canadian Tire store it lived in stopped selling video games and was getting rid of it. A friend rescued it and gave it to me. It had a happy life at my parents’ house, then came with me for the year I lived at my brother’s. It was a huge pain getting it down his stairs, however, and he declared it permanently installed when we were done (which I was fine with). It now houses an enormous collection of fantasy novels. [February 13, 2012]