Category: dilemma

look at that frown! he means business

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There’s a lot of older comics that I’d like to redraw, simply because I can see things that I would do much differently now. I hesitate to say “better” because in five more years I might say that about the work I posted yesterday night, for instance. On the one hand I’ve marked this comic as a personal favorite, because of the frown in panel one and because I like what I wrote.

On the other hand I dislike every other facial expression in the whole thing. What was I thinking, drawing mouths like that? Somewhere, and I’ve no idea where, but somewhere I once had a comment that a reader had finally figured out my characters weren’t wearing masks over the lower portions of their faces. Looking back, I can totally see where that notion came from. [April 26, 2011]

there may be a more graceful solution

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I’ve actually been on the verge of taking this comic down in the years since posting it. But I’ve talked it over with a few people and apparently I’m being oversensitive, so for that and various other reasons it stays.

The problem I had is that the comic appears to rely on violence against women for the sake of a punchline, which is not what I’m about. However nobody I’ve shown it to reads it that way. Also, a friend of mine convinced me that it’s more important to chart your growth and changes as an artist than to try and censor or bury work that for one reason or another you aren’t proud of.

So, my fears about this comic have been allayed. [April 26, 2011]

Nerd-Man… AWAY!

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One thing I enjoy when writing is to put in repeating phrases and ideas. I don’t think anybody really notices them, mainly because they are often designed to fly under the radar unless you know they exist, like the arrow in the FedEx logo.

The first words of this comic – “I don’t draw them in the comic, but…” are a good example. The phrase stayed in my mind as a good way to start a comic, and so it will pop up now and again over the course of the next few years. There are other examples. They aren’t usually present so often that you’d notice, but they’re another way I entertain myself with my work. [April 25, 2011]