This story is completely true. It was the end of a long day, so when Kurt leapt off the stairs to confront me with his weapons (shouting “Haaaa!”) I just stood there for a moment trying to find the words to adequately convey how much of a terrible friend he was being without even really knowing it. [May 16, 2012]
There’s a tiny logo in the lower right of the 2nd panel artwork which is supposed to be that of Walking Time Bomb. It’s a little alarm clock with legs and dynamite strapped to its back. WTB was a company that specialized in the kinds of sarcastic, wacky nonsense that this comic is talking about. Loads of places carried WTB shirts when I was in high school, and loads of people wore them too. Ridiculous things that tricked you into looking at them and often made fun of you for doing so.
I myself owned two; one which said “Slacker” and was designed to resemble the Snickers candy bar logo, which I actually quite liked, and another (the disowned) one which said “YES, it DOES hurt when I smile.” In my defense, neither of these was particularly confrontational. [February 9, 2012]
I foolishly thought that this was the debut of the brick-pattern trick in the first panel, but on further researching I found it goes all the way back to #178. What I came to learn is that it’s entirely possible to give texture to a surface you’re drawing by simply doing bits and pieces of that texture here and there, then letting the brain fill in the rest. That way I can have, for instance, a brick wall without having to draw each brick. It’s hugely time-saving and it gives some variety to comics that are otherwise set in a vague, abstract whiteness. (Like most of the first year.)
I’m fairly certain I learned this from the work of Mike Mignola, who is like this black-belt-level-40 Master of Texture. That guy throws down a line and a couple of dots and hey presto, it’s an ancient, rough-hewn stone wall. [November 16, 2011]
