Reflections

It is interesting to have comics friends who I have known for over twenty years. I was hanging out with a couple the other night, and afterwards was reflecting on the ups and downs of our comics lives. We thrive, we have setbacks, we struggle, we keep on drawing.

Anyways, here is another cat comic, another Blue-per Planet.

A Visit in the Park

I taught a comic drawing class at Langara in the fall, and the big project was a four page comic. So I drew a four page comic as well, which was good as I didn’t draw much of anything for the three months I was teaching the class. I may put this story in Vinegar 41. It has been a while since I put fiction in an issue of Vinegar.

Don’t worry. I have not gotten deadly serious. I am still all about poo and fart jokes.

Here in the future

So this is 2019. Hard to believe we have been in the 2000s for almost 20 years. I guess I have done a lot of comics in that time. Looking back at my sketchbook from 2000, I already had notes for my comic The Adulation, which I wouldn’t draw until 2014. I was working at a dot com. Drew Jason and the Really Long Commute. Did my first comic for the internet, Down at the Black Box.

On the other hand over the past couple of months I have certainly not done a lot of comics. December was this mad scramble where I drew nothing. Just this past week I have finally gotten drawing a little again. Finally drew a couple of pages of cat comics, tentatively titled Yard Cats.

Summer of Twin Peaks

Happy Summer Solstice. I think it is tomorrow.

I have not updated in a while. VanCAF was ages ago! I had a really good show, possibly the best show I have ever had actually. The comic jam we had in association with the show went really well too. Lots of people came, many many pages were drawn.

I updated my store, so now you can buy Fir Valley and the most recent Vinegar issues there.

Since VanCAF I have been drawing, trying to figure out what I want to work on next. The past couple of weeks I was hanging out with Manien while she was on vacation. Relaxing on our lovely balcony, going for walks. On one particularly early walk we actually saw the beavers that live down by the Olympic Village.

Oh, and we have been watching TWIN PEAKS. I can’t tell you how happy it has been making me. Such a joy to be back in that world, with old characters and new, mysteries and histories. To have decadent hours and hours of new David Lynch. Even the novelty of having to wait for new episodes (I honestly could not tell you the last time I did that) is making me savour it all the more. Luckily Manien has been loving it too. Why, here are a couple of comics from Vinegar 39, drawn before the new show was released, one about visiting Twin Peaks, one about anticipating the show.

Vinegar 39 A

Vinegar 39 B

Manien and I went to the Island to visit her sister and family. I traditionally do a “Mission” with my niece and nephew, which is a fantasy adventure with a map and hazards and so on. This mission took place mostly in a witch’s cottage, with the heroes shrunk to mouse size. I had way too much fun naming the various creatures they encountered.

Mission Creatures

And here is the kind of thing I draw to relax while I listen to podcasts, from Google Street View.

Brooklyn