Sometimes you put comics on the Internet and nobody gives a shit. Sometimes you unwittingly make comics about Things People Care About On The Internet. That, my friends, is a totally different story. Hoo boy.
Month: September 2011
The massive post-poly/mono-comic site traffic explosion (more on that later) has tapered off somewhat, but I still feel bad that people seem to be checking back and I have yet to do anything new. So, here are some Crimean Bros to be going on with. Bask in all their muttonchoppy glory. A choppy sea of mutton. And so on. The comic that I’m working on around these studies will be up by Sunday, so check back thereabouts for fun new material that has nothing to do with my previous work (sorry, you fierce poly-mono debatin’ dudes). Might also have a quick bonus comic done in the next few days. Keep checkin’.
ON WITH THE MUTTON.
Before I pass out and forget everything, I need to throw this information somewhere for posterity.
I arrived on campus with a bagel and some coffee (rare for me) this morning at 9am. I just got home 10 minutes ago. In the intervening 15.5 hours I…
– Read 120 pages of Rousseau’s political writings
– Attended a lecture on the social contract
– Checked out 5 more books for my thesis
– Wrote a 3-page response essay
– Shipped comics to California, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana
– Read the entirety of Art & Fear and Claire Siepser’s comics-based thesis (~100 pages combined)
– Requested 10 books on inter-library loan
– Cut out and assembled 257 Baggywrinkles buttons
– Read 150 pages of McCloud’s Making Comics
– Wrote critiques of 12 classmates’ comics
– Researched, scripted, and thumbnailed a 4-page comic about the Crimean War
– Revised my thesis proposal
I’m really, really hoping this gives me enough of a reason to slack off for the rest of the week. Goddamn. I don’t know why I do this sometimes.
This is a thorny one.
Our first assignment for the Graphic Novels and War course at Reed this semester asked us to explore a conflict. Specifically: “the largest conflict you’ve become aware of in the past year and how it has shaped you.” I tried to pick something a little more distant and less self-involved than my angsty issues about relationships, but if I’m honest, the questions outlined here have changed me drastically over the past 12 months.
It’s hard to post things of this nature out on the Internet for all to see. Partly because these characters are recognizable to the people who know them, partly because I move in a lot of circles that are heavily populated with poly and open folks. I should point out that I’ve talked with many of them in the course of this saga, trying to understand who’s making it work and how, where the nuances and challenges lie, and discussing whether I’m crazy to stick to my guns on this issue. Should I sacrifice my beliefs and emotional safety for the sake of staying with someone I love deeply? The answer seems easy on paper. But things like this are never simple.
Everyone is different. Everyone has preferences. Levels of trust and communication between individuals vary wildly, people’s emotional history is scattered all across the map. There is no simple answer. This was just an attempt to organize some sort of response to what’s been happening — even though I’m still far too caught up in it to feel like I have any real distance.
So with all that serious disclaimer stuff out of the way, here’s some art.
That’s all for now.
Finally got around to properly photographing the sculptural container I created for the preliminary Wherefore illustrations last term! Woo!
The premise of this project was the creation of an interactive structure that could contain the six illustrations I completed while integrating text from Hélène Cixous’ Coming to Writing — an extremely beautiful and provocative essay about cultural identity and the power of the multiplied voice. I highly recommend it.
There was a vague thought of making the final volume of comics small enough to fit in said box along with the folding art/text piece, but I realized the resultant work would have to be laughably small. Still, there’s the potential for a massive Turkish Delight box in my future if I want to create one that can contain a full-size book.
Anyway, on with the piccies!
