Bed hog

When I first adopted Mr. Darby, I was determined he not be allowed on furniture. Though I stuck to that by way of the sofa, his pitiful yearning gnawed at me. After a few months, I acquiesced, inviting him to the bed for a few minutes. He had been so desperate for attention, he passed out laying on top of me. 

For a while, he honored the few minutes, but learned that he could jump onto the bed mid-night and not wake me. So, it was difficult to break him of the habit.

In my NH house, the bedrooms were perfectly proportioned for full sized beds... which turned out to be a little too small for me + dog. Plus, being so cold, he was always cuddled against me for warmth.

Ultimately, I was relegated to a small sliver of the bed.

Back to NH

Back in 2018, after 15 years at MIT, and living in Cambridge and Somerville, I accepted a position at Dartmouth College. Professionally, it was time for a change, and not far from the College, my elderly father owned a camp site. My sister, too, was not terribly far away, so the move made sense on few levels. 

Once I adapted to the quiet, I was off to a fun start fixing up my 1950s ranch. 

The new job worked out well, as well, and the woodsy commute inspired a good number of early sketches back in my home state.

More Mexico

Jeff's quest for artisan goods took us further afield to Puebla and Cholula, courtesy of our hired driver and guide. I don't like to buy much when I travel, and have very particular tastes. Unlike Jeff who travels with an empty suitcase to fill!

Hola, CDMX

I was wrapping up 18 years at MIT in May 2018, coinciding with Jeff's annual birthday trip. I agreed to meet him in Mexico City! It was such a wonderful trip, so much to enjoy. The big mistake, I accidentally took Advil PM instead of Advil in effort to combat altitude headaches. Toward the end of the trip did I realize why I was so exhausted. At first I attributed it to unwinding from the last days of work. But clearly mixing meds + alcohol was a big contributor.

Star Players

High on my list soon after "First Date, Last Date" was a story penned by Greg Lockard, titled "Star Players." It's a sweet story about rival soccer players who met at a summer camp.

I was thrilled when Monica Gallagher agreed to ink my pencils for the story, and Chris Beckett agreed to color it.

The down side of the whole affair was some miscommunication that led to the story not completed until 2020. But it's released as a single and as part of On the Romance Road, so now harm no foul I guess.

About this time, I also finished all my art tasks for Baby Makes Three. That too wasn't published until 2021, due to time in Matt's coloring queue. But the first half of 2018 was a productive golden moment for me. 

 

First date, last date

 

At this point in 2018, I was going gangbusters with gay romance short stories, having amassed shorties I wrote and drew ("Quickies," "I Like Mozart," "Every Journey..."), or drew from others' scripts ("Liebestraße," "Cross Check," "The Most Incredible Magic"). I intended to combine these new stories with the best of my romance shorties from past anthologies.

One story haunted me. Originally posted to the web series Young Bottoms in Love was a tattooed tale I drew, as written by another author. The story hadn't turned out the way either of us wanted it to back in 2003. Yet, I liked the vintage art.

Fifteen years later, I turned to a frequent collaborator, MJ Isola, and asked he write a new story to the original art (an exercise he'd done before at my request). Rules were simple: keep as much of the art as possible, but feel free to cut panels, re-arrange, or add up to four pages of new material to make it work.

The end result fell right in line... I think he added three pages plus two panels, and I added a splash page (thumbnail here). The original art focuses on a couple's first date; and two new end pages are a flash-forward fifteen years, revealing it had been their last first date, as they'd remained a couple since.

At sea

Another sketchbook obsession of mine was this sea captain. I never settled on an era for him, except he must be from 1600-1800. Pretty broad, I know. 

But his captaincy wasn't the point! 

He was trapped in 2018 and developed a penchant for 1960s like the Datson Fairlady and the Alfa Romeo Guila. Basically, a loose premise to connect my interest in sea captains and cars.

He appears throughout this sketchbook, commanding it as I never really mastered him.

You'll probably see him again.