Common ground

PREMISE #1) I am generally not a fan of country music.

PREMISE #2) I am generally not a fan of Dolly Parton songs.

PREMISE #3) I generally don't make a lot of effort to find common ground for dis-common interests.

Well, I've been having a lot of fun listening through the Dolly Parton catalog and watching video clips in search of songs I like. I certainly don't like them all, and I don't think she'll be my go-to when I need a musical hug, but I have found a number of songs that I enjoy. So, a double-whammy (enjoying the process AND the outcome)!

I watched Coal Miner's Daughter, too. I was delighted to learn that the song during the end credits of the Strangers With Candy episode where Jeri learns she's an Indian turns out to be Loretta Lynn singing the "Squaw is on the Warpath" song. Fun!

Fear not, Fish-philes—country is not taking the place of lounge in my heart, and France Gall still makes me smile big.

Anyway, here's a drawing I did of "pretty miss Dolly" as she appeared signing the "Jolene" song in 1974.

Girly tomboy

Here's another of my favorite tomboy (and likely lesbian) Debbie that I draw from time to time (see other tagged posts).

Just like the way this one turned out for some reason, it's nothing special.

She's kinda girl-ed up here, and I suppose she's shooting down the boy who is trailing after her in other sketches.

I've been drawing some Arche-Lady pages for the upcoming Arche-Lady Special #11. But I've been itching to do a sketch or two inspired by my latest quest to enjoy finding common ground on non-mutual interests! Soon!

Dull, dull, dull-dull-dull

I was recently trapped during an all-day meeting at work. It was excessively dull, and I resorted to sketching to stay awake.

I used to openly sketch during all meetings, but with a change of bosses, it's not so cool anymore. So, I only do it if it's an emergency. Though really, I pay better attention when I am also sketching.

I liked the way these fellows turned out, so they were freed from the agenda documents they live on and glued into my sketchbook.

Not sure if the one on the right is Austenian or possible steampunk. He looks kinda evil though.

Arché-ideas

As I announced some time ago, I am compiling my old Arché-Lady mini-comics into a 2-volume book. I have been scanning, scanning, scanning. I've only been editing lightly, mostly if the original toning wouldn't scan in, or if the original digitally toned docs were missing or created at a too-low resolution. In the meantime, story ideas keep jumping into my head. Yay! Creative block destroyed. I now have 2 stories written out, and they will become part of the surprise 3rd volume, which will be in color. Details later.

At Bloc 11, I was sketching out some upcoming Arché-moments that have been in my head—you see Multi-Boy and Cave-Boy images there.

I didn't get very far along before Lonnie arrived. He was venting about work, and I was asking Qs and ended up interpretting one of his colleagues. Lonnie's a bit dashing at 6'1" and the annoying coworker was described as rather small and angry. I asked "Hobbit-like?" and the response was more "Pan/Satyr-like." I'm sure what I drew is nothing like reality, but it's a fun little character that will probably end up in a story.


Sitting through the grueling speeches at a work function led to another story idea, with an alien invasion force at the heart. I'll definitely turn this into a shortie for the 3rd volume in the collection.

I suspect this 3rd volume will be packaged as The Arché-Lady Special #11, with these new stories, plus the Color Companion to V1 and V2. There are a handful of things I did in color (various covers, 2 stories, and the character bios) which I might as well print in color if I am going to do some new stories in color.

Just so you know, I am printing these books with Ka-Blam, who specializes in low quantity digital printing. It's not as nice as off-set, but still pretty nice.

I'll probably only print a handful of books...maybe take pre-orders. But it's not going to be widely distributed, that's for sure. For die-hard fans only.

I'm done scanning (or finding the original toned files) through 1999. However, I still have 2 more episodes from '99 to re-tone. So much work still ahead!

FAN POLL: Aside from the 3 shorties already penned, I would like to do a 4th—with YOUR input! Is there a particular villain you'd like to see Arché-Lady face off against? Vix-N, the Galactic Tramp? The Wizard? The Technoids from New Death City?

A decade of vaccuuming and lint rolling

Happy Anniversary Aggie!—Ten years ago, my folks trudged up to Vermont after I saw an ad for a one-year old Old English Sheepdog. My family had owned several of the breed over the years, and is fond of their clown-like exuberance.

Turns out ol' Ags was coming from an abusive home, shy around most people, and terrified of children. She was 20 pounds underweight, and she had a number of infections, plus wood worms.

The first year was spent aclimitizing her to the leash, people, and putting weight on and her health stabilizing.

The second year was spent dealing with some puppy-like naughtiness. Nothing bad.

After about 5 years or so, she started coming out of her shell around new people more quickly. And now today, there's almost no hesitation indoors. Outdoors, she's still leery of people.

About a year ago, she started being a bit Ok around children. Last week, she let a two year old hug her even.

I don't draw her much, though she is a constant source of laughter and joy for me. This sketch I did after the poor girl was victim to static electricity. Adam Leveille inked it.



Pic 1 was about a month after I got her. She is rail thin, but her hair started to grow finally, and she looks a bit happy. Pic 2 is just after her grooming yesterday, enjoying a dog biscuit. Pic 3 is lounging on the shag rug she's taken a shine to.

It's bath weekend once every three weeks. It begins with clipping her nails, and trimming the hair between her pads and other places (30 minutes), then the bath itself (30 minutes), then towel drying her and cleaning up (30 minutes). After a break of some time, it's on to combing (1.5-2 hours). I estimate in the past decade 510 hours (or, 21 days) have been spent grooming her. Of her 170 baths, I've had assistance for about 15 of them.

She's a sweet girl though. Average life expectancy is 8, so she's doing alright for a dog with such a shakey start to life.