The Doctor and Me

Here's the Twelfth Doctor and Me in her highwayman garb. I did like Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, and I did like Me as a character. This drawing doesn't hold up to my First Doctor with Susan, Barbara, and Ian, my Second Doctor and Jamie, or my Third Doctor with Sarah Jane. But here it is.

 

 

Stucky

I can't recall exactly--perhaps Monica drew a Stucky (Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes homoerotic coupling) commission. But it was clear she likes Stucky art! So I drew one for her at the New York Comic Con when were tabled side by side. Then, just a few weeks later, we were at Thought Bubble in Leeds. So a second Stucky drawing appeared. It's become something of a tradition.

    

Untitled Protest

And, the fourth significant reason for my distraction: the 2016 election.

I wasn't sure what I could do aside from making a few contributions to organizations that promote LGBT+ rights. And I knew I didn't want to run a comic directly critical of elected politicians--since obviously the people voting is where the issue lay. But I settled on my Untitled Protest series, posted to Instagram and Tumblr.

In the series, which lasted with 50-sih installments, white people were treated as black people are in the US; women were granted the same entitled behavior of straight white men, bathrooms were arbitrarily regulated, and immigration laws changed on the fly, trapping American tourists at the airport.

I need to take proper scans of the whole series to collect it. Along with the short stories "Balloons by Golly" and "Balloons Over Ballots," this series is among my most overt political statements.

        

 

(Abandoned) Projects

This brings me to the third reason I was distracted: new projects that were abandoned.

At the time, Greg and I were busy, busy, busy brainstorming pitch ideas. In 2015, we'd finally finished "RE-INFINITY" and we'd also collaborated on a ghost story, putting them out there as Poison Press Presents #s 1 and 3. The first of two ideas stemmed from drawing I made (and posted, apparently, according to the note on the sketch) in 2009. It was a love triangle story.

 

The second idea we were brainstorming was rather dear to my heart. Let's long story short it and say seven teenagers find themselves embroiled in some mysterious goings-on. 

Though neither project made it to the stage of pilot mini comics, both were great exercises in us collaborating... paving the way for the short stories "Star Players" and "Liebestraße." The latter, of course, we developed as a graphic novel for ComiXology as Liebestrasse.

The connoisseur

Oddly not tagged, since headache drawings are in nearly every sketchbook of mine and must have made it to the blog in the past. But let's say Reason #2 I took a break from here: perpetual headaches. In fact, I am a headache connoisseur. Cataloging areas of my brain that hurt, trying to determine how deep the pain is, and the nature of it, from stabbing to stinging to dull to heavy. So much more. Doctors have never really figured out why, despite lots of effort. But sometimes, I just need to let something go...

I do like this drawing, though I can't remember what 48|52 means. But this would have been about six months after our beloved boss resigned.

 

Testing one, two

 Ahoy! I've not been here for a while, and for lots of reasons, many of which I will be sharing with you over the next weeks. Let's start with the first reason: Instagram.

Just prior to stepping away from this blog, I started posting to Instagram, which is fun and quick. But lacks the commentary I always added here at Blogger (or is it Blogspot?). 

This blue line pencil version of this sketch, based on Monica Gallagher's comic series Lipstick and Malice, was posted to Insta. But after, I inked it. So here you go! Blogger exclusive!

Over the years, I keep sneaking sketches in featuring the assassin-model star of the series. I came up with the tagline "She's hot... you're DEAD!" which has become a running joke with us.

I'll be back tomorrow with the second reason. 

We're not whining!

First, I state my regret for not posting my opinion on the election, Hilary, and Trump, back in October as I had intended to. Given the polls, I thought it wasn't all that important for me to preach to my small choir. But I see now how wrong that was. It's important to say what you believe in, so here I'm putting it out on the internet's porch to see what cats lick it up.

I've heard a lot of people describe the Democrats' and Hilary supporters of "whining" and feeling "bitter" that our gal didn't win. Maybe there is some of that. But for many, if not most, it's more of an expression of fear. Fear of losing the rights and privileges that were fought for for so long and we're still fighting for.

This may be very difficult for a straight white male to understand, since these rights and privileges I'm talking about you've enjoyed since 1776. The only significant new right granted to white men that I know of is the right to vote at age 18, and you may not get too fired up about that without a draft (if I understand correctly, the main controversy during the Vietnam conflict was that men were being drafted at age 18 but couldn't vote until 21...).

So let me put it in other terms for you. You're familiar with the religious order of the Shakers, right? Known for their simple living, architecture, furniture, appliances (the modern broom was invented by them!), and equality of the sexes, and (gulp) celibacy. So the celibacy bit drove them basically into extinction, but let's imagine a world in which it didn't: more people joined up in support of the zero-growth population movement or whatever. And let's say they cleverly jerrymandered the electoral districts to win elections despite being a political minority. And let's say a Shaker zealot was elected as leader.

Now do you understand our fear? That this zealot may try to impose equality of the sexes and celibacy on you. And you don't want that! And just when you think, "well, let's go in with an open mind," the first actions the President-elect takes are to appoint an anti-your religion person to a key post. And then suggests a Supreme Court Justice nominee who has publicly stated that it should be illegal for you to have sex in your own home to honor the Shaker celibacy. That this President-elect was going to remove rights and privileges that you value...and in short, to impose their views on you and make you conform to their way of life.

That's exactly what is happening with Trump right now. The appointment of the white-supremacist and anti-Semitic Bannon and the suggestion to appoint the anti-gay Pryor (who believe gays should be jailed for having sex in their own homes) have confirmed our worst fears. So for women, minorities—blacks especially, gays, and people who love any of them, or are married to them, or have biracial children, or have gay relatives or friends, etc.etc. etc., the outcome of the election is more than just a "bummer." It's an attack on our fought-for civil liberties.

Maybe you didn't understand that when you voted for Trump. Or maybe you live in a part of the country that needs work, and you simply want a job and food on your table. I get it, I forgive you. But in the coming months, if you believe in equality, then we'll need you. We'll need your support against the decisions and policies and policy-makers who seek to remove the rights of your friends and neighbors.