The Lensman

Well this month has been bordering on shit. At the end of Dec I travelled to Dallas for Xmas, then to McAllen (not sure of the spelling) which is 20 miles from the Mexican border for New Years. Had a good time in each case. A couple of weeks ago my company got bought out, and so begins a time of massive uncertainty. I'm a higher paid long timer, and the company is looking for ways to cut costs. Some equipment will be removed, hopefully I wont.

Due to the holiday schedule, I got behind on Booze! stuff, and while the strips were posted haphazardly, I worked like a madman to get that stuff done. Very stressful. I did give the patrons a shout out on my current strip.

I've been sick for over a week with some kind of shitty sinus thing, and my ears are constantly plugging up. Tuesday I had a headache so bad I could barely drive home, make it to my apartment and basically, pass out.Last night was the first time I've been out in weeks and even though I felt bad, I had fun.

My roomate for the past two years has decided that he wants to move out, which will force me to move since I can't afford the place alone, and don't know anyone that needs a roomie. My best friend has no problem with me moving in for awhile, that's the place I'm posting from right now, so at least I'd have cable internet access and would be able to visit the Bar daily.

And I'm trying to figure out what the next strip for Booze! will be. I've been thinking of downgrading Booze! back to it's original black and white, spur of the moment cartoons, while concentrating on a strip that's been floating around my brain for the last year. The Xmas cartoon is the basis of that strip, though the current incarnation has some drama as well as humour, but not quite the flavor of that strip. It's a more personal work that will allow me to address a variety of things, and experiment and grow with certain comic story telling techniques that I've become aware that I'm lacking in. Humour is fun, and I hope I've made those of you that visit Booze! laugh, but the thing is, I'm not really a comedian or a gag artists, and it's a bitch to come up with something funny all the time.

Having said that, I've got an idea or two for Redshirts! that I'd like to do before getting down to anything serious. Redshirts! being a perfect example of having a hard time coming up with something funny. It's a strip I love, but a bitch to come up with, especiallly since the original concept was that the main characters get killed off. But I grew to like the robot and #5 (the other redshirt in the first strip, characters who have yet to get names) so I didn't want to kill them. I've come up with another character who will not die, so I've had to change the focus of the strip to finding ways to kill off redshirts who arent the main characters. Sorta like the original Trek, the new redshirt is the guy you can pretty much bet on getting killed. Not thrilled with it, but what can you do, eh?

In addition, the time I spend on my stuff is such that by the time I post it, I've spent so much time working on it, and seeing the joke, that I don't find it funny at the time of posting. Of course I remind myself that your experience will be different, and make my peace with that.

Last year, before Keenspace and all, I planned on publishing my own comics. Sounds fancier than it is, my local comic shop will sell and even promote independent comics, and is supportive of local artists. They're like the cool indy record shop. They'll put my book on the front counter for a week, and sell it all their stores. When I say "publish" my own comic, that means going down to the local Kinkos and making about fifteen copies, five for each of the comic shops three stores. Glamourous huh? Keenspace was a way for me to do my shit, in color, cheaply and to get it to far more people. It's really astounding that people in various parts of the U.S. Canada and even Wales have seen my stuff.

Having said all that, I've got enough shit in the can to finally do a BW edition of my stuff, most of it stuff from the Booze! site (Booze! was the name of the comic from day one), plus I'll do a couple of works exclusive to the comic because I don't feel right making people pay a couple of bucks for something they can get, in color, online for free. But some people just prefer a paper comic in their hand, and I'd really like to see something I did on the shelf, not just at the comic shop down the street, but at one on the extreme other side of Houston.

I'm not really looking to get into comics profesionally, don't have the discipline, but I'm happy to finally be kicking out some stuff.

Lastly, I've thought about setting up a website for my own art stuff. Stuff that may look comic in nature (like the AB pic I did some time ago), but not be appropriate for Keenspace. They prefer that you use your sight for sequential art (comics) and not just art. The only reason I'm interested in setting up a site for myself, is because of the lack of one in the Astro community. I'd much, much prefer to post my stuff here, in some kind of gallery, but I don't know when and if that's coming.

I really miss the days when we had our collective works up. It brought a certain energy to the Bar.

So that's pretty much where I'm at right now.

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Everyone Booze Up And Riot!!!
Milk and Cheese

Arik

Yeah, I know how that feels. That being said...

Bug me about it in about a week. Ask me where it is and why it's taking so fucking long to put up.

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The writers of this post apologize for you being too stupid to understand it.