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This page really shows off the advantages (and disadvantages) of doing every last thing yourself. It’s an enormous pain, but I have to say, being one person really streamlines communication. I’m imagining myself now, trying to explain to a letterer how I want these balloons arranged.

“Yeah, the first one’s divided in half with the bottom half shoved behind the guy’s head. No biggie. Whole thing overlaps the panel border, yes. In the middle, I want the first balloon to refer to the second drawing, the second vice-versa, and all the balloon tails should look  like the cord on his microphone. Some other guy’s balloons are all mixed in there, but don’t worry about tails for those. At the bottom, I want a big burst balloon with arrows that actually stab Serenity in the head, and, uh… Y’know what, let me just draw a little sketch…”

By the time I finished all that explaining and sketching I might as well have drawn all the balloons myself. Stripping out the “information conveyance” portion of the pipeline definitely opens up the potential for experimentation. 

Of course, the downside of DIY is that you don’t get to see what cool experiments a brain other than your own might come up with. When I’m collaborating, my rule is “NEVER GET FUSSY.” If you’ve got the right partners, just let them do their thing. Sure, you can talk over general approaches, but if you have a very specific vision of how things should look… do it your own damn self, JERK.

One of the things I love most about comics is the mashing together of images and text. It’s like some awesome phantom zone between novels and movies. Sometimes I’ll see other artists do that thing where they create a whole comic without any text, and I think… why? Just as a fun experiment, I guess? That’s cool! But to me, seeing how you artfully integrate images and text is so much cooler. (Movie poster art rules for the same reason.)

In conclusion, I think Alan Moore is the first person I ever saw wearing those finger guard thingees Tiphany has. They always make me think of, like, three links from a medieval gauntlet, which really won’t get you far out on the battlefield.

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This is the only song I ever wrote! Isn’t it nice? Extremely elegant.

I can still hear Tiphany’s voice in my head. Back in college I used to have this CD set called “Goth Box” from Cleopatra Records. There was a lot of fun stuff in that collection, but one that always stuck out for me was “Across A Thousand Blades” by black tape for a blue girl (yep, all lowercase). Man, that thing was like the Platonic ideal of a goth song. You could almost feel the singer’s mascara running down his cheek as he moaned out (in a strangled, kinda-English accent), “slithering naaaked across a thouusaand blades (across a thousand blades).” 

DANG. So many blades! Stop slithering, bud!

The song wasn’t precisely my cup of tea, but I was fascinated by its…perfection? It’s exactly what people think of when they think of “goth music.” This is a song for laying face-down on a mausoleum floor… posing languidly on tombstones… pouring candle wax over a lover who isn’t 100% into it but will try it for you just this once, sweetie… Unapologetic drama queen stuff.

I respect this!

The song I wrote here is way more ridiculous than “Blades”. How great would it be if someone actually tried recording this thing? Not sure how the music goes, exactly, but it seems to involve a drum machine, keyboard, serious guitar shredding, and utterly indifferent (non-existent?) bass. Not sure if you need a little troll doll on your keyboard like Mortado here, but it certainly can’t hurt.

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

After four years of successfully avoiding it, I now have COVID. Not sure I like it so far, but I’ll let you know how it goes.

BTW I’m pretty sure pre-ordering my book will cure me?

And while you’re at it, why not grab a copy of my buddy Moss Lawton‘s kick-ass seasonal lunacy, too? Two great tastes that taste great together, probably!

NEXT WEEK: 90% GUMMI WORMS.