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Hey everybody, it’s Lois! I love Lois! Yet another character who first bubbled to life on my animation desk at CalArts ca. 1998-2000. Here’s the earliest sketch I have of her:

Lois’ last name, “McCreedy,” is a reference to Kurt Russell’s chopper-flyin’ flamethrower boy in The Thing, R.J. MacReady. I try not to put a lot of distracting referential stuff in my books, but that name’s a deep enough cut to avoid triggering too many eye rolls. Most expert horror nerds would simply nod, smirk, and quietly whisper “I see you, Alexovich. I see you.” (And then “well-actually” the spelling.)

The Thing has been my favorite John Carpenter film since I was a kid, but there are a lot of contenders. Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness, just one polished little pop culture gem after another. There’s just so much personality in his work. You always know you’re watching a John Carpenter movie. Vibes: STRONG. And vibes are my main thing! Without vibes art is nothing.

I’ve always appreciated how many of John Carpenter’s movies revolve around exhausted working class schlubs dealing with a big pile of bullshit. Whether the bullshit comes from aliens, ancient sorcerers, or standard-issue rich creeps, the schlubs are just trying to shovel it out of the way and breathe some fresh air. Very relatable!

For me, the key moment in the whole JC filmography is when that severed Thing head goes scuttling off on newly-sprouted spider legs and one poor, overwhelmed sap mutters, “You gotta be fucking kidding.” (I feel the same way whenever I read what Elon Musk is up to.)

That’s Lois, basically. Every day as Crestfallen sheriff she watches the equivalent of a thousand Thing heads go scuttling around. She’s well past the “fucking kidding” point, though. Crestfallen is a big, overfilled witch’s cauldron that will never stop boiling over. The heat cannot be turned down, the liquid will never run out, and people will never stop crowding around it. The best she can do is minimize how many tourists get dissolved in the muck.

She’s like an intensive care nurse, right? My mom did that job for fifty years. Lois isn’t anything like my mom, personality-wise, but I still think of Mom whenever I draw Lois. Mom and all the other people who have to deal with the consequences of our big, weird, chaotic human party.

SR 1 PAGE FIFTY-SIX

Really highlighting Lois’ crucifix on this page. And drawing a parallel with Sera’s HSS pendant, I guess? I don’t think there’s any deep thematic correlation there, though. Just two very different people who both fuss with their necklaces when they’re agitated.

It was important to me to spotlight at least one Christian character who isn’t a total creep in this book. (We’ve got some real doozies coming up soon.) I was raised Catholic, but don’t have much use for organized religion as an adult. In case you haven’t heard, Christianity has been used to justify some deeply repellent stuff over the past 2000 years. War, slavery, sexism, homophobia, child abuse, genocide…Look it up sometime! It’s pretty much the whole list!

BUT…

It doesn’t have to be that way. I’ve known lots of liberal-minded people who have found a place for Christianity in their lives. They just tend to be the quieter ones, less prone to building megachurches, picketing funerals, railing against trans kids on Boomer radio, etc. My own Catholic school experience, in fact, was way more Stephen Colbert than Torquemada. We even had sex ed! Condoms on bananas and everything!

(TANGENT: I’ve met a surprising number of liberal Mormons out here in L.A. I think it might be an animation industry thing? The Mormon-Disney Wholesomeness Pipeline.)

I don’t have any problem with Christianity. I respect all kinds of metaphysical questing, and never want my little worlds to feel unwelcoming to religious people. It’s just the bigots I want to keep out. 

And if you think your religious beliefs require bigotry, well…no cool comics for you, loser. Enjoy your flavorless hell on earth!

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

Started penciling SHOCK CITY book two this week, and guess what? I TOTALLY FORGOT HOW TO DRAW. Hope to relearn sometime next week!

NEXT WEEK: HAYULL FAHURR!