Archive for ‘Down and Out’
8 items.
I thought it would be funny to take a few humorous jabs at the men and women who serve us in Congress. Don’t worry too much about making jokes at their expense: They’ll simply expense it to the tax payer, which may very well be you. Really, this series of strips indirectly pokes fun at most U.S. citizens, and indirectly indirectly (indirectly squared?) pokes fun at many citizens of other countries who do business with (or fail trying to do business with) U.S. companies. I hope you enjoy.
I’m curious as to Mr. Fuzzybuns’ history: This is clearly not his first victory over humanity, even for his young age. I don’t imagine his previous victories relied on allergies, either, at least not all of them. I doubt we’ll ever visit his history because his future has much more potential.
I have at times portrayed the two animals in this strip (the lobster and Mr. Fuzzybuns, the kitten) as spiteful, malicious beings. I find it humorous when someone says that humans are the only animals who are malicious, or kill for fun. One merely needs to watch a housecat stalk its prey, or jilt a devoted dog and come home late to find a remote corner of the house sprayed to see otherwise. Perhaps it’s less prevalent in non-humans, but if that’s true I believe that’s more due to the fact that so much energy has to be put into surviving that so little is left over to hold grudges.
I once watched a hummingbird feed from a feeder outside a store. There were easily a dozen feeders, all of different shapes and sizes, all full of food. When another hummingbird came along, the first hummingbird left his perch and chased off the newcomer. This dance went on for a good five minutes before the second hummingbird gave up and left for good. I also remember, growing up, when some fledglings fell from a blue jay’s nest outside our house. My cat, being cuirous as her kind are, went to inspect the ground dwellers. I have no doubt in my mind that she was going to determine their tastiness in as thorough a fashion as possible, and the mother blue jay apparently had no doubt as well. She not only chased my cat away, she dive-bombed anyone who came out of that house for two months. My cat was a hunter who ate what she came across, and the blue jay was of course defending her children as any mother would do. Classifying her two-month reign of terror over the whole household, however, can only be seen as spiteful. I can’t say I blame her for being spitfeul, of course; rather, I see it as only natural that animals are just as capable of being jerks as humans are in their own ways.
I also wish to point out that the animals represented in this strip also have their redeeming traits and moments. They’re not always jerks.
Currently in the United States of America there is a huge debate on health care reform. I don’t know what the solution is, but I do know it’s not giving everyone the health insurance the majority of citizens currently enjoy. As much as I enjoy having coverage, I wouldn’t wish Blue Cross insurance on my worst enemy. Amongst other things, they can give you a quote on what they will cover which has no bearing on what they will actually cover, they can say they will cover things and then not cover them, and they can decide to charge you for conditions based on medications you take, even if you don’t have the condition. Basically, they can diagnose you without any expert knowledge for billing purposes. This makes it extremely unreasonable to go the individual insurance route.
Of course, we brought this on ourselves. Employer-based insurance was a benefit that really gained traction as a result of the price and wage freezes after World War 2. It was a really progressive thing, relatively speaking, it’s just outdated. Remember, that was 60 years ago. Think of the things you’ve had in your family for 60 years, and think of all the things you currently have. Most things don’t last 60 years. Now, this is a policy, not an object, but it’s a policy based on consumption (medical service, medicine, use of / depreciation of expensive medical equipment). In addition, while you might argue the United States have been around over 230 years, take snapshots of it every 50 years. Notice the dramatic changes in Federal vs. State powers, of laws, of policies, of Constitutional amendments. It may be the same government, but it has evolved dramatically. While health insurance has evolved, it hasn’t kept pace.
I don’t know what the answer is, and frankly I don’t think that something that can be managed like a cat allergy really needs full coverage, but I welcome well-considered change.
Of course, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we get that. We’ll probably get some miserably considered compromise that lines the pockets of politicians and those who line their pockets.
Every story has several possible endings, which is why I enjoy drawing these strips. Of course, this strip is a humorous one, so it is reasonable to assume that it will not end badly. Even still, there’s a whole host of potential for this story, potential that will never be released. Strips like these hint towards the darker endings, the endings which occur in life and we generally try to escape in the funny pages. Some comics, especially in comic book form, deal with these endings, of course. It’s not my desire to deal with them here, but these strips remind me that they are there, and that there are manifold stories left to tell in different contexts.
Two updates on schedule? In a row? I know, you guys must be the luckiest fans in the world! Things are starting to slow down in my life, so I’m finally close to catching up on everything that’s backed up around the house. Hopefully, there will be no additional delays on the part of the comic.
I had this in my sketchbook, with roughs for all the characters and the script scribbled in. I even wrote, “Watters0n-style word balloons”. I didn’t go with that in the end, I did freehand balloons which I don’t particularly like. It’s odd that when I am thinking of a specific thing, I’ll refer to another artist’s style. It’s just easier that way.
The observant of you will notice that Watterson’s balloon style is set inside closed panel borders, where I leave my panel borders open in the text balloons to tie together the white space. Clearly, I was referring to a “half-Watterson.” Great. Now I’m inventing terms. Comic illustrating: The new skateboarding?
I used my fountain pen on the outer panels, and my Pentel brush on the inner panel where the shot was more close-in. The only other thing is that I did the rough pencils and scripting beforehand, which made things move a lot faster. Pencils, ink, scanning and painting took roughly an hour and a half as opposed to two to three hours. I highly recommend it.
I experimented with the lighting. I know it’s not consistent: That was intentional. Sorry if it disturbs the nitpickers, you can always send me a scathing e-mail if it makes you feel better.
This strip kicks off a new story line. I’m excited to see where it goes! Also, I like how things turned out in the first two panels. I’m not so happy with the inks in the third panel, and I don’t know that they have improved, but I am more comfortable with them. That’s a huge victory, even if it’s not a visible one.