Revisiting another vintage starter panel this time, comic improvising with my younger self. Definitely leaning into nonsense with this one, but that’s a story option I can’t use as easily in the long stories, where I’m already asking readers for a lot of suspension of disbelief! In a way, this reminds me of my very first Watusi comic, so I’m glad I didn’t resort to collaged food elements (as I briefly considered)…
It’s almost here– the inaugural Memphis Libraries Comic Con! I’ve heard good things about other comic events hosted by libraries, and I’m looking forward to being at a comic show that caters to readers! I’m bringing a selection of my Watusi (and other) digests, minicomics, and my full-size comics. It will be a pretty comic-centric selection of merchandise (no prints or original art), but it gives a pretty good sense of the art I make. The convention should be a good time, with two dozen artists, over a dozen dealers, and panels with featured guests Mike Norton and John Ostrander! Admission is FREE, so there’s no reason not to get a taste of the locally-created comic scene … and the library is even giving free graphic novels to the first 200 attendees, so be sure to make it one of your Free Comic Book Day stops! Hope to see you there!
[While this post originally appeared on my blog at smearysoapboxpress.com, since it’s also a Watusi comic, I figured I should share it here, too…]
I thought I’d revisit another of my old Watusi starter panels, especially since I’ve never really used Lester the barking boy all that much. He’s still a mystery to me (is he a feral child? is he a kid who likes to pretend he’s a dog? does he just have a speech impediment?), but working on this did teach me a couple of things about him: he’s younger than Kirby and Emma and their kid cohort, and Watusi– but not the reader– can understand him perfectly!
One of the things I’ve been doing during my Watusi retool project is get a better handle on the role his large supporting cast plays, and these “Page in the life of…” strips help me figure out how those characters relate to my title character. I even considered paring the cast down to a “core four” like worked so well for Seinfeld and Spongebob, but realized that my larger cast functions in a different way. Polly, as someone who Watusi would likely see every day, was even in the running (no pun intended) to make the top four! While the next story won’t necessarily reflect it, I intend to make better use of her in the future. Plus, I can see where Watusi’s friendly relationship with his mail carrier would cause other dogs to question Watusi’s real “dogness”, which has some story potential of its own…
Is there any cast member you’d particularly like to see featured in a “Page in the life of…” strip?
*(This post’s title, by the way, owes a debt (and probably an apology) to both Haruki Murakami (whose own thoughts on running partly influenced Polly’s responses) and Raymond Carver.)
While my focus with these Watusi comics has moved on from the improvised jam comics of its early years, its still fun to stretch those muscles and collaborate with other artists on this 4-panel exercise. Long-time Watusi contributor Keith O’Brien did his panel two quite a while ago, but it took me some time to find someone to finish it. Fortunately, first-time Watusi cartoonist* and Muley the Mule creator Kevin L. Williams was up to the challenge! Thanks, guys!
*(aside from the excellent Watusi/Muley crossover comic Kevin and I created for the animal-themed fourth issue of the Mid-South Cartoonists Association’s The Good, the Bad, and the Sketchy, that is! If you missed it, you can still order a copy from me here.)
I call this the “Killing them with kindness” version of this story starter! As I’ve been looking back at the starter panels from Watusi’s first few years, I couldn’t help but tackle this one, especially when I noticed the serendipity of its upcoming anniversary. I guess either this silly talking dog idea has had more longevity than I ever expected it to … or I haven’t had a fresh idea in 20 years!
Yep, it’s another “done in one” episode, this time killing two birds with one stone for me: I tried to shoehorn the ending panel from my “backwards” jam (where I started with the ending, and participants built the story backwards) with a starter to another strip. Not sure how successful this mashup worked, but it was fun to try. The “backwards” starter was the last one (if I recall correctly) I made back during Watusi’s collaborative comic era. Others who’ve attempted it had their comics printed in Watusi # 29 & #38, if you’re curious as to how it worked out for them…
2022 was kind of an oddball year for me, in that I focused much more on fine art and prints than on comics. It’s been satisfying in many ways to change gears for a while– especially since it resulted in a 10-week show at a local theatre’s gallery! “Beyond the Emerald City” was a feel-good collection of comics and other artwork from my multi-year visit to Oz in the pages of this very webcomic. If I do say so myself, it looked good up in the space, and I got positive responses at the opening. That said, I do miss creating comics to share with you on a regular basis …
I guess I need to turn that around for the new year, don’t I?
It’s another “done in one” episode, this time with a starter that (if I recall correctly) nobody has ever attempted. Given how much I focused on “the chase” part of the story, I guess it’s a pretty lightweight premise…
Guess I’m still a little under the influence of the Halloween spirit*! I hope you had a fun/spooky/terrifying Halloween, depending upon your personal taste!
By the way, you may be interested to know about a gallery exhibition I’m staging featuring art and comics from Watusi’s epic comic adventure set in the Land of Oz! “Beyond the Emerald City” is on display at Playhouse on the Square thru December 28, 2022; you can read more about it here!
(* and, no, that’s not just some clever way of saying I have a hangover!)
Watusi the Talking Dog 