“Greetings from Winkie Country”

Another year, another “Watusi in Oz”-themed holiday piece! As many of you know, at the end of every year I send out a holiday piece to friends and family who have had an impact on my life that year, but as my audience has grown to include readers (via my website, FB, Twitter, & Instagram) I don’t know personally, I wanted to share the joy with my “virtual” friends as well. Thanks for taking the time to follow Watusi’s adventures every week. It’s much appreciated!

This year’s piece gives a peek at some of the adventure that occurred here in 2019. My Baum-length epic is entering its final phase (new episodes every Wednesday); I’d love to hear what you think about it, especially if you’re a fan of the original Oz books!

Besides this comic’s weekly presence in my schedule, I published seven other comics (including a collaboration with my friend Tom Cherry), helped kick off the Mid-South Cartoonist Association’s new ongoing comic series, made a dozen new prints, seven new paintings, and shared a gallery show with my friend Julie Nouwen. All in all, it was my most successful year as an artist yet, and I’m glad that comics can continue to be a part of my working life.

I hope you all have a happy start to your 2020! See you back here next week as we return to Winkie Country & “Watusi in Oz”!

“The barking contest (Summary judgment)”

This week’s comic is from Watusi #23 (Aug. 2007), part of a two-part double-blind experiment where I finished a batch of jam comics for #22 & Tom Cherry did the same for #23, both unaware of how the other was finishing them. The paired strips turned out to showcase the contrast in our styles which, while compatible, are very different. I tended to have overly-wordy solutions, while Tom’s were direct and punchy (and IMO, funnier)! You can see my take on this strip by scrolling down to last week’s episode, but if you want to see more of our contrasting styles playing well together, I recommend getting a copy of our new comic from 2019, Double Dip #2. It’s still my favorite single issue of all the comics I’ve published…

About the contributors: Dan Lauer is one of my APA-5 compatriots from back in the day; I love his mix of cartoony & action-packed artwork. Keith O’Brien makes wonderful postcard comics and blogs about life in Forbidden Falls, Maine. Even though Tom Cherry is a writer & actor appearing on stage, screen, & radio, he still finds time to be a cartoonist. And the world is a better place because of it!

(“Watusi in Oz” resumes in just two weeks– Wednesday, January 1, 2020!)

“The barking contest (Fine Print edition)”

This week’s comic is from Watusi #22 (Aug. 2007), part of a two-part double-blind experiment where I finished a batch of jam comics for #22 & Tom Cherry did the same for #23, both unaware of how the other was finishing them. The paired strips turned out to showcase the contrast in our styles which, while compatible, are very different. I tended to have overly-wordy solutions, while Tom’s were direct and punchy (and IMO, funnier)! While I’ll show off Tom’s take on this strip next week, if you want to see more of our contrasting styles playing well together, I recommend getting a copy of our new comic from this year, Double Dip #2. It’s still my favorite single issue of all the comics I’ve published…

About the contributors: Dan Lauer is one of my APA-5 compatriots from back in the day; I love his mix of cartoony & action-packed artwork. Keith O’Brien makes wonderful postcard comics and blogs about life in Forbidden Falls, Maine.

(“Watusi in Oz” resumes in three weeks– Wednesday, January 1, 2020!)

“One dog’s trash…”

This comic originally appeared in Watusi #7, way back in October 2003. While the main chunk of that issue was devoted to the middle section of my first continued Watusi story, it also featured strips created by students in my very first “Make a Minicomic” class. My goal with that class was to show students how they could make their own 8-page minicomic, and I led them step-by-step through to the completion of their own comic. What it really did, though, was teach myself that there’s a huge difference between creating a lesson plan and actually teaching a class, let alone motivating students to continue along the path of making art on their own. They say “those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” Well, I can’t teach.

About the contributors… that’s kind of a mystery to me. Ted, Shauna, & Levi were all good students in the class, and I love the panels they came up with during this ice-breaking project before they began work on their own comics. I don’t know what life has had in store for them; hopefully something creative & everything good…

(“Watusi in Oz” resumes Wednesday, January 1, 2020!)