WTF Friday: The Circus Of Life

So what can I tell you about the past week? The oddities, the lessons, the work, the cluster fucks, the…well, “life” in general, have all lead to the title above. I’d give you the blurry details but instead I think I’ll bombard you with some random gibberish. I awoke for the day just a few minutes ago with a set of thoughts swirling through my head and letting them loose here really seems like the thing to do.

Over the last few years there have been times in my life where I have kissed the fucking ground over the life that I have and some of the choices I have made to get here. For example, most every time I walk into a comic shop anymore and see the latest batch of dark, sad, crap that the “mainstream” calls “comics” anymore makes me totally grateful that I never took that apprenticeship at Marvel, that that Vertigo series didn’t pan out and that there are VERY few editors at those companies that I have any respect for, let alone enough respect to want to work for them. These guys are corporations after all, blindly stumbling through the dark (and mostly darkness that they themselves have created) to try to wean as many bucks out of the comic reader’s hands as possible, and it’s interesting to sit here on the shore as they paddle their boats in circles trying to get someplace creative, imaginative, and remotely entertaining. You get the occasional glimpses (Madame Xanadu for example) of entertainment but for everyone of those you get this solid waste shit (most every “event” or tie-in, The war The Time Forgot, the latest version of Warlord) that is little more than embarrassing, boredom, and cluster fuck.

Oh sure, I’ve had my screw-ups, don’t think for a minute that there haven’t been screw-ups: bad business decisions, failed companies, misunderstandings and the like. Looking back at it I think it gives me a bit of a perspective that few folks have, and that’s part of the reason that I have this blog, outside of sharing the other little lessons in life that I think won’t completely bore the shit out of you.

Besides “comics” I’ve had a number of realizations about where I sit in “life” in general, more than I would chalk off as being “coincidental”. Little life choices that seem weird or nutty at times, that work out not only for the better, but also for the BEST. Personal, professional, financial, emotional, you name it, it’s been a weird Helluva Week that has had me grateful about where I am more times that you probably remotely want me to tell you about.

I have a SMALL (dinky really, “barely getting’ the stuff paid most times) graphic arts business that I run out of my house, doing art, t-shirts, signs and stuff. It allows me to more freedom than I ever imagined, no time clock, no partners to get screwed by, no store front to worry about, lots of plusses. At the same time, if I don’t have work I don’t get a steady paycheck, there’s the whole avenue of taxes to deal with (thank GOD for accountants), and there’s the simple fact that leaving work means leaving the house, and sometimes relaxing and taking a break can be totally impossible. It has its plusses and minuses, but lately I’m SO glad for the plusses. It’s allowed me more freedom than most and in a position to help out those that I love. I really don’t mind being “Daddy Taxi”, most of the time that is, 6am is trying and tiring, but most others are fine.


My only bitch is that I haven’t been able to channel enough energy into more creative endeavors. I WANT to do more comics; it’s just that when I can it always seems to get interrupted by other jobs that pay more and faster. If this keeps up though in another year or two, when all the bills are chased off, the situation may change, but lately ANY situation is temporary at best. Plus, I’m doing this blog to try to get some of that creativity out and into the ether for all to see. Hopefully, there are folks out there of the same mindset as me- or at least sees the shit I display here as somewhat entertaining so maybe all this will be creative in some way after all.

I know some of you are STILL waiting for that comics column that I HAVE worked on off and on over the last week Believe me, you’ll see it as soon as it’s done. So far it’s four Word pages and I’m about a third of the way through it, so I’ll be editing it a bit more before I present it her, or at least splitting it up some (yeehah!).

2 last bits of WTF before I go:

1) Congratulations to Amanda and Daniel who got married on 9/11 so that they can run to New Mexico so the groom can visit his dying mother, this time with wife in hand, to assure her of his happiness (that anyone seeing them together can’t help but see). I took them to the airport early this morning (3 am early, and “Daddy Taxi” AIN’T complaining). The ceremony is still on for 9/18, with reception to follow, and hopefully a LOT of the mental anguish of the last week or so relieved.

2) If Christ was a ”Community Organizer” and Pontius Pilot was a “Governor”, does that make George W. “Nero”? Cuz if that’s the case, it would certainly explain a lot of fiddling…


WAKE UP!