the legendary journeys
I hadn’t done an epic in a while, but now I present The Italian Job. No Minis are involved. Well, one of them mighta gotten into one of the traffic scenes, I couldn’t keep track.
Ok, kids, if you’re thinking about going to a snooty liberal-arts college, make real sure your career will involve doing groovy-sounding jet-set things that benefit large numbers of people in abstract ways. This is important advice because if you get fixated on doing something stupid like drawing cartoon pictures, ten years later you’re gonna wind up stumbling upon things like this and after you’re done being happy for fifteen minutes (“I remember you! You look exactly the same!” etc.) you’re rifling through the drawers looking for your razor blades. “I’m lucky in my work: I travel quite a bit, regularly see fascinating projects and meet extraordinary individuals. It seems worthwhile to share that information with those who might also be interested.” That’s good! Let me pop open my can of soup and have a quick read.
But I have been travelling of course. This latest one was inspired by my recent trip to Greece. Greece: nice country! But not the most organized. It was with a tour, which wound up being not so strictly necessary because practically everyone I ran across spoke English as a second language, I mean, more so than anywhere else I’ve been on the continent even. But the schedule kept changing and while I didn’t mind the older people on the tour – most of ‘em – grumbled and grumbled and grumbled. Hence the comic. The tour was not bad! But this, this is Nobody Scores! and I have obligations. Sara’s self-centeredness overpowered her ambition, here, and you know she’s one of those people who approaches vacations like they were high-powered meet-and-greets. I figure she’s also kind of giddy from ditching her job.
In previous cartoon concepts, ones that I’ve been doing since I was 14, the “slot” Sara occupies of capitalist plot-driver was held by a male, sort of a teenage libertarian punk. The switch to a female character was a big step in creating Nobody Scores! – over the years these roles I’d created had gotten ossified and I needed a jump start. You can see the most recent version of the character, who I called Danny Mack, in comics here and here. You’ll see that Raoul is the central character in this comic, which was called The Cynical King. Sara wasn’t the only character who I remixed. (Should I say “mashed up”? Would that be insufferable enough?) Why do I mention this? It struck me that Sara’s acting more like her previous male incarnation here than is usual. That’s all. Anyway. A glimpse into the creative process, such as it is.
Also, Italian Job pt. 2? Longest comic so far. I mean, Photoshop gave me a warning message I hadn’t seen before, that’s how long. Seriously people.