I really should be working, but I need a break for myself. I just saw Claire Robertson’s version of this meme and I thought it would make a good break/distraction:

Back to basics comic meme

Draw a ten panel comic about what you were doing ten years ago. Put pen straight to paper - no pencil, no computer, no planning, no starting again if you make a mistake. Simply draw, scan, publish. Tag some people who you’d like to see do the meme too. Oh and if you want to do it even if you haven’t been tagged you are most welcome!

So, here’s me 10 years ago:

(Click for larger/legible version)

If you’re listening, I tag John, Adam, Elio, and Meg to do their version. And don’t feel the need to wait to be tagged (I wasn’t after all.) Anyone else going to bring it?

The Onion AV Club has just reviewed one of my favorite new comic strips, Cul de Sac, by Richard Thompson. I’ve been watching the strip for a couple months now, and crossing my fingers and holding my breath, dreading the moment it jumps the track and turns into another boring gag machine. But so far, it has stayed on its strange and funny track, deftly illustrating the absurdity of the childhood imagination. Thompson’s drawings are scratchy and energetic, and the subtlety of his characters’ expressions give a truth and realism to the strip.

While I have been wary of trusting a new strip like this, Richard Thompson has a history of strong cartooning. His bi-weekly columnar strip, Richard’s Poor Almanack (viewable in the Washington Post, where registration is free but required), has been going for years, and draws on a sense of humor similar to Cul De Sac, except in the Almanack, Thompson is free to comment on more political or “grown-up” themes. His wit is consistent throughout. See more silliness on his great blog as well.

Another great new strip I’ve been reading comes from another version of suburbia, this time populated by robots. Perhaps not as strange or subtle as Cul de Sac, We the Robots is a beautifully-designed strip made by a veteran illustrator and animator, Chris Harding. Like the Onion AV Club reviewer above, I always like to read comics that are drawn well, and this one has the added benefit of (IMHO– you can judge for yourself) a good sense of humor.

It’s great to finally see some new strips that are going against the flow. I have a set of over 30 strips that I read online everyday, and I have my favorites. I’ll save that list for another post…

Come with me on a voyage through time. It is now one week ago: October 12th, 2007. You are getting ready to go out, and you happen to live in Seattle. You think, “Hey, I want to see some awesome, fun plush art tonight!” I am here to help you find what you seek: the 2007 Plush You! show at Schmancy (and its neighbors) is the third year it has been organized by the intrepid Kristen Rask. This year, the show is buoyed by the release of the book based on last year’s show, Plush You!: Lovable Misfit Toys to Sew and Stuff. It open(s/ed) October 12th and runs through the beginning of next month. Get out and see it!

My contribution this year is from a time long ago, when man and mammoth roamed the earth together. Otto and Orville are a mammoth rancher who do some experimenting to create… MammothMammoth! This year, the tags I made for the beasties were actually a micro-comic, just 8 pages long.

In other past news, traveling further into the past all the way to an October 8th release, I contributed to the 4th round of SpeakerDogs, organized by Ben the Illustrator. Download, cut out, and create your very own Piggy Back Beast!

And don’t forget to go all the way back to Labor Day weekend, and enjoy the collection of chickens, goats, and walking beef from the 2007 Minnesota State Fair. Sadly, no photos of the fried cheese curds. Mmmm, squeaky!

Okay, show’s over! Return to the present. LIVE IN THE NOW!