5: New Year, Old(er) Me
Greetings and Salutations!
Welcome to this month’s episode of The Lemon House Monthly, your home for all things weird and wild from the mind of comic book writer and karaoke expert Andrew Leamon.
Let's get down to business…
No comic news from me this month, but you’re not going away empty handed. I wanted to share something special with you… The first comic I wrote! Plus, a reminder of my 2025 con schedule.
/ THE STORY BEHIND IT
/ HOPE VALLEY (2016)
/ 2025 CONS
/ PUPDATE
/ SONG OF THE MONTH
/ THE STORY BEHIND IT
Let me give you some background… Before I wrote comics, I was a poet. I wouldn’t say I was a great poet by any means, but I loved being able to express myself and find inspiration from any and everything. I was always scribbling phrases on receipts and napkins.
Hope Valley was a poem I wrote in 2010 to process a heartreak in college. (It will surprise no one that I wore my heart on my sleeve.) I thought about the nature of relationships being like nature itself and I thought about my favorite poem The Vixen by W.S. Merwin, and I had the idea to make this into a poem.
So fast forward five years. I was now deeply in love with comics and already sold my soul to the devil with the aim to become a professional comic writer. The standard (and good) advice you will hear for new comic writers is to start small. So I decided to adapt this poem into a short comic. But, of course, I couldn’t make it too easy on myself. I wanted to learn the medium and experiment with juxtaposition and the relationship between text and image when placed on top of each other.
I was connected with the artist Steven Charles Rosia after asking around on Comics Twitter (the good ol’ days) and getting his name recommended to me. He was so kind and patient with a newbie like me. And he did a gorgeous job with the art. I love how dirty he made the natural space. I remember being in awe of his cover art. The comic released around springtime 2016.
Hope Valley actually had a small print run at one of Steven's local Canadian comic conventions. I never bought a copy, but I’m hoping I’ll sign a copy of the comic someday. That would be pretty neat.
Oh, one more thing… The location of this comic is actually based in a real place, the ditch at the end of my grandparents’ road. I would spend countless hours there when I was a kid. And I would be completely absorbed by the natural world and trash around me. It felt almost otherworldly.
/ HOPE VALLEY (2016)
/ UPCOMING CON PLANS
Emerald City/ECCC - Seattle, WA - March 6-9
Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo/C2E2 - Chicago, IL - April 11-13
I'm still a maaayyyybeeee on HeroesCon, Baltimore and CAKE. Just figuring some things out.
/ PUPDATE
Ruthie got an enthusiastic thumbs up from the physical therapists, the surgeon, and her vet. She's all healed up! Yay! This news is timed perfectly because one of our neighbors just got a new puppy for Ruthie to play with. They met from afar two nights ago and I can already tell they are going to be best friends. The only thing now is getting through the bitter cold days ahead so we can take her back on long walks and to the dog park. She did it and everyone is so proud of her!
/ SONG OF THE MONTH
This Bitter Earth / On The Nature of Daylight - Max Richter and Dinah Washington
That's it for this month. Please stay safe and warm out there!
Thank you for reading this month's “The Lemon House Monthly”!
Be sure to follow Andrew on all social platforms as @aleams.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to send him an email at andrew.b.leamon@gmail.com.
See you next month for another exciting episode!