One of the best things that I’ve done recently is try to eliminate algorithmic media from my life. Anything that is designed to get my attention, I try to distance myself from. I have no more Instagram, no more Reddit, and I ingest only news that is designed on a timeline-like framework. This has helped immensely with how I feel about the world as a whole and made me a happier person in general. Though I engage with A.I. tools, they are used in a way that they should be designed to be used; i.e. as a way to save me time. And the more I use these A.I. tools, the more I realize that they have no real purpose. They are merely solving a problem that they, themselves, have created and are working desperately to keep that venture capital money flowing before the economy crashes because of it all.
When you have a bit of distance from these things, you’re able to see the world in an entirely different light. I find my brain functioning a bit more like it used to; almost as if its an echo of the brain that I had before the internet got involved in my life. I am able to focus a bit better (though it can be hard to unlearn the last twenty-plus years of my existence) and I’m able to walk around with a clear head most of the time.
Sunday morning and I’m a day late with my newsletter. Whoops!
A couple of days ago, I saw in the news that the ridiculous president of the United States was suspending all trade talks with Canada because of a Canadian ad aired in the United States about the tariffs. And when I read this, I wanted to use a quote that I had remembered for years from Oliver Stone’s film, “Platoon”. The quote is as such:
So, lots of things have happened over the last couple of weeks. Maurice the Beaver ended as a comic strip. Four Frontiers was (technically) released. A trip to NYC Comicon. And a whole lot of jet lag and an open schedule, creatively.
I’ve been waking up at 1AM like clockwork ever since we got back (today being another version of that) and there is nothing more depressing than getting up early. Usually, I will lay there for an hour or so, pretending that I can go back to sleep, but that doesn’t work, so I just get up and endlessly surf the internet until the sun rises. That gives me lots of time to think.
This will be a short one. I will post more soon, but let me just say that I am at the very end of the New York Comicon and it has been a long and wonderful week of stuff. I’ll detail more of it in an upcoming newsletter, including the non-event of the release of my graphic novel, Four Frontiers…
It’s real! You all thought I was lying!
The following is a rewritten text exchange between me and my Best Friend For Life, Chris. Enjoy…
Continuing from last week’s “The Story of Maurice the Beaver”…
The rough draft of the first Maurice cartoon.
…Those sketches above? They weren’t anything that I thought they were going to be. There were half-baked and not really all that good. You can probably quite clearly see that I had no idea how to draw a beaver. One does not draw beavers all that often, so my knowledge of beaver anatomy wasn’t so great.
So, I’m definitely at a crossroads right now when it comes to creative work. I have spent the last six years working on Maurice the Beaver comics, pretty much non-stop and it’s time to move on to something else, but what that next step might be is up in the air. The world is completely open to me, creatively.
I have spent the last week reading the Calvin & Hobbes box set that Tracey bought for me way back in 2004 for my birthday. She lugged this twenty-five pound box of books halfway across Toronto to give to me (which is the moment when I thought, I guess I’ll keep this one!). The books were kept in storage for a long time, but traveled with us to our current location when we moved here.
So, I promised a few announcements and here they are!
First, my graphic novel, alongside the incredible artist, Ingo Adityawanda, and published by Sandstorm Comics,will be making its grand appearance at the NEW YORK COMICON in one month! This is exciting news! Even better, I WILL BE THERE!
Sandstorm has asked me to attend, so I will be there for all three days of the comicon. I will be in the Sandstorm booth, right at the entrance to Artist’s Alley in booth HB905. Additionally, I’m on the Sandstorm panel on Saturday at 3:15 in 1C03. If any of you, for any bizarre reason, will be attending the event, then stop by and pick up a book! (I’ll sign it!). Plus, if you mention the secret passphrase (“Chunky or smooth?”), I will give you a free Maurice sticker.
