What's My Deal? 11/24/24
Hello again, my friends. I hope you’re all hangin in there.
I was all ready to get another newsletter together in time for the Halloween season, but everything election-related knocked me off balance for a bit. I’ve been going through a little bit of a “well, what’s the point of making anything?” crisis as of late, which is what always happens to me during a bad time. I’m sure I am not the only one going through this!
But over the last couple weeks, I’ve had a hard switch to “I’m going to make more shit than I ever have in my entire life.” Maybe I’m just losing my mind! I don’t know. But what I do know is that I love making art, I love making these little newsletters, and in the coming years I can only see myself making even more of them until I croak. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope they can help you take your mind off things for just a little bit.
Would you like to know about some stuff I’ve been into lately? And some creative projects? Alright! Let’s get to it.
THE CHUCKY FRANCHISE
Not long ago I watched the entire Chucky film franchise with my friend Lara, from the original 1988 Child’s Play all the way to 2017’s Cult of Chucky. Despite a few peaks and valleys in quality here and there, it was a great time! What a fun franchise!
As someone who was pretty unfamiliar with them, a lot about the Chucky films delighted and surprised me. I love that Chucky himself is less of a straight horror monster, and more of a foul mouthed asshole who just happened to get stuck in a doll. It gives the whole franchise a light, goofy tone right from the start. The first Child’s Play is the most straight slasher-horror movie on the series, and even that one has Chucky smoking cigarettes and acting like a mean little freak.
Also, this series has continuity! It certainly didn’t need to, but it does! Each entry picks up more or less from where the last movie left off, no matter how many years have passed. Characters you assume exited the series for good suddenly reappear and have a major role in the next movie - and more often than not, they’re played by the same actors. This all comes together in Cult of Chucky, which ties together a bunch of the previous movies and pushes them into an even nuttier direction.
Also, Chucky kills people and says mean one liners in Brad Dourif’s voice! Jennifer Tilly has a key role! Lots of great kills & gore effects, even in some of the lesser entries! Very unsubtle - but appreciated - pro-LGBTQ themes! A strangely rewarding series to watch all the way through. I haven’t gotten a chance to watch the Chucky TV series yet, but it does keep the continuity going so I am gonna have to watch it soon.
If you have some horror loving buddies and you want to watch a mean doll fuck, jerk off, and smoke weed, then look no further than Chucky!!
MUSIC
You know, it’s strange that I haven’t talked about music in this newsletter yet. I used to write about music all the time! Until I got bored with it. But considering how stressful things have been lately, I’ve been getting a lot of comfort in music I love.
Lately I’ve been losing myself in dance music: disco, house, trance, EDM, you name it. As a kid I took dance lessons from ages 7 thru 14, so I spent a lot of my childhood listening (and dancing to) Chaka Khan, Janet & Michael Jackson, Prince, Madonna, and so many more that I can’t even list them all.
I’ve been getting really into Donna Summer lately, who’s discography I was unfamiliar with despite loving so many of her singles. That was a mistake! Her albums are absolutely killer. If you’ve never listened to the entire double LP Bad Girls, you’ve gotta do it - absolute perfect peak disco, not a bum track on it. Incredible party album.
I’ve also been enjoying some moodier pop music lately. Last month my beloved cat Little Pete had a medical emergency, and I ended up having to take him to a late night vet way past midnight. He’s doing fine now, thankfully. But at the time I found myself sitting alone in a waiting room, with no idea what was actually wrong with him, anxious and scared. For reasons I don’t recall I found myself listening to Caroline Polachek’s 2023 album Desire, I Want To Turn Into You for the first time, and it was a real comfort. Emotional, moody experimental pop with kind of a modern Enya/Dido vibe - something about that just hit me, in that moment, and that’s a memory I’ll associate with this record always.
I’ve also found myself finally getting into the Cocteau Twins, and after spending a lot of time listening to their classic 1990 album Heaven or Las Vegas I really don’t understand why it took me so long to get into them! Gorgeous layered guitar soundscapes with Liz Fraser’s indecipherable, heavenly vocals - it’s the kind of sound that’s right up my alley. I could pick a track from Heaven but that would be a little too easy, so here’s a track from their underrated final album Milk & Kisses that I simply love:
Oh, and I’ve been listening to a lot of Janet Jackson lately, but that’s not anything new with me. Hey, you know the video for Miss You Much? You ever seen this thing?? It’s incredible!
CREATIVE STUFF
Where do my creative projects stand, here at the cliff’s edge of 2024?
Well, right now I’m still working through the “Death of Red Ring” storyline for my Red Ring of Death comic (the above is the most recent comic). There’s only a few strips left in the story, but that’s excluding a very silly “fun thing” that’s going to come after the story is over. I’m very excited for this, and I’m happy with how the comics are coming out… but admittedly, I’m a little frustrated with myself with how slowly they’ve been coming out. I’ve been working on this story for the better part of the year! Feels like too long, for a single storyline.
If I’m going to signal a firm creative goal for 2025, it’s going to be to structure my time better so I can get comics out faster. Earlier this year, I was starting to feel so dejected about my own creative output that I fantasized about stalling all of my creative projects for 2025 and focusing solely on improving my art. I’ve been doing figure drawing practice for the last 6 years (which I’ve talked about here before) but I wanted to expand it: working on drawing buildings, backgrounds, animals, working on shading and lighting, etc etc. I’ve always been insecure about my art, and frustrated with how slow I am at drawing, so it seemed like a good opportunity to give it a shot.
While I would still love to do this and don’t want to rule it out, I’m not sure if next year is the time to do it yet. I’ve still got some big Red Ring ideas to get done, and I’d love to make some more Dr. Hornet comics as well! I’ve only made one of those, and I feel the urge again to make more.
2025 feels like an uncertain year, for a whole lot of reasons. I can’t make a concrete prediction on how my creative output is gonna go, because who knows what shit is gonna go down? But I am planning on making creative work, no matter what. So at the very least, you’ll have some disgusting gamer comics to look forward to, I can assure you of that.
DRAGON QUEST 3 REMAKE
Oh, the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake came out! Couldn’t forget to mention that! Here’s my party:
I’ve got a martial artist / merchant / priest party going on this run, and I’m having a lot of fun so far. It’s a lovely game and its keeping me sane right now! I love it very dearly.
That’ll be it for me for now, folks. I’ll try to check in again one more time at least before the end of the year. Stay safe and take care!
