Hey! A Puke Joke!

You can't go wrong with the word "puke" ... that's the thing that made George Costanza laugh. And making George Costanza laugh ain't easy.

I was ambivalent about this strip when I started. I thought that the written idea was ok, but I wasn't sure how I was going to draw it. There are a few bumps in the artistic narrative, but overall I think that I pulled it off.

If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, well you just ain't paying attention. Go to www.room19comics.com and soon you'll be knee-deep in laughter.

I think that three of the panels work very well beginning with the first one. Personally, I like strips that begin with nothing ... nothing said, nothing happening in terms of action. Some people might say that is a waste of space, the comic strip is a very finite medium, you have maybe three or four panels to say what you have to say, so you shouldn't throw your real estate away. Normally, I agree with this assessment, but I think that Kurt standing there like it's a regular day sets up the rest of the strip.

The second panel is not very good. Kurt does not have a lot of facial expressions and the one that I was trying to convey (surprise) is not portrayed well here. I wanted to have his eyes bug out of his head, but no matter how I tried, it just wasn't working out. This was the best that I could do. Also, the placement of Kurt is a complete waste of space. There should've been something else in the panel.

As bad as the second panel is, the third panel is just as good. I like Eddie's Dr. Seuss hat, when I penciled it in, it looked sort of crappy, but after some nice pen work (yes, my arm hurts from patting myself on the back) it really came out well. And check out Kurt, I was very pleased with the way I was able to draw his hand going through his hair. I think that this made up for that really crummy second panel.

Also, Eddie is wearing Zubaz pants. Here's the thing, when you're trying to write (or draw) something funny, exaggeration is always key. Do I really think that someone would keep, much less wear, a t-shirt from a 1993 concert or pants from the same era? Probably not. But, I think that it looks pretty good and conveys the horror that is laundry day.

The fourth panel is pretty basic. You get two punchlines actually, so there you go.

Let me ask you a question, does the Blog entry work with the strip? I think that it does as it a. lets me work through some stuff as to why I did certain things and b. it allows you to ... I'm not sure what it allows you to do, but it's a catharsis for me. So unless I hear otherwise, I'm keeping it.

I'm going to try and write a Blog entry some time this week, but I'm not promising anything. Check back early and often.