A letter to an editor and other interested parties

I recently sent this to an editor in response to the statement, "I don't get it." It is a statement that has been said to me a number of times since I began drawing the strip. I've never actually so fully responded before and so I when I did I was a little amazed at myself for summing up my vision on this strip, and comedy in general, so well. Read it or not, I was just glad that I wrote it and wanted to share.

The following has been edited slightly from the original to leave the recipient out of the conversation:

"Let me give an explanation of what I do and maybe it will help you understand where I and my comics are coming from. It will not necessarily make them funny to you but at least you'll know. All of [the comics on this blog] are the ones that are more recently released to the public. The ninja fighting the beast (Please, help. Preconception kills.) is one that I've drawn most recently [as of October 2008].

First, I don't try to make jokes when I draw. I think that jokes are cheap and only work in specific instances for certain people. They generally rely on pop culture references or puns. Those type of comics have a very short life span with little-to-no replay value. Instead I try to create as real a scene as possible in my kingdom, Elphia, where the characters have feelings and reactions to the things that are going on around them. There is an inert truth underlying all of them; the laughter does come from trying to be witty but because my audience recognizes that truth in their own life. I'll use the ninja one as an example. We've all faced some insurmountable obstacle that must be taken on in the moment and if we stop to over think it, it will kill us (metaphorically most times but sometimes literally). There is no "joke" there, simply the honest laugh that comes when an audience empathizes.

Second, I see comics as works of art. It is entertainment at it's highest form. You'll often see comics poorly or incompletely drawn because the cartoonist only needs a stage for his funny caption. I try to create a complete image so that this becomes a real world for the reader's imagination. The thing that gives my strip readability is that it's like a photograph into a different reality. It's appealing to the eye. After one sees the initial image there's more for them to see and explore. There are unanswered questions that give the subconscious room to create it's own story. Again, I'll site the ninja strip. The two are fighting at night in open field. The brain begins to fill the details, they've stumbled across each other while the ninja was on a journey. The mountain must be the beasts' home. Any second now the creature's joey will pop out and run around. It is that fact that it is art that make my fans and I come back to view these panels time and again."

If you still don't "get" it, maybe it is because you are expecting this comic to be something that it is not. In this kind of cartoon there is no obsequious, observable punchline. Rather, the joy comes in the digestion of the images and concepts as a whole. You will see in these strips only what you bring in with you.

Please, help. Politics make me prickly.

Please, help. I've wasted another day.

Laziness is also one of the signs of a Slai yr. fan.

Please, help. I'm melting. What a world. What a world.

This violence is typical of Slai yr. fans.

Please, help. There was something amiss with the pizza toppings.

If you get it, you get it. If not, wait until you're older.

My hero.

I watched "Crumb" last night. I love Robert's style so much. I mean, it varies ranging from very realistic to full-on cartoon. But it's more the way that every image is chock-full of details. So everything is just so gritty. According to his official website he is illustrating the Bible. Which I think will be fantastic. He's 70 pages away from finishing Genesis so it probably won't be done for a few more years. Which means I should start saving for it now.

Please, help. I keep cracking the egg.

Any questions?

The most handsome dog ever.

This is Nelson. He is a very good friend of mine. I dare you to find a more handsome dog.

Please, help. I'm wasting each passing tick.

Oldboy meets Joseph Heller. Available as a print also at Dollop.

Please help me kill this Ugly.

The truth is that if you focus on how to kill the beast you are probably going to miss the subtle moves that it is making with its fanged joey. Now available as a T-shirt.

Hours at the Elphia General Store

Please, help. The Man has been destroyed.

As an ambassador to our neighbors, I left my kingdom and traveled to Black Rock City, the town across the river from us. I found many of our citizens already there celebrating life & sharing freely with one another. I stayed a week taking in the sights & loving each member of our conjoined tribes. At the end the Man was destroyed right in front of our eyes. I am told that it was an inside job which is good because there are no real terrorists to track down. Just some fat white guys in suits. They really have no good hiding skills.