A few month ago, I mentioned some of the stuff that I was working on in preparation for this year’s Mid-Ohio-Con. Two out of the three things I was planning on are currently on hold (my fault) and I hope to get to them sometime later this year or early next year. However, one of the projects that I was working on made it through to completion and will now be available:
No, that’s not my illustration on the cover… fellow cartoonist/illustrator, Sue Lense created that nifty & colorful cover (along with some quirky & funny comics found the inside) for this comics anthology, OH, COMICS: Earth, published every fall by Bob Corby’s Back Porch Comics. Bob’s been publishing OH, COMICS for over 20 years now, and this year’s book features 13 cartoonists and 18 “rock-solid” strips. (Seriously, this stuff is “salt-of-the-earth” type stuff.) On pages 13-17 is a little Blink story, “Why Bother” that I worked on with the help of my friend, Jonathon Riddle. As I wrote a couple of months ago, Jon and I both conceived the plot, I wrote the script (with Jonathon’s input) and then drew the rough layouts, which he used as a guide to illustrate the complete pencils and then I went over those with inks and did the lettering. (I was such a nervous wreck that I didn’t draw the fifth page’s layout in time to meet the deadline, so to avoid being WAY too far over the deadline (Bob’s mighty gracious to me), I ended up drawing the whole last page myself. It was kinda surreal, for four pages, Jonathon was doing his best to channel “Max Ink’s Blink & Sam” and for page 5, I was channeling Jonathon’s versions of the girls. It was weird.)
The story that Sam shares about her Aunt’s maroon “mudbox” (filled with water and cat turds) was based on a memory Jonathon had from growing up and it worked mighty well (in modified version) to be woven into Sam’s background. If I remember correctly (and I very well might be wrong), the dialog in last two panels on page three are near verbatim from Jon.
There are two more pages to this little story, but you’ll have to spend the $3.50 to find out What The Point is and the reason Why (we should) Bother. (And hey, there are of 70 pages of other awesomeness to be found between the covers of Earth.)
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2009.09.24 at 2:31 pm
deepfreezebatman
Awesome! can’t wait to check it out at Mid Ohio Con. are you and Jonathon working on any more collaborations?
2009.09.24 at 2:50 pm
Max
If we do, it’ll be un-Blink related. Jonathon’s great to work with- enthusiastic & lots of ideas (good ones)– however, when it comes to working with me & “my girls,” I’m a complete bear to work with.
Maybe Jon & I can do a Horror comic or a Space Fantasy or something like that for next year’s OH, COMICS. Lookin’ forward to seeing you at the show!
2009.11.12 at 10:54 am
rdalkire
Max, this “Why Bother” story, from what I see here – I feel that it has that hard-to-define, hard to attain “hook”. I want to see the rest!
I think that you should continue the process – same characters, same collaboration.
As for any unpleasantness during creation: “when it comes to working with me & “my girls,” I’m a complete bear to work with. ”
That’s the cost of quality – good work is hard to produce.
-Dave Alkire
2009.11.12 at 2:02 pm
Max
Dave! Good to hear from you!
Glad you like “Why Bother” (or what you’ve read, at least). If you want to read the rest of the story, you can go to http://www.backporchcomics.com/back_porch_comics.htm and OH, COMICS! #18 is on the top of the list. It costs $5.50 (including postage) and you can use PayPal.
I’ll pass along your fine remarks to my friend & (one-time) collaborator, Jonathon.