It’s getting there. Hope to finish tonight!

Otherwise, my new job it going okay. Having other people to interact with (which I really haven’t had much of in the last two years) has really jump-started my being a smart-ass and, therefore, my gag writing, but the rest of my life is still getting in the way. Even my son’s baseball schedule, which thankfully was finished last week, got extended another week because of the final night rain-out. If so many lifestyle comics weren’t already running on life getting in the way, that would be a good idea for a comic. So just to keep y’all in the loop, I’m really itching to start running “pd” and “Out Back” concurrently, each once a week. I remember back to the vote where the reigning opinion was to see a glimpse of all the various comic strip ideas I was putzing with for a contest, but I’ve really dug deep into “Out Back” and I believe I’m just going to go at it (and PD) for now. I’ll continue to shelve ideas for the others for when another contest arises.

So y’all take care of yourselves and I’ll be reporting again soon. God bless.

It’s been a slow going lately, but I wanted to give you guys a peek and the (still) unfinished party jam header for Out Back. I was hoping to have it all done and colored and posted yesterday so I could provide the first strip Monday, but it looks like the finished header should appear Monday. My son has a baseball tournament this weekend but I should find the time to finish this up. Just toying right now with where Mort will appear. You can probably make out Emo the emu still in pencil betweeen Hodgepodge and Topper (wallaby), but he might be breaking up that space too well so he may have to be relocated.

I’ve got my first job interview in a number of years on Monday afternoon. It’s a temporary but could turn to permanent position with a local non-profit. I was originally concerned about losing a good part of my day going back to work and my cartooning suffering, but, as most of you know, I haven’t kept a good schedule with all this time off, so I’m hoping getting some sort of routine might get me back on track. I had a much better publishing record while I was working full-time, so we’ll see.

I’m working on an Out Back header with all the characters that I thought I’d finish tonight but not quite yet. In the meantime, here are sketches of the final 2 main characters from Out Back, Topper the wallaby and Mort the alley cat. I’ve been thinking that Topper will be wearing a helmet of some sort, bicycle probably, on account of his always jumping and most likely hitting his head on stuff. He’s the worrier of the group and probably the most insecure in his own fur. Mort will play a big role in the second majoy story, the first story being the escape from the foreclosed zoo. He’s no genius, but he’s not a dim as Hodgepodge. He comes from a cat gang that will pop up from time to time. So look for the header in the next day or so and (hopefully) the first comic this week or Monday.

In a previous post I identified the characters of Out Back to include a wombat named Bubba. That was just a last minute throw-in name that I didn’t give much thought to and was never happy with. So since then I gave it some thought and the wombat is to be the smart/nerdy one of the group so I brainstormed (more of a drizzle) for nerdy names or a play on a word for nerd and came up with “poindexter”. So now the wombat is named Dexter and he is pictured above. I haven’t decided how smart he actually is, but he’s the brains of this circus troupe.

In other news, there’s some real problems in my life right now. I say “real” because in relation to what’s going on now, all my prior problems are teeny. My father was diagnosed with cancer in the past year and yesterday had enough difficulties after a surgery to be rushed to ICU and forced an inquiry into a resusitation request. And in the last week I realized my marriage was on the rocks, mostly because I haven’t found a job. I keep checking lost and found boxes wherever I go, but no jobs. But, with all that, I’m not planning any hiatus or break cuz I’ve done that plenty when things weren’t so bad and I may need this more than ever to keep my sanity. So, look for another update soon and, if you’re of the praying type, think of me when you’re talking to the Big Man (or Woman).

My oldest son just started swim lessons which has given me time to sketch the Out Back characters in various expressions (the rush job I did on the unfinished contest submission needed fleshing out). Here’s some pages I’ve done on Uke and Emo respectively.

Based on the voting I’m going to try to do a strip from a new idea and a PD strip per week, hopefully starting next week. Stay tooned!

Well, I tried but I’m not going to make the contest deadline. I had the six strips written and 1.5 finished but there’s no way I’ll finish all six by 5pm today. Oh well, maybe next time.

Who wants to see these strips developed anyway? What if I gave Cass and Spence the summer off and gave y’all a taste of these strips, kinda like a fall TV teaser preview? Or maybe one PD a week and one “other” strip a week? I’ll let you guys vote (ooh! 2 votes in 2 weeks – it’s comic democracy at it’s finest!).

a. Keep PD going like nothing ever happened.

b. Give Cass the summer off and give me a taste of the new projects.

c. Give Cass the summer off and work on just my favorite new project: _________________

d. Give Cass the summer off but work Spence and Angi like dogs.

e. PD once a week and something else once a week.

f. ____________________

Let me know and I might actually do it!

Well, I thought I’d have time to draw up better character design images but time didn’t allow it and I didn’t want to wait on this. Here’s the lowdown on the 4 strip ideas I’d like your vote on to enter in the Washington Post Next Comic Superstar contest.

A: Downsized – This is Jacob Downs (I think). He’s a big city guy who until recently had a big city job and lived in the big city (there’s a theme here). He’s got a hot wife who came from the sticks and 2 young sons. Then he got downsized and was forced to take a similar job in a little podunk town. From that point on the big city guy has to deal with adjusting to small-town living (which his wife has no problem with). Minor league baseball, watermelon seed spitting contests, and a fixer-upper home are enough to make Jake miss the life he left behind. I’m thinking of making the title a play-on-words with his name, maybe “Downs-ized”?

B. ‘Goobs – I showed a few strips here a while back from a previous entry I didn’t finish. It’s basically about a little boy (Siggy, pictured) who goes to live with his grandparents in a town where he’s the only normal person there. He’s got an overly friendly neighbor girl (Fred) and a special friend that’s not from anywhere you’ve ever been.

C. Out Back – Previewed this one a couple weeks back right here. A small midwestern zoo goes belly-up, leaving a lot of displaced exotic animals. The Australian wing burrows out and relocates to the woods out back. Follow the adventures of Bubba (wombat), Emo (emu), Topper (wallaby), Hodgepodge (platypus), Uke (koala) and a stray cat named Mort as they attempt to survive in the strange land…out back. There’s also rumor of a special penguin roaming the woods.

D. Henchmans – You read that right, it’s not henchmen, but that’s who it’s about. When mad scientists go corporate, their lackeys come along for the ride. Watercooler convo with a werewolf? Testing the healing effects of eye of newt? Filling out a TPS report for each time you “pull the lever”? All in a day’s work at Henchmans.

There you have it. I’d like your vote on which strip idea has the most national appeal and the best possibility for long-term laughs. Let your voice be known either by commenting here or emailing me at prematurely.disappointed@yahoo.com. I have to finish 6 black and white strips for the contest by June 4th. One of the judging categories is story line, so I’m thinking 3 stand-alones and 3 that form a story. Let me know what you think and I’ll be keeping you posted as I can (don’t know what I can publish on the site until after the contest ends or I’m voted out). Thanks for reading!