I wish I had a more inspirational comic to post. I have like five all roughed out and ready to be made (though, admittedly, none too inspirational). I’ve been choosing the shortest so I can get them up faster. Hopefully I’ll have time to do a longer one. There may be two months of Summer of Comics coming up if I don’t have to work the whole time. Also, Andrew Alonso has promised to give me word as soon as the Bob & Bob movie in online.
Jeez, it’s weird how comfortingly cynical your comics are. Just seeing the same ideas, fears, disappointments, etc that I have in everyday life laid out in such a creative way, is kind of validating. I’m outputting Bob & Bob to Vimeo right now (it’s, uh, apparently too inappropriate for YouTube). If it looks and sounds good, then I just need to link it to my website. I’ll post a link here if it works out. Hell, I’ll probably be posting links everywhere if it works out.
Attempt #1: failed. This has the makings of a long night.
I can’t wait, Andrew! Thanks for the effort and good luck.
It’s up! Check it out! NSFW. http://andrewalonso.com/
Knowing your work for so long, I know that you are building up the panels for a downfall but I get so lost in the details all the time that its almost like falling in love with your work all over with every comic you make since they are always so pleasantly surprising even though its actually gloomy, I look forward to your updates every week Partick!
Maybe it’s because I’m about to graduate college, and it’s taken me eight years of on-and-off school/work to make it happen, but this comic really bums me out. That one got me right where I’m most concerned right now.
This shit makes me wanna get drunk and cry. But in a good way.
Hey bpatrick! I just read through the archives. I found out about your comics about a year ago, but I stopped myself at some point because a lot of the issues and subjects they deal with were very heavy to me (having just gotten out of a buttload of trouble due to depression). Reading them now, I see why. I appreciate you having put all these up. Despite some trouble they made me remember, they helped me work some things out.
Not much else to say except “post more often!” Cheers!
@Mainge: Thanks! Just before I posted this one I had a comic linked by a reader who found it uplifting. I wish I had more of those to post rather than being so gloomy so often. Thanks for the kind words! They really lifted my spirits!
@Joshua: I feel you, Joshua. It took me eight years to get through college (while working horrible jobs) as well. Then it took another four years to get into med school. Now I’m the old guy in class and when people ask what I did before I just say, “worked on getting in.” Sorry I bummed you out. I swear that wasn’t my intention. Congratulations on your graduation! Well done!
@Russ3ll: Thanks, Russ3ll. I think I know what you mean.
@Diego Orm: I’m so sorry for any trouble I may have caused (or caused you to revisit). I promise I’m not trying to depress people. It sounds as though you’re doing well and that makes me happy. And if you enjoyed the comics at all then that also makes me happy. Thank you for taking the time to let me know. I am working on posting more often. Hopefully this summer will be the Summer of Comics. Thanks again!
B, it’s cool man: I like what you do with these comics, because they’re both mentally stimulating and funny. Like Subnormality, there’s ones that are quirky and funny and some that are more serious or philosophical, and many really use the medium to tell the story or make your point. Like, I said, it’s just that I’m getting ready to be finished, and getting done is coming down to the wire for me, so it hit me where I’m worried right now.
But, that’s a complement: Your work actually speaks to me (and several others, based on your comments section) about multiple topics. I’m glad that Subnormality linked you. Don’t worry about how your audience is going to react to what you do, just do it. You’ve got enough of a body of work here that, even if you do something you’re not sure of or that people generally don’t like, I think they’re going to give you the benefit of the doubt and come back to see what you follow up with.
And congrats yourself for getting through all your schooling. I used to think about doing law school, and some people have suggested that I do so, but the last two years of school have made it clear to me that I would need to refocus myself before I could get through something like that. So congrats to you for being able to push through and get into med school. You’re a man of many talents.
@Joshua: I would love to see a sort of comix revolution, with things like this and Subnormality becoming much more common. Things like Bob & Bob and even this little eat shit and die one-pagers really make me realize that comics have the potential to be a real form of art.
bpatrick, I was just wondering, what are your biggest inspirations in the comic industry? I know Winston Rowntree loves Calvin and Hobbes, and having read some of the intros to his treasury books where he talks about the horrors of syndication and the comics industry and everything, I can totally see why.
@Joshua: Thanks! I’m trying to be less self-conscious. I’ll get better. Thanks for the support!
@Gogo Yubari: Thanks, Gogo! More comix like Subnormality would certainly be cause to rejoice. The comic greats I most often steal from are: 1) Bill Watterson 2) Jaime Hernandez 3) Jamie Hewlett 4) Alex Toth 5) David Mazzucchelli 6) Paul Pope 7) Dan DeCarlo. I try to steal from Jules Feiffer but I’m not good enough. No one can make a comic without the influence of Jack Kirby and/or Charles Schulz being present. I like many many others but those are the majors. Thanks for asking, that was fun! I love talking about comics.
Thanks, I’ll see if I can find some of those; probably shouldn’t be too hard. I’m not really of the growing-up-on-comics generation, so I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I haven’t heard of any of those people, although my sister’s a visual arts major in college and she knows quite a bit about comics. I’ve read a lot of your “Comics That Give Me Wood” (great name, by the way), and it’s nice to see a mix of unbelievably sad (I’m looking at you, Sorry Comics) and just hilarious (I already was following Oglaf; for some reason it’s just irresistible). You always manage to fall somewhere in between.
Anyway, you should probably spend more time making comics and less time talking about them. Seriously. Vivian Blank, Mann’s Search for Meenie, and of course Curious Urgency. You can’t just leave us hanging like this!
@b: I finished my paper, man. I haven’t gotten my grade back, but from what my prof said, it sounds like I’ll be fine. Feels good to be done.
I’m looking forward to your next piece of work, man. I hope all is well with you.
Congratulations, Joshua! That’s fantastic!
This hit me too hard. Far too hard.
Back in November, I got offered my dream job for as soon as I finished uni. I’d literally been working for four years for it, it was the one thing I’d always known I wanted to do, but it was an extremely competitive position with very high demands at the interview.
Getting the phone call offering me the job was honestly the happiest, and probably the proudest moment of my life – I was so happy, I felt like I’d really succeeded.
I then discovered last week that, while technically I was still going to be doing the same job, for a couple of reasons that it’s too complicated to go into it was going to be nothing like what I had hoped.
This comic pretty much perfectly described my feeling as I hung up that phone.
It still hasn’t gone away.
This hit me too hard. Far too hard.
Back in November, I got offered my dream job for as soon as I finished uni. I’d literally been working for four years for it, it was the one thing I’d always known I wanted to do, but it was an extremely competitive position with very high demands at the interview.
Getting the phone call offering me the job was honestly the happiest, and probably the proudest moment of my life – I was so happy, I felt like I’d really succeeded.
I then discovered last week that, while technically I was still going to be doing the same job, for a couple of reasons that it’s too complicated to go into it was going to be nothing like what I had hoped.
This comic pretty much perfectly described my feeling as I hung up that phone.
It still hasn’t gone away.