The Abecedary

zero hour, n. 3. The hour from which a new cycle of time is measured; spec. midnight, as the beginning of the day.

“Methought..I heard at zero hour as ‘twere the peal of vixen’s laughter among midnight’s chimes.”

— James Joyce, 'Finnegans wake' (1939)

In addition to the definition of zero hour as used in the Joyce quote, zero hour is also “the time at which a military operation is scheduled to begin.” That time is depicted repeatedly in this comic. The scene also contains the classroom from the first Abecedary comic, proving that the illustrator has heard of books.

Thank you to everyone who has liked and shared these comics as I have worked on this project for six (six!!) years. I have one more ‘behind the scenes’ feature lined up for later this week, or next. Then, the Abecedary will be finished for the foreseeable future. After that market research says I should pivot to video. So uh, stay tuned.

This comic is an an attempt to study the style, if not content, of cartoonist Eli Valley. I’d take the company of pyromaniacal pirates over the real-life ghouls Eli sends up with unparalleled skill in his work.

yo-hope, n. (and int.) Nautical. Now hist. and rare. A task regulated by a chant or song of the type used by sailors when hauling ropes or performing other strenuous, rhythmically repetitive tasks; the chant so used. Also as int. Cf. yo-ho int. and n., yo-heave-ho int. and n.

“This yo hope of heaving up the Anchor, was a needless trouble, when they design’d to burn the Ship.”

— Charles Johnson, 'A general history of the robberies and murders of the most notorious pirates, and also their policies, discipline and government, from their first rise and settlement in the island of Providence in 1717, to the present year 1724 : with the remarkable actions and adventures of the two female pyrates, Mary Read and Anne Bonny : to which is prefix'd an account of the famous Captain Avery and his companions ... : to which is added, a short abstract of the statute and civil law, in relation to pyracy' (1724)

I conceived of this comic as a memento mori, but in circular time. It ended up including a vignette into Hell. It also includes terrible disasters happening in the distance, which, looking back on my work the last few years including the Abecedary, is a recurring theme I hadn’t really been aware of before.

x n. II. Symbolic uses. 4. In designations of brands of ale, stout, or porter, XX or double X denotes a medium quality, XXX or treble X the strongest quality. Also in the marking of qualities of tin-plate.

“Keep clear of Broomsticks, Old Nick, and three XXX’s.”

— Richard Harris Barham, 'Lay St. Dunstan’ in ‘Ingoldsby Legends' (1840)

I don’t have much to say about this one except that drawing out two different perspective grids on one sheet of paper was a real pain. I chose this word because I was hunting though the dictionary for quotes by authors I like. I wasn’t able to do that when I started this project, as I was using a physical dictionary. But after switching to the public library’s online OED access I was able to harness the power of Advanced Search, at zero cost. They got Consumer Reports on there too.

world line  n.  [after German Weltlinie (H. Minkowski 1909, in Physikalische Zeitschr.)] Physics a line in space-time comprising the successive points occupied by a particle, celestial object, etc., throughout its history; also in extended use.

“In human affairs, individual world lines form a thick tangle, curling out of the darkness of prehistory and stretching through time.”

— Kim Stanley Robinson, 'Red Mars' (1993)

The interesting word in this definition isn’t vampirism, but instead ‘tractors’. Perkin’s metallic tractors were originally the name of a device consisting of a pair of pointed rods of different metals, such as brass and steel, which were believed to relieve rheumatic or other pain by being drawn or rubbed over the skin. This is where the term tractor came into the English language. Tractor became of more general term for something which is pulled, before eventually being used to describe a new type of engine. This is where the modern usage of the term for farm equipment comes from. Anyways, this comic is about industrialization.

vampirism, n. The collective facts or ideas associated with the supposed existence and habits of vampires.

“The supposed existence..of witchcraft, vampyrism, animal magnetism and American tractors.”

— Erasmus Darwin, ‘Zoonomia; or, The laws of organic life’ (1794)

How many homicides are necessary on the periphery to ensure the free flow of wine to the center?

† utricide, n. Obsolete. One who stabs an inflated vessel of skin.

“That I after the slaughter of so many enemies..might embrace..not an homicide but an Utricide.”

— Apuleius, 'Metamorphoses, The Golden Ass' (trans. William Adlington, 1566)

I imagine unicorns are actually huge jerks who don’t respect other mythical creatures, especially other horned animals. The unicorns’ prejudice has driven them to create an extensive police state to target, surveil, and harass non-unicorns. They even go so far as to deny the existence of tri-corns and call them imaginary to rationalize their status as disposable non-people. Names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this comic are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

tricorn - B. n. 1. An (imaginary) creature with three horns.

“These creatures were distinguished..by a lump on their heads,..supported by three small protuberances; from whence they were called Tri-corns.”

— W. Bristow, 'The Impostors Detected: Or, the Life of a Portuguese. In which the Artifices and Intrigues of Romish Priests are Humorously Displayed. The Whole Interspersed with Several Curious and Entertaining Anecdotes, Relating to Some of the Principal Personages of the Kingdom of Portugal. In Two Volumes.' (1760)

This Abecedary was originally published on May Day, 2016 and was the final Abecedary shared when I first started this comic. It is also the last Abecedary I drew completely digitally. When I picked the project back up in earnest last year, I switched back to pen and paper.

‘Recuperation’ is a concept written about by the Situationists, where radical political ideas are diluted and rendered un-threatening to the powers that be, by being stripped of their revolutionary potential and commodified. For example, using the imagery of mass social protest to sell Pepsi, or appropriating the ideas of French anarchists to advance a personal brand. Teespring opening soon.

situationist - B. n. 1. Philosophy and Social Sciences. A person who believes in or advocates situationism; a proponent or adherent of situation ethics. 2. Usually with capital initial. A member of the Situationist International; an adherent of the Situationist movement.

“For the situationists, the bureaucratic system of industrial society has considerably increased the sum total of the exploitation and repression of man… The tremendous development of science and technology has led to the individual being completely taken over by the system; the individual is no more than a commodity‥. manipulated by the specialists in cultural repression: artists, psychiatrists,.. sociologists and ‘experts’ of all kinds. To fight against a ‘spectacular’ society, in which everything is treated as a commodity and in which creative energy spends itself in the fabrication of pseudo-needs, one must attack on all fronts simultaneously.”

— R. Gombin in D.E. Apter & J. Joll, Anarchism Today (1971)

Can’t make a comic about the English language and not include some William Shakespeare. Gotta have it.

rat-catcher, 1. a. One whose business it is to catch rats. Also transf. and fig.

“Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walke?

— William Shakespeare, 'Romeo and Juliet' (1597)

‘Quintessence’ is French for The Fifth Element (1997), directed by Luc Besson and starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman and Milla Jovovich.

quintessence, v. Now rare. 1. transitive. To extract the quintessence of or from (something). Usually in figurative context. †2. transitive. To take (out) of or from (something) as a quintessence. Obsolete.

“It is a kind of Alchymical Quintessensing a heauen out of earth.”

— Thomas Nashe, Christs teares ouer Ierusalem (1593)

I drew this comic right after I started using a tablet to illustrate digitally, and was still learning how to use it. I considered re-doing this comic, but have decided to leave my crude copying of other’s intellectual property in place.

property, n. 1. The condition of being owned by or belonging to some person or persons; hence the fact of owning a thing; the holding of something as one’s own; the right (esp. the exclusive right) to the possession, use or disposal of anything (usually a tangible material thing); ownership, proprietorship.

“Whan that a riche, worthi king,… Wol axe and cleyme proprete In thing to which he hath no riht.”

— John Gower, Confessio Amantis (1393)