HOMEMADE COMICS

Images #1, August 1992: Page 15

So, to fill in one of the 16 pages in this comic, I reproduced three strips from the newspaper-style comic I started making around that time called "The Buckwheats." It was (as you can tell, I hope) a gag strip based on the real-life misadventures of me (in the black hat) and my then-best friend Bryan. Why was it called "The Buckwheats?" It's a long story, but basically we were really into the Eddie Murphy Buckwheat sketches from Saturday Night Live.

Images #1, August 1992: Page 14

I was really into color symbolism at the time, and gray was (is) one of my favorite "colors," so this all tracks.

Despite what the last caption says, this never was continued, not really. I think I started drawing a second issue, but as I've mentioned before (probably months/years ago), this was one of the last homemade comics I produced as a teenager. By 16, I was driving, working, dating, and soon would begin performing both poetry and music. Comics stopped being a hobby both as a reader and a creator.

Aww, Agent Moore is getting a cuddly bear hug from the big evil Nemesis force.

This actually was a kinda interesting concept I don't think I really explored more in this comic, that maybe the Nemesis absorbs "evil" people to grow stronger. But when I drew it, I think the total thought I put into it was "this looks cool."

Next up (tomorrow?), this story concludes, but the issue does not! Stay tuned.

Images #1, August 1992: Page 12

So, with everyone* seemingly flocking onto/back to other social media platforms in the wake of the great Muskpocalypse on Twitter, I’ve been KIND OF diving back into Tumblr. And, of course, realized I left off mid-comic / mid-story here on Homemade Comics, like a few years ago? So, we’re just gonna pick right back up in the middle of the first (and only) issue of Images (not to be confused with the series I made under the “Delta Comics” label previously), in which I reintroduced Jake Peters, the “Electric Man” -- and also apparently only half-finished coloring. Scroll back to previous posts to get caught up! Next page will be posted tomorrow.

Images #1, August 1992: Page 11

As a reminder, the “none” in question is “evil” energy, of which our boy Jake claims to have none, but of COURSE the guys in suits have in spades.

Images #1, August 1992: Page 10

Images #1, August 1992: Page 9

Images #1, August 1992: Page 8

Images #1, August 1992: Page 7

Images #1, August 1992: Page 6

Images #1, August 1992: Page 5

Ok, I have some questions for 16-year-old me:

1. “The Rippers?” Really? You couldn’t come up with a better gang name than that?

Images #1, August 1992: Page 4

Images #1, August 1992: Page 3

Images #1, August 1992: Page 2

Images #1, August 1992: Page 1

It’s interesting (to me, at least) that some of the hallmarks of sequential storytelling I’d eventually use in my quasi-professional career were already in place at this age: overuse of silhouettes, extreme close-ups, terrible drawings of cars. But this is actually a pretty well-designed page, and though the artwork isn’t GREAT, it reflects the dual influences of Jim Lee and John Romita Jr., both of whom I was super into at the time.