Banal Hemorrhage

Back in 2018, when I first started drawing, I was also in the process of having the love of my life moving in. Back then, it was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done. And let me tell ya, most of my early bangers were all about this. Who could forget the sponge in the dish sink debacle.  If it was difficult for me, imagine how difficult it was for my wife. My path was discovering that I was a slovenly, inattentive little selfish boy. Her path was discovering that she signed a life contract with an unformed man. An incomplete model. A man on the tutorial stage while she was slaying the boss. I have gotten better. A lot of the realization was that I was not seeing the house with her eyes . The path took us through checklists and being able to understand the effect that a house in chaos had in her psyche. Things get better. But you have to put in the work. Here’s the original for reference, and here’s the blog post from back then.  

Drawing this comic I got an epiphany. I realize why I will never be a popular comic maker. I bet that successful artists have an idea, massage it a bit in their brains and explore different venues or paths they could take. In my case, it seems that I just go with whatever intrusive thought came first. When I first wanted to draw a comic about the transaccional nature of morality in the United States, the first thing that came to my mind was “and do it Game Boy Pokémon style”, I bet good artists don’t just let that first idea stand there, blocking others. Perhaps they have a mass of neurons in the front of their brain, a ‘prefrontal cortex’ if you will, that allows ideas to grow and be nurtured. I seem to lack that, creatively. In fact I seem to take a page from improv artists, and “yes, and…” me to the death. That’s where Queen Vicoria as a Final Fantasy-style summon came about. Just a mish mash goulash of thoughts. But I digress… The United States seems to only do the morally right th...

  In a trend that is more anecdotal than factual yet, politics are becoming a big reason for divorces lately. Axios did a report in this earlier this year and it would be interesting to see if this pans out. Fact of the matter is this, neither Roxanne or I can see each other married to someone who suddenly is pro-mass deportations, super vocal about abortion, spewing vaccination conspiracy theories or someone focused on people’s genitalia like the MAGA crowd. They’re just too weird these days. Makes you miss the war-hungry, homophobic, corrupt, religious zealots of yesteryear. The ones that could at least lie about their prejudice and motivations. And I resent MAGA even more for making Reagan and Bush look almost normal in comparison. Point is, have these conversations before taking the vows, people.  Also, Inside Out 2 made me get feelings that I hadn’t felt in a long time, and it’s crazy that a movie about a teenage girl can do that to a grown ass male.

Thanks to our pursuit of traveling, we have learned about a few impossibilities in this world. Like the impossibility of a Thai taxi running the meter, or of avoiding luggage grabbers in Venezuela, or of avoiding the sight of deep fried guinea pigs in Peru, or getting a cheap drink in Iceland. In Germany, we were absolutely unable to get uncarbonated water. We googled the German words for “natural”, “still” and “mineral”, hoping that these will lead us to limpid water containers. But no, none of those words guaranteed a gas-free experience.  How did gas win in Germany? It’s insane to us that one of the oldest products in this planet, H2O, is overworked like this. I believe there’s a lot to be learned about modern society by tracking down how Germany waged war against regular, old, ubiquitous water and won. For some reason Khaleesi, our cat, was fascinated by this drawing.  

Before any reader casts me into the fiery depths of a hell that's unlikely to exist, let it be known that I harbor no personal grudge against Buddhism. From the fragments I’ve gleaned, it appears to be a pragmatic religion, offering practical insights, such as the art of meditation. My persistent unease with religion lies in the belief that it can serve as a moral compass. History suggests otherwise. A significant reason for this is the nature of interpretation; humans often perceive teachings through a kaleidoscope of self-serving lenses. This is why one often encounters Christians who seem to overlook the essence of the words and actions attributed to Jesus. Another troubling notion is the belief that one requires ancient texts and clerical figures to discern right from wrong. This is a bit unsettling, because those who depend on scriptures penned 2000 years ago to realize that acts of murder, deceit, and theft are wrong; these are not the kind of people I wish to surround myself...