HOBARKEN (Corgi Press) — I’d be remiss in not mentioning that comicbook legends Neal Adams and George Pérez died recently. To say that their collective passing is a door closing for a distinct generation of comic artists is an understatement. To me, Pérez and Adams, more than really any other artists, represent that second generation of comic artists that followed the first of Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Alex Raymond, et al.

I became familiar with Neal Adams work indirectly, through fan-books put out by Tomorrows Publishing. Reading about the history of Superman comics, and the infamous tenure of DC editor Mort Weisinger and later (more-liked) Julie Schwartz, I noticed that some of the best Superman art out there was by Adams. This is surprising because Adams didn’t actually draw a ton of Superman! He’s more known for developing the darker version of Batman that we know to this day. I would later be astonished by his brief run on X-men as well. What made Adams so astonishing as an artist was the way in which he brought illustration techniques to comics--switching up the formatting of paneling, relying heavily on reference, and amping the emotion of his comics up to 11. It also doesn’t hurt that he was influenced by Alex Raymond, Stan Drake, and Al Williamson, all of whom I love.  

In the case of George Pérez, I knew his comic work more directly and in a more immediate fashion. I bought every month the issues of Avengers he did in the 1990s. Somewhere, there is a longbox with a complete run of the Pérez Avengers. I cannot understate how hyped I was in Junior High School to read that an artist was going to pencil the Avengers and use every character who had ever been an Avenger—even the shitty ones! Pérez was going to be squeezing D-man into a panel somewhere. If that wasn’t enough, the first storyline featured an alternate reality in which he had to redesign every Avenger’s costume. Who was this maniac? Also, was this maniac a Latino like me? From there, like many kids, I pieced together some understanding of Pérez’s importance in comics. I picked up Crisis on Infinite Earths, The New Teen Titans, etc. I was hooked. I still have a lot of material to go through since has such a large of work. Perhaps now is the time to dive into that?

As I continue reading the work of these two giants I know I’ll never be able to draw like Adams or Pérez, but I’ll certainly try. They’ve thrilled and inspired multiple generations. Count me in that group.


Note: It’s Joe Flaco’s birthday today, which is a roundabout way of saying that it is mine as well.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this person I hate in politics, who I cannot stop Googling every god-damned day.

Thread incoming for ya’ll resisters. (1/234)

Here’s a picture of the person I hate in politics. They’re always in my feed, not because this algorithm owns my data, but because they’re very very suspicious. (2/234)

Don’t you think it’s strange that this person in politics is seen  a lot with other people in politics that I hate? I mean, they’re a senator from the most powerful country in the world. Why would they know the leader of a foreign country that I hate (in a totally non-racist way)? Well, I did some digging through the first articles I could find on Google, and it gets cray cray fast. (3/234)

According to all this similar evidence, it turns out this double-chin-having-troll-looking motherfucker who criticizes people based on their looks met that world leader in Washington, a place where political insiders are. Here’s a picture of a Washington. (4/234)

This is the picture of the smug rich guy that introduced the person I hate in politics to the world leader of the country I hate (in a totally non-racist way). Turns out that this rich guy use his money to get power. (5/234)

Here are ten versions of the same article from 6 different news outlets. (8/234

Anyway, turns out money is a big part of politics and social media feeds you content based on what you search. Pretty sinister, right? (End/234)

I apologize to all the left-handed people in my mentions. I was unaware of the historical meaning of the word. I pledge to put my best foot forward from now on in my use of terminology. (235/234)

OK. Sorry to people with two worst feet. Muting this for reasons. (End again/234)

HOBARKEN (Corgi Press) — We all know the trope of the cop-a-ganda “reality” series COPS, in which officers pull a suspect out of bed in their underwear, to messily spill their brush with the law out onto the front lawn. You also might not know that former mayor and decaying ring-wraith Rudy Giuliani actually popularized in the 1980s the “perp walk”, or when a suspect is led into a law enforcement building in handcuffs to look bad. However, could these fascistic smear tactics stand up to the raw Yassitude of the “I woke up like this”? In other words, could someone be roused from bed by the police, not immediately shot, and led out catwalk-ready in handcuffs? Kimber thinks so in today’s strip.

I remember it was Beyoncé who famously sung “I woke up like this” and millions of women posted Flawless selfies that raised the timeless question, “Did you wear eye makeup to bed?” Now, I should clarify that my wife, who is an eye-makeup expert, taught me, an ignorant male neanderthal, that some women don’t have eyes with dark lines and long lashes around them naturally. How was I to know what was real anymore? Raccoons wake up like that, why can’t women wake up with raccoon-eyes? Also, if I find eyeliner and mascara attractive, does this mean I am more attracted to raccoons than I previously thought? This strip raises a lot of questions, both personal and political!


Things seem to be heating up in this story arc, as Kiara becomes increasingly morally compromised. Will she fall further next week? Check in then!

Trivia: Kimber had the potential to be a top-model if not for her health problems--she developed myopia from smizing too much.

HOBARKEN (Corgi Press) — No, Kiara NO! It’s funny how you can think someone is speaking to your specific circumstances even when they are not. Our brains extrapolate a lot, and that can easily lead to justifying doing something that might not be right. After all, we’re all hideously trapped within our own traumatized minds hurtling past one another at the speed of light. That’s the situation Kiara finds herself in today.

As with Kiara, desire makes us read everything through a lens that rationalizes whatever we need or want to do, or so my wife yells at me after I eat all her snacks. As Mary tries to #Girlpower her way out of feeling guilt, Kiara uses her words to justify doing what Ronan Tell asks of her.

This reminds me of some writing by Zora Neale Hurston in which she throws side-eye at men (meh) who claim to feel a calling to go into the extremely lucrative field of preaching. I’m paraphrasing, but would-be collection-plate-owner finds himself by a river in the forest. He looks up to the sky and calls out to God, “If you don’t want me to preach, make these sticks leap across the river.” When the sticks don’t levitate, it’s fate. This is the process I imagine Louis CK used to decide whether or not to once again force himself onto comedy.

In this strip, most of the cast are in their throwback outfits from the original strips in which they were introduced. Mary is in her puritan dress with the white cuffs and colors from her introduction. Kiara is in the black and green striped shirt from before she chewed up and spit out Joe Flaco. Lastly, Alma is in her pink sweater with the polka dots. Perhaps this is because the characters are going through a bit of reset now that Dump is gone. It’s a fun throwback to simpler times, even as they face new challenges. Fun!

See you next week!

HOBARKEN (Corgi Press) — This is the 200th strip that I’ve made for Corgi Boss! It’s nice to hit this milestone. Looking back, I’ve made a lot of improvements in my art and writing since the beginning, and it really shows.  Nonetheless, it doesn’t feel any less laborious. :-/ Someday, it will get easier!

Concerning the writing, it’s often said that the way you show love to your characters is that you make their lives difficult. That’s something I’ve certainly tried to do in this strip. Poor Kiara seems so twisted up about what Ronan Tell has on her. Right now, things are not looking so good for her.

This strip milestone also makes me feel a bit nervous as well as thrilled because my original plan was to do 300 strips before wrapping up Corgi Boss. I guess I should start thinking about an ending, huh? Perhaps, I’ll think of an alienating twist like the producers of Game of Thrones! Joe Flaco gets Manchurian Candidated or the cast reconvenes in an afterlife Ying-Yang church! Who knows!  

I watched the Oscars on Sunday night, and no, I don’t have anything to add to the discourse around the smack heard round the world. However, I will comment that I nonetheless enjoyed this year’s show more than last year’s experience in public awkwardness and depression. The producers made the right choice in making Best Picture, the most important award, the last one of the evening. Duh. However, I was not a fan of the sidelining of more of the awards to outside the broadcast. I thought it was pretty ill-considered to have Samuel L. Jackson’s lifetime achievement award not be part of the show—a motherfucking lifetime achievement award. I just think that if ever there were an award to include in the broadcast, it would be the award that you can only get once in your entire life.

CODA was a good movie to choose for the big award, but I don’t necessarily think it was the best this rather mediocre film year had to offer per se. However, it was certainly the one that felt the best to watch, which maybe is what we needed after being battered for multiple years by…well…everything. So, I’m OK with it winning rather than a meditation on grief and art (Drive My Car) or the exploration of the perversion that comes from self-loathing (The Power of the Dog).

I’ll be back with my meditation on anxiety and helplessness next week! See you then!