03/01/24: 4 FRAMES OF RISK

Out on a limb called Werefield.

Hey y’all,

The other night I was talking to a friend about how I basically have two modes of operation when it comes to telling stories. There’s the long-range planner, who turns things from as many angles as he can manage, obsessing over every detail.

And THEN… there is the guy who walks out on a limb called WEREFIELD:

Now, trust me, I understand how stupid you may think this kind of comic is (though maybe it’s not stupid in the WAY that you think, hmmm?).

I also understand that a lot of people would tell you it’s nigh impossible to be funny in comics. And though it’s arguable that one could use my work to prove those folks correct— I would counter that most of those people consider comics to be VERY serious business. Still, it is true that without sound or movement to facilitate a performance, a cartoonist’s comedic arsenal is quite a bit smaller. So in that regard telling a joke in a comic is a little disadvantaged from the start.

In the age of the internet, a stand-up comedian who bombs working out material can certainly see that joke live a well-travelled if not eternal life. But for good or ill there’s usually a process of working out and refining the telling of those jokes that actively factors in the feedback given by the audience.

But when a cartoonist sits down to draw a strip— There’s little to no test group.Usually all that exists is a commitment to sitting down and taking the risk.

Now to me— the risk of tying your hand behind your back is part of the point of making those kinds of comics. It’s a bit like carrying a lit match in a stiff wind. There’s so much working against your success that it’s likely that by the time you arrive at the candle wick, you’re holding nothing but smoke.

But man, what you learn by trying.

There’s a serious myopia that the hours required to make comics tend to cause. The investment in the hours at the desk alone is often so great that the outcome succumbs to the pull of that gravity. Serious endeavors begat serious results which begat serious attitudes. Rinse and repeat.

That’s not to imply that telling more serious stories isn’t risky. It’s just that more robust endeavors have more criteria for success or failure. Whether a joke is smart or dumb, its success or failure boils down to if you laughed.

That makes humor an inherently risky endeavor.

And if you risk, you’re occasionally going to fail. Failure teaches you what it takes to get back up and try again. And in the immortal words of Yoda— only by trying can you succeed.

Now that I’ve written all of this, I realize it’s probably worth exploring how the internet can change the relationship between an audience and a pre-existing work of art. Take the all-consuming and ever-changing fractal nature of Garfield for example.

So maybe more of the UNHOLY WEREFIELD down the line? We’ll see.

God help us, we’ll see.

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Okay, that seems like a good place to stop for today. Hope y’all have a great weekend.

More soon…

-j