07/17/24: IF THE SHOE FITS

BIG SHOES is coming…

Hey y’all,

Sorry for the gap between posts. Been busy working on a couple of big projects. One coming… (checks notes)… NEXT WEEK!?

So, yes. I’ve decided that starting NEXT WEEK, my latest comic, BIG SHOES, will begin running in this space for my PAID SUBSCRIBERS.

But what is BIG SHOES? 

Welp…

The easiest, most direct answer is it’s a new 36 page comic, that I plan to dole out over the next six posts or so. 

Yeah, yeah. But WHAT is BIG SHOES?

Um… Well… uh…

It’s a Sasquatch comic. 

Kinda. 

As anyone who’s frequented this space has surely noticed— back during the pandemic I was deeeeeeep into reading and writing about Jack Kirby’s comics.

Being so immersed in the… ahem… Source, I began to think a lot about the countless Kirby imitations and homages out there. Comics that are often overly broad attempts to mimic some element of his aesthetic bombast, design approach, and/or the peculiar rhythms he’d apply to his character’s names or speech patterns. Cartoon karaoke.

As someone guilty of those crimes, I began to wonder if there was some deeper philosophical idea behind those comics that was actually transferrable. Was there something I could glean that was actually actionable? Or were Kirby’s comics just too personal? Too imbued with their creativity by his POV?

At the same time, I’d sort of gone back to my comic strip roots and begun to experiment with a new approach. Making little vignettes that were meant to be sort of humorous, yet absent of a real punchline. Slightly ambiguous character studies and odd moments. Tonal things. An exercise to in pushing myself to be a tad less tidy. Slightly freer. 

One of those comics was about a hermit who is obsessed with a Sasquatch that visits the woods around his secluded mountain home. Just this strange guy commenting on this strange experience, in his strange, almost poetic way. That was the whole strip.

But after the first go, I had this odd, uneasy feeling that I’d kind of misrepresented the guy. That he had more to say. So I made another one. Then another. And another… And before I knew it I was 8 strips deep with no real plan. Sure things were moving, but not in any way I could predict. And that started to make me self-conscious. Had I wasted a couple of weeks on strips that had no payoff? That were essentially pointless?

But then I thought of Kirby. More specifically all the wild things that leapt from his pencil, a lot of which simply because he refused to stop and erase them. 

I realized that if there was nothing else I could learn from Kirby, it would be to embrace whatever I was putting down. To let the comics drive the car for longer than a few panels. At least this once. 

Above: A sneak peak. If no one looks for you, can you ever truly be seen?

And so that is what BIG SHOES is. 

Kinda.

A crazy attempt at a comic that is both VERY and VERY NOT Kirby at the same time.

The anti-homage equation.

And though my natural tendency to plan, and meditate, and wrench a comic into existence did end up taking over in the end— I think the result is an exciting little hybrid approach. A story that’s shaping up to be a unique and satisfying entry to my little catalog of “new work”.

Which at the end of the day is my only real goal. To make the comics no one else could, or (probably more accurately) would. 

So yeah, as I said BIG SHOES will run here for PAID SUBSCRIBERS (who will also get the first tangible look at my upcoming publishing plans and some other to be announced perks.) So if you’re interested you should hop on signing up for that ASAP.

And please, by all means, spread the word. 

Thanks as always.

More soon… 

-j