turns out comics are pretty cool

Hello! I disappeared for another week — sorry about that. I should be back to regularity soon, I think. It's been busy over here at Bijan, Inc. You know how it is when you're a freelancer: can't look a gift job in the payment system, or something.

Anyway. I have returned to say: comics are pretty cool, man. It's funny: I never really got into comics (outside of manga, lol) as a kid, and I have no idea why. I recall that the only comic book I ever owned was an antique: the issue of Superman where Bizarro is introduced. No idea where it is now. But I loved that thing. Even so, it somehow did not occur to me that I could just... go buy more? Though I think that might have just been younger me's veiled judgment of the comics industry. It seemed like you had to know SO much just to get into those fictional worlds.

Regardless, reader, I figured it out. Turns out I'm a fan of the smaller scale stuff. Lately I've been really enjoying Rare Flavours — a Boom miniseries about a man-eating Indian devil who loves food and Anthony Bourdain — and Dawnrunner from Dark Horse, which is a robotic ghost story. Both were written by Ram V, who I'm fairly certain is a genius. The art is beautiful in both series, too; Filip Andrade did Rare Flavours and Evan Cagle's on Dawnrunner. Impeccable work from everyone.

Both of these series instilled the same reaction in me: they made me... want to make comics. Which is a foreign urge, as visual art is my dump stat. But I've started to recognize that if I encounter something really good — anything, really, from food to books to music — it makes me want to give it a try. (Trying to make something in a different medium is the best way to get a handle on how difficult it actually is to do stuff, imo.)

Anyway here's a comic I made, just to see how it might feel to make one. It's not good, and it's messy, etc. But it feels fun. And I think that's what's actually important. Also nobody's paying for it so I can make it whatever I want!

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things i've been consuming lately

Rare Flavours, Boom Studios

Dawnrunner, Dark Horse

Chrono Trigger, Square Enix