Life of a Cartoon Artiste #1
A weekly (or possibly daily, it’s been years and it’s hard to tell now) strip that’s actually funny? I’m reminded more and more of why I liked Colin so much before all his stuff ended up in a box and untouched for years: the man has range. I can count the number of funny weekly strips on one hand (Strip Joint, K Chronicles, This Modern World, Troubletown… probably forgetting a few), but Colin found a funny formula and stuck with it. That man on the right of the cover is the artiste, someone who relentlessly pushes himself in the pursuit of art as a concept and will not settle for anything but the very best. The man on the left of the cover is an artist, but someone who realizes that compromises are occasionally necessary and doesn’t mind the very thought of “funny” being the main goal of a comic. The strips in here cover some familiar territory for any of you artists out there who have ever tried to sell a weekly or daily strip, or have just found yourself in awkward conversations with family and friends about the nature of your profession. Strips in here include explaining to a doofus what it means to be a cartoonist, living with his work being funny, trying to find a way to be meaningful in the genre, the value of other art forms, “real art”, actual examples of open mike poets, getting his work censored, being a Canadian artist and falling in with the stereotypes, selling out, lambasting comic conventions (and then realizing that that’s his fan base), buying indie comics as an investment, and getting his strip dropped.  Only 56 of his minis to go! Or I could just wise up and buy some of his new stuff…Â
