#holidays

2012-06-07

The Story of Jake Tuesday – 1

The Story of Jake Tuesday page 1

Transcript

If you passed the fire station in Brattleboro, Vermont the night of May 29, you may have seen an unusual sight – The outfits with bells on the legs mark this as a morris dance, a type of English ritual folk dance that predates Shakespeare and has spread to the U.S. – but why is it here on this Tuesday night?

Geoff Rogers: “We’re called the Juggler Meadow Morris Men; we’re based in Amherst [Massachusetts].” Juggler Meadow is here with local morris team Windham and others for Jake Tuesday, an annual event in honor of former member Jake McDermott, who moved to Putney and in April 2001 had a heart attack. “We have an evening of beer and song and dancing – celebrating life in general and Jake in particular.”

“Jake was not the kind of guy you would ever expect to have something like that happen to him … really an iron man; really, really fantastic shape.” But during an easy bike ride on Kurn Hattin Road in Westminster, he died of a heart attack.

This story marks my return to the pages of The Commons – with a full-length article in comics format! You can pick up a free print copy today through next Tuesday at numerous locations in Brattleboro and the rest of Windham County, VT, or download the paper as a PDF (44 MB) read it at The Commons website. The version in The Commons is laid out differently and in color (provided by The Commons). Here are photos of it in the paper (click to enlarge):

(That’s right – I got a jump page!)

I’m really excited about this one; I’ve been wanting to do stuff like this for a while, and I’m happy with how it came out – and having it in a newspaper makes it even better! Thanks to Commons editor Jeff Potter for devoting space to graphic journalism.

(PS: Sorry for the occasionally jaggy image quality – I’ve started drawing smaller and haven’t yet got the hang of reproducing the thinnest lines at screen resolution.)

Update 2014-06-12: I should’ve mentioned earlier, you can get your own print copy of this comic in Square Dance #6 (a collection of my short comics) and The Cartoon Picayune #4 (an anthology of graphic journalism). You can also peek at my process behind the scenes in The Cartoon Picayune‘s interview with me.

2008-11-03

Thanksgiving Through The Years

Spinning World: Thanksgiving Through the Years

Transcript

Thanksgiving Through the Years

A Wamponaog adult tells a child, “We give thanks to these plants and animals who gave their lives so we may live…” Unnoticed in the background, Pilgrims appear on the horizon.

A white American man says Thankgiving grace: “We give thanks for this food to the Big Sky-Daddy who so kindly depopulated this great land for us…” Their eyes closed, none of the family yet sees the giant flying saucers in the sky outside the window.

A huge potbellied alien with spindly limbs plucks a human from a jar and says, “We give thanks to Zlarx for these delectable beings (who are also such versatile slaves)…” (“Help!” cries the human in its tiny voice.)

Notes

This month I was so busy and tired that I couldn’t bring myself to do a strip that required research, so I redrew a seasonal strip from the Keene Free Comics days. I think the new strip is clearer, but I still drew the human too small in the last panel! C’est la vie. I will have to fill in November’s Great Moments In Nuclear History at a later date.

Get this strip as part of Square Dance #4.