'Tis the Election Season
VOTE BUG 2028
Hello!!! (fret not, this is not actually a political post)
Tyler here, I realize it has been a long time — though does not feel like it — which might be scary. Happy Halloween? Has anyone ever dressed as Passing Time to scare trick-or-treating adults? Anyhow… lots has happened in the interim between posts, and yes that includes Trina doing some amazing work on the next TWO pages you will be presented with… concluding our first scene. BOING.
Lots of events have happened, including actual comic events. The first event was the Denver Fan Expo where I shared a table with surprisingly (to him) in-demand commission artist Adi Dasgupta at his first show:
Adi and I both have very different takes on how we look and feel in this photo during the final lap of a 4-day show… 5 if you factor the nightmare navigating the city to set up was. Denver’s usually ideal Light Rail was shut down for a massive renovation around the Convention Center. But it was a great show all around, and you can see in the photo a small taste of the commissions Adi was very busy with very quickly... I’m pretty sure he drew non-stop all four-days… taking a small break for us to have a super weird encounter with a big-time comic artist… I very much look forward to sharing some images of the awesome commissions Adi did —and more stunning teases from the project we are working on— soon. In our photo you can also see a selection of butts drawn by our very own big-time comic artist Trina that both intrigued and concerned con-goers. It was incredible to have my family come and see the butts in person 💗 and sustain me with the support needed to make it through that weekend… and this life…
Speaking of drawings by TRINA, she has now joined the NARCFORCE (WIP) and contributed a cover to the latest issues of NARC(M)AN® — the comic project with which we aim to bring awareness to the opioid epidemic and the resources that exist to fight it.
It was a thrill yet again to see the response to this project when the latest iteration dropped at Los Angeles Comiccon a couple of weeks ago… I don’t think I have met a person yet not affected by the opioid epidemic.
Speaking of the NARCFORCE (WIP)
(curator of his very own Substack full of his very own incredible work) has joined the fold. He rendered the latest episode ‘The Plummet’ based on reports that deaths by fentanyl overdose have PLUMMETED 20% over the course of the last year. And yes, Narc(m)an® has a HOT TAKE on that statistic in his latest adventure:
I guess that is a spoiler… if a character’s opinion can be a spoiler? Either way, the Narc(m)an® still has work to do. And we have some exciting announcements on that front and more amazing artists blowing our minds by jumping aboard the project for upcoming installments. This whole project kinda came out of nowhere (I go into detail about that on the back of the latest issue), and we are perpetually moved and stunned by the stories people share at our booth and the interest there is in the initiative. I have yet to table at an event where someone doesn’t have a story about an overdose…
The uplifting side of this: it was incredibly fun to collaborate with David who is somehow as delightful to work with as he appears to be, which is SUPER DELIGHTFUL. I highly encourage you to check out his work:
.I have so many stories about LACC, it was certainly a different show than Denver proximity wise.. David and I hopped in our cars and drove downtown. Whereas Adi and I traveled by uber, plane, lightrail, bus, and sidewalk, and sidewalk, and sidewalk… Did I mention we capped off the tabling-adventure with travel by RAFT for an all-day rafting trip the next morning?… So much to say and share on all this but I must forge on.
You might be wondering why I included two different profiles of Side-Squirt in the Narc(m)an® sample above… well that is how it printed out before the saddle stitching and I thought it was so, so, so cool to see a side-by-side of the near identical profile angles David and Alina Cortez created, different approaches to the character from two mesmerizing artists. Also, maybe a not-too-clunky segue into the final non-Gumball project this post is about: ALINA CORTEZ AND I HAVE FINALLY RELEASED OUR ACCIDENTALLY-PERFECTLY-TIMED-FOR-ELECTION-SEASON ZINE:
I am so pumped to get this out there and share the jaw-dropping work Alina has been doing with her trusty inks: Inky Alina on Instagram And the timing couldn’t be better for our cautionary tale about a Bed-Bug becoming President and bending the laws of the land to his will. My goal with the project is to urge people to vote (and look at Alina’s awesome art). Wait, did I just make this post political? Is encouraging people to vote political? I’m not offering Tesla bucks or whatever.
Ironically, I don’t have any copies for this perfectly timed Zine. Correction, I have a LOT of copies.. but… we were approached at the OC Zinefest where I was sharing the SKETCH version of the project… drum roll… and ZINE-O-MATIC picked our little zine-that-could up for distribution!
We are thrilled and flattered to be any part of an amazing organization that promotes Zinesters in such a way: CHECK OUT ZINE-O-MATIC WITH THIS LINK
And the best part is, if you really, really, want a copy BEFORE the election, and definitely won’t be seeing me, you can perhaps get a Zine-O-Matic subscription ahead of the shipment going out at the end of this month. Our zine is included with a bunch of cool other ones. And NO, amazingly, nobody at Zine-o-Matic has even asked us to promote their service or anything like that. They just offer pure support to share people’s work and ideas, and we are FLOORED by it, inspired, and ready for more.
THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF THE AMAZING PEOPLE THAT HAVE ENTERED OUR CREATIVE LIVES SINCE TRINA AND I STARTED THIS PROJECT GUMBALL MAN.
I can’t wait for how things will continue to evolve for the next installment!
Thank you for your support!!!!!!!💗💗
-tD’s
Great recap of a busy few months! You've surrounded yourself with a such a talented team for your projects. And congratulations on getting your zine picked up. That's huge!