March 31 - OOPS!  I almost forgot to post today's WOMP-Blog entry!  I've been very busy tonight.  I got another nice little art job for a local hotel, which somehow spun into a fairly large, somewhat last minute project!  I'd better get back to it.  Hopefully, I will post a quick up-date in a short while.  Thanks!  See ya soon!

March 30 - Not much to report today, folks.  Boy, do I lead a boring life.  I haven't done anything creative today, but I sure have been busy with other stuff, including my TAXES.  Ugh!  In fact, I suppose that I should get back to it.  Just a quick note to any aspiring cartoonists ot there; I know that you hate Math Class, but you might want to pay just enough attention so that you learn how to tackle complicated mathematical problems!  It may come in handy someday....

March 29 - Well, I'm stumped again, gang.  I have no idea what to talk about tonight.  I did get another caricature gig today.  It's for the "After Prom" event in Fennimore, Wisconsin, in May.  That's about all that I can say about it, though...not really very interesting (except to me).  I thought about highlighting one of the artists whose work has influenced me, thinking that it may encourage you, dear WOMP-Blog reader, to learn more about someone who I think is awesome.  I still might do this...someday.  It just seems like too much work right now.  I guess, when it comes right down to it, this was a sort of "vacation" day for me (at least so far).  My sister was visiting again, which means that my infant nephews, also known as WOMP-Interns-Of-The-Future, kept me somewhat busy for awhile.  My wife and I took Mom out to eat tonight, and, other than that, I haven't done a darn thing.  I guess that's OK, but I really shouldn't let too many days like this go by.  I have to really start working on #5 soon...or NOW!  Oh, I'm just so lazy, I guess.  Oh, well.  I'll get it done.  I always have.  No matter what else can be said about me, through all of my excuses and excessive sloth, I somehow have found a way to actually do the stuff that I say that "I will someday."  I don't know where I get that from.  I guess it's a "gift."  I suspect that it has a lot to do with my Grandparents.  I may feel like this right now because of my Grandma Fry's recent passing, but I have always taken their examples of humor, self-motivation, and willingness to do stuff for others to heart.  They each had many wonderful qualities, some of which they all shared (like volunteering at their churches and in their communities).  I always said that my Grandma Fry was the kind of person who would just roll up her sleeves and start helping where-ever she went.  My Grandpa Fry, now nearly 100 years old, is still the kind of person who greets everyone with genuine respect, interest, and enthusiasm, especially children.  My Grandma Mundt was a model of love and humor in the face of hard times (no situation ever seemed too difficult for her to find a good laugh in it....even her husband's last words).  My Grandpa Mundt was a humorous man, too, but his greatest attribute was his absolute willingness to give of himself to others.  He did this so unselfishly that he often asked for complete anonymity (a fact that we discovered when HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of people turned out for his visitation, which had to be extended to two days, and funeral, all with the same story of how he'd helped them on condition of secrecy).  Not to diminish the role that my parents, or other relatives (or even community members) may have had on my peculiar development, but I think that a lot of the specifics of who I am and how I approach the World, and the people on it, were "fine-tuned" by my greatest God-given gift, my grandparents! 

March 28 - Hey there, gang!  Well, everything went great at the Peotone, Illinois, event (in fact, check HERE for some pix!).  I actually made it home before 9:00pm, but, true to form, I passed out in a heap shortly thereafter, sleeping until 11:30am this morning!  I mentioned in my last WOMP-Blog entry that I was pretty nervous about it, and that my nerves sometimes make me so frazzled that I turn into a mean jerk.  I am happy to report that I did not undergo my "Mr. Hyde" transformation!  That was the first sign that I'd have a great day, which I did!  The drive to Peotone was so uneventful, that I actually arrived at the library three hours early!  I met Rosemary, the librarian who'd invited me, and her husband, John.  I couldn't talk about it before this, but I can tell you now that Rosemary had asked me to draw a caricature of John with Elvira, Mistress of The Dark!  It was intended to surprise him in a game of "one-upping" that the two of them have had going on for years!  It worked, too, as John was nearly speechless when he saw it!  Right in the middle of my presentation, I casually brought it out as an example of caricatured faces!  The best part is that John was taking pictures of the event for me, so he was at first just trying to get a good shot of it.  Hee hee!  Anyhoo, a few people showed up (about 20?  It seemed like the perfect sized crowd for the venue), and, thankfully, they were interested in cartooning and comics and such!  I got several very good questions from the "audience," and I even got some original art from one of the younger attendees ("Ean?"  I had him autograph the drawing he'd done, but I guess I didn't ask his name - sorry, bud).  I met a couple of other artists who had won First and Second places in a poster drwaing contest that the library had held for my presentation.  Shari, the 2nd Place winner, is a great young artist who, even though she prefers drawing animals, drew a self-portrait on herself poster.  April, the First Place winner, is pursuing a career in art, preferably designing CD packaging.  Her poster was an homage to the history of cartoons, from the "Steamboat Willie" Mickey Mouse, to The Yellow Kid!  By strange coincidence, she had just given a demonstrative speech about SOCK MONKEYS!  She even showed me the poster that she'd made for her presentation!  How cool is that?  Well, after about two hours of babbling on and on, I said goodbye to everyone, jumped back into the WOMP-Mobile, and headed back to WOMP HQ.  Yep, it was a great day, over all.  I hope that I helped someone there at least a little.  See ya later!

March 26 - Hi!  I'm writing this WOMP-Blog entry a little early (it's about 4:00pm right now).  I hope to get to bed early because of my big day tomorrow.  I've got a big comic book lecture at the Peotone, Illinois, Library at 1:00pm on Saturday, so I figure that I have to leave WOMP Central at about 6:00am, which is around when I normally go to sleep!  I have a lot to do yet tonight, none-the-least being calming down!  I get a sort of "opening night jitters" thing right before a major event.  I'm in the first, least dibilitating stage, which is random rushes of adrenaline with disruption (or suspension) of normal bodily functions.  Basically, I can't eat, I can't sleep, and I can't do some of the other stuff that came to your mind when I said "bodily functions."  That part is not so bad, but the random adrenal rushes are like running the 100 yard dash every half hour or so.  The next step in my nervous condition is the WORST!  Deprived of food, drink, and sleep (and too full of other stuff), I enter a semi-manic state, where the second hand on a clock seems to be almost a blur as hours go by like minutes!  I never have enough time to get everything done that I had planned, so I start to panic, and, I hate to admit it, I turn MEAN!  I start barking out incoherent commands to anyone nearby, and my thought processes become more and more impaired (and it is not a pretty sight).  Oh, how I hate myself during that stage!  The final stage is OK, but bizarre.  I enter an almost zen-like state, where everything seems great (whether it is or not).  In this state, I perform miracles of improvisation, smile at disaster, and feel fantastic!  This usually lasts right through the event.  If there is a fourth stage, it is exhaustion.  As soon as the event is over, I find a spot, perhaps on the floor or in a chair, where I collapse into a smelly, snoring heap.  Thankfully, I don't go through this very often, and I have gotten better over the years, but, right now, I'm just switching over to the second phase, so I'd better wrap this up before I say something that I will regret later!  I hope to up-date you tomorrow on how things went!  Bye!

March 25 - WOMP Central hosted visitors today as my little nephews stopped in to say "Bahk.  Ereeupah - ta!"  OK, so they are only a few months old, but they still made a pilgrimage to the home of Monkey and his world.  Liam seemed to be too in awe of his famous Uncle John to speak, so he stared blankly at my frighteningly large head instead.  Aidan was a little more sociable as he mustered the courage to engage me in some humorous schtick (ever one to encourage good physical comedy, I stood motionless as he grabbed my glasses, carefully smearing the lenses with a thick layer of "baby juice").  Although I offered each boy an unpaid internship position, they beat a hasty retreat soon after arrival.  Oh, well...I'll get them on the payroll yet!  And I need them, too!  The more I look at the work of getting T.A.O.M. #5 done, the more I realize that I have had a lot of help putting these things together!  I had my Dad do all kinds of stuff, from spell-checking to adding the "BOLD" to appropriate words in the lettering.  My Mom also spell-checked, and I believe that she helped me "stuff" and ship out issue #4 (we inserted a special offer coupon in each one, and I signed them all...in fact, to this day, I have only sold or given away FOUR copies of the fourth issue that were NOT signed!).  My friend, Eric Gillitzer, actually added most of Monkey's gray-tone "fur" pattern for each book (and that's a LOT of work...almost equal to inking in time consumption).  That doesn't even count the work that Eric, along with the Fabulous Mr. Tim Seeley, did in creating the Freshmen back-up story in #4.  Yow!  I sometimes selfishly claim that I create these comics by myself (and believe me, it's still like 99.8 percent), but I have to admit that I could not do it without help! 

March 24 - What up?  Another busy day here at WOMP HQ...and this time, I'm not kidding!  Besides shipping out a lot of comics and stuff (side-note - Thanks to eBay, I actually had a "triple-threat" Monkey day; I sold a set of T.A.O.M. comics, some original art, AND a commemorative "Year of The Monkey" stamp envelope!), I got TWO new caricature jobs!  One will be for the local gamblin' boat's annual employee event.  The other is for our County Fair!  Actually, I'm getting only third party confirmation on that one.  I took my Mom out to eat tonight, and she told me that the Fair planning people contacted her to contact me about it.  I also, GASP, started looking at the stuff for T.A.O.M. #5!  That's what I was doing just before I ran over to the WOMPuter to post this WOMP-Blog entry (WOMPuter?! Have I finally gone nuts with all of the "WOMP" stuff?), so, I suppose that I should get back to it!  See ya!

March 23 - So, Mr. Aaron Uglum, of whom I wrote in yesterday's WOMP-Blog entry, sent a quick note to say "thanks" for the mention.  He also admitted that he had no idea who Don Rosa and Keith Giffen, two artists whose work Aaron's reminds me of, even are.  It occurs to me that I should tell him through today's entry, and, by extension, tell the rest of you as well.  Mr. Rosa was a long-time comics fan, known for his love of "funny animal" comics, especially Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge.  As an amateur cartoonist, he often supplied spot illustrations for comic book convention programs and fan publications (called "fanzines").  Little by little, he became so identified with his love of Disney Duck characters, that, in 1990, he actually became an "official" Donald Duck artist, working directly for the Walt Disney Company!  Today, many consider him the second greatest Duck artist of all times, right after the legendary Carl Barks!  His is a very encouraging story of never giving up on your dreams!  Mr. Giffen has had a different path into comics history.  He, too, was a fan first, mostly of DC Comics characters.  Although he has never really been known as an artist of "beautiful" comics, his strongest talent turned out to be storytelling itself!  He produced a series of popular humor comics featuring Ambush Bug, the only character in The DC Universe who knows he's in a comic book!  He also "saved" The Legion of Super-Heroes and The Justice League.  He is known for irreverentially reverent humor, and a movie-like storytelling style, often punctuated by staccato nine-panel pages (a signature style).  Keep these things in mind as you check out Aaron's The Flying Banner!  I think that you, too, will be reminded of Rosa and Giffen!

March 22 - Hey!  Thanks for checking in on me!  It's been another "exciting" day here at WOMP Central.  Hmm, let's see...where to start.... Well, I put a new light switch in our bathroom.  Oh, and earlier, I bought a new light switch at the hardware store!  OK, OK...once again, I haven't done much of anything yet today.  I have been busy with lots of "around the house" stuff, but the only cartooning related thing I've done so far is gather a set of my The Adventures of Monkey comics together for a gal who bought them from me via eBay.  I plan, however, to get a lot of stuff done tonight, starting right after I finish this WOMP-Blog entry.  The first thing that I'm going to do is add a new link to the Links page.  It's the brainchild of Aaron Uglum, fellow cartoonist and Official Friend of WOMP.  Aaron has a very distinctive style.  It reminds me a bit of early Don Rosa artwork, with a little Keith Giffen thrown in.  He's a pretty remarkable young talent, especially because he is so subversively funny!  He has just sent an e-mail to WOMP HQ to tell us that his new site goes on-line tonight at midnight!  Oooh...cReEpY!  Actually, I don't believe that it is supposed to be creepy, I just added that for a little humor.  VERY little humor.  Aaron's site is www.reinlioncomics.com, so check it out, won't you?

March 21 - Hello there!  Sorry for the period of incommudicado, but I had some family stuff come up suddenly.  I switched around some of my dread "real job" hours and days, thanks to my co-workers, so that I could help my family deal with my Grandma's effects.  It was pretty miserable, but it had to be done, I suppose.  This isn't a particularly fun topic for a WOMP-Blog entry, but I felt that I owed you all an explanation for my absence.  On a different note, I'm getting psyched up for my upcoming lecture/workshop in Peotone, Illinois!  It sounds like I'm going to draw a fairly good sized audience (fingers crossed).  I can barely wait!  IF, by some miracle, you are going to be in the area on the 27th, please stop by the Peotone Library, at 1:30pm, and say "Hi!"  Gotta go for now.  See ya!

March 18 - Hey, gang!  Believe it or not, I'm actually pretty busy tonight with art stuff, so no real WOMP-Blog entry tonight.  If I have the energy, when I wrap stuff up for today, I might post a quick up-date.  Well, back to work!  See ya!

March 17 - I was right!  I haven't worked on the comic since I wrote yesterday's pessimistically optimistic WOMP-Blog entry!  I did draw some stuff for the Peotone Library appearance on the 27th, and some other stuff for eBay, but I avoided working on The Adventures of Monkey #5 like it was dusted with anthrax!  To be fair, I sorta fell asleep early when I took a break at about 1:00am.  Oh, hey...I meant to tell you folks about my new money-making idea!  I composed a small brochure to promote my caricature business, then printed a few off and mailed them out to "Prom Planning Committees" in care of area high schools!  This might not sound like such a "new" idea to you, but I've never sent out "cold" advertisements before!  Every art job that I've gotten, from my first (designing a riverboat captain and his dog for a local bank's give-away coloring book), to my latest (the Oziana 2004 artwork) has been the result of either word of mouth, nepotism, or "cross-pollenation."  By that, I mean that one project leads to another, then to another, and so on.  So you can see why these brochures are such a big deal for me....and I got the job at the neighboring town's prom from one of the first ones that I mailed!  So, it works!  I may even try to put together some sort of flyer for some of the rest of the things I do!  Anyhoo, I'd better try to get something done now, so BYE!

March 16 - Hey there!  I know that I said that I'd jump right on The Adventures of Monkey #5 today, but you didn't really believe me, did you?  Oops!  I should have included some sort of disclaimer that said that I am a big, fat, lazy liar!  Oh, well....my night is still young, and I do plan on getting to it, but, well, you know.  Anyhoo, I still want to talk to you about something...I don't know just what, but something.  Anything.  The longer that I sit here, hunting and pecking away on the keyboard, the more I can avoid working on the comic!  It's not that I hate the comic or anything, it's just that it often nearly paralyzes me with the fear of failure.  I can draw other stuff and have fun doing it, but my comic means so much to me that I live in dread of messing it up.  Once I get going, it's not so bad, but, at the beginning, it can be very daunting!  Well, I suppose that I should actually get to it.  Hopefully, I will have REAL STUFF to tell you about tomorrow.  See ya!

March 15 - Not much to add to the old WOMP-Blog tonight.  This has been another tough day, compounded by the dull "real job."  Actually, everyone there has been really supportive, and I should mention that.  On the "what's coming up next" front, I have agreed to draw caricatures for my local high school "After-Prom" again this year, and I have also signed up for a neighboring town's Prom as well!  Also, I finally heard back from my friend, Jim Main.  He's the guy who hired me to draw the DORKSTERS comic strip.  He is helping a friend of his put together a magazine with a superhero theme.  It will include some of my drawings, of mostly older DC Comics characters, as well as some special pieces that I have yet to be assigned.  That should be pretty cool.  Oh, and I promised to give you updates on the other publications that I have mentioned lately, so... 1) Oziana 2004 - Should be coming out any day now, perhaps even this week!  I have seen a preview of it, and it looks pretty cool, except for one thing - my artwork, which is featured prominently, almost predominantly!  2) Pacesetter - This is the magazine with the George Perez theme, to which I contributed interview questions.  The editor, Tony Lorenz, is sending a complimentary copy to WOMP HQ, after which I will transcribe here those parts with which I helped.  3)  The Adventures of Monkey #5 - Oh, yeah...that.  Well, I have been off-track on that for a bit now, but I plan on digging back into it beginning TUESDAY!  Or Wednesday...or maybe after that sometime...Oh, well.... More info when it happens, I guess.  See ya tomorrow!

March 14 - Hi, again.  Thanks for putting up with my absence for the last few days.  It's been pretty difficult for all of us since my Grandma died on Wednesday.  Her funeral was yesterday, and I want to tell you all about her and how I feel, dear reader, but I never know how much this WOMP-Blog should be about me versus my cartooning.  I don't mean to just blather on about whatever TV show I've watched or kind of pizza toppings I like, but, to be honest, that's sorta what being a cartoonist is all about: EVERYTHING, especially all the little, and big, things that we all share.  I often forget, while drawing alien creatures or superheroes or whatever, that cartooning is an art as well as a craft.  A craft is something that requires a lot of learning, practice, and, eventually, expertise, which produces something of value or interest.  You see craft work every day,  whether it be a well-prepared meal, an awesome looking car, or a catchy advertising jingle.  There is nothing wrong with crafts.  In fact, many forms can be beautiful, even cherished.  Art, on the other hand, is very hard to define, and even harder to attain.  To me, art is something one step past craft.  If craft is the "how," art is the "why."  A guy flipping hamburgers can have a certain flair, an expertise, even an artistic manner, but he flips them for reasons other than creating art.  Generally, he flips them for a paycheck, and he does it in a special way simply because it gives him pleasure or pride to do so.  Art is all about using a craft to express yourself.  This isn't always as easy as, say, being sad about a break-up, so you write a poem about breaking-up.  Sometimes you want to use art to explore an idea or opinion, or learn a truth within yourself that is hidden from other means of contemplation.  Other times, you want to illicit a reaction in your audience...often an unspecified reaction.  So, part of the craft of cartooning is all of that Tips for Cartoonists stuff, but what ever little bit of art I'm able to sneak into my drawing comes from the every day stuff that I go through, and share with you.  Grandma Fry was the perfect example of this art/craft discussion.  No, she wasn't a cartoonist, but she was an artist of sorts.  I say this not just because she was my Grandma, but because she really was an amazing, special person.  Her crafts included traditional stuff like quilting and cooking, and there is no dispute that she was an expert in each field, but her love made everything she did an art.  OK, I know that this sounds like a line from an after-school special, but it's TRUE!  Even until her last day, she was concerned more with her family's welfare than her own.  At her funeral, my family and I struggled not just with our loss, but also with putting into words just exactly why Grandma was so special.  I think it is because she lived her life so lovingly, and so perfectly, that to define it would be like trying to define art itself!

March 10 - Hey there, everybody.  This will be a short entry tonight.  My Grandmother, Leona Fry, died today.  She had been in failing health since a car accident about a year ago, and she was over 90 years old, so it was not a great shock, but we are still shaken.  She was one of the best human beings I've ever known, and I already miss her.

March 9 - Hey!  I'm back to "me" today.  I got just 5 hours of sleep last night, and I feel great.  As you may know, I tried to get nine hours of sleep per day for two days, with disastrous results.  I've gotten a lot of work done today already, and I have plans to get a lot more done before I retire for the night.  I've come to believe that my lack of sleep is the spark, rather than hindrance, to my creative muse.  Perhaps I go into a sort of sleep-deprived hallucinatory state, from which crazy ideas spring to mind (like merging the myths and legends of Atlantis and Bigfoot to create the weird character Sasquates - Oh, by the way, you can click HERE to see Sasquates original art for sale on eBay).  Anyhoo, whatever the cause, I feel very creative, despite that recent TV report to claim the contrary.  Look for some cool up-dates tomorrow!  See ya!

March 8 - OK, so that didn't work!  On the 6th, I wrote in the WOMP-Blog entry that, as an experiment in promoting creativity, I was going to try to get more sleep.  Shortly after I wrote that, I went to bed at about 2:00am (instead of 5:00am), after which I slept a full eight hours.  Since then, I've been completely screwed up!  I've been tired while awake, asleep when I shouldn't be, listless when working, anxious when resting, and unable to complete even the smallest creative (or any other) task (ie -  writing yesterday's WOMP-Blog entry).  I don't know what happened!  According to the news report, a person needs NINE hours of sleep per night to be healthy and creative.  Not that a two-day, uncontrolled, completely anecdotal and unprofessional experiment is any kind of final authority on the subject, but I believe that the whole "nine hours of sleep" thing is a Communist plot!  Those nasty Commies are trying to undermine our collective creative forces while simultaneously ensuring that we are incapacitated for more than one-third of our lives (wait a minute - are there any "Commies" anymore?  Oh, wait - CHINA and North Korea, duh!  So, yah, those rotten Commies!).  I will offer as further substantiation of the "bunk" of the "Nine Hour" theory the fact that, until his death, the all-time grand master of all things creative, Leonardo da Vinci, slept only 80 minutes per day, in four 20 minute "power nap" segments, none-the-less!  Tonight, I turn back over that old leaf.  I plan on getting as little sleep as possible!  See ya tomorrow!

March 6 - How much sleep does a person really need?  I mean, during my "wild" college days, I was thrilled if I got four hours of sleep a night.  I usually went to bed when I got done with classes, at about 5:00pm, taking a short, one-hour nap.  I then worked on assignments and other projects until the wee hours of the morning, after which I would try to squeeze in as much sleep as was possible before my ride left for school a little before 7:30am the next day.  I kept this schedule for months, until the first break of the year.  That first day of several days off, I got home at 5:30pm, and went directly to sleep.  I woke up three hours later at 8:30pm, just long enough to change out of my clothes, go to the bathroom, and crawl back into bed.  The next time I woke up, the clock said "5."  No, it wasn't 5:00am, it was 5:00PM!  I had slept nearly 24 hours!  To be honest, I was still a little sleepy!  Fast-forward about twenty years (ACK!  It's been almost twenty years!).  I still work until the early hours of morning (a habit very prevalent among cartoonists and comic book artists), but four hours sleep just doesn't cut it anymore.  I need at least five hours or I'm tired all day.  That all having been said, I just saw a feature on the TV news that said that experts suggest that everyone get at least NINE HOURS of sleep a day!  That's crazy!  On top of that, they said that neglecting sleep was dangerous to a person's health, can lead to a generally depressed mood, and cause a lack of creativity!  YIKES!  Now what do I do?  Maybe I
should sleep nine hours a day.  I mean, I feel adequately healthy, up-beat, and creative now...can you imagine how
AWESOME I would be if I didn't have my lack of sleep standing in my way?  Hee hee!  Anyhoo, as an experiment, I am going to try to get more sleep this week than usual, just to see whether I notice any positive changes.  See ya later!

March 5 - Another depressing "real job" day.  I am ashamed to admit that I am just too darn tired to write anything of much interest here in the ol' WOMP-Blog.  I will tell you, however, that I updated the Recent Artwork page to include some new stuff that I've been talking about, including some members of the Teen Titans, and a sneak peak at a little of the artwork I did for the Oziana publication!  You might want to check it out by clicking HERE.  See ya tomorrow!  Bye!

March 4 - Hi, everyone.  Believe it or not, I'm kind of busy tonight.  I'm trying to get some work done on TA.O.M. #5.  I also have finally listed a few drawings and such on eBay, and that, too, has taken up a lot of my time tonight already.  It's still early in my working day (it's a little after 10pm and I plan to "close up shop" around 4am tomorrow morning), so I think that I'll just make this a short WOMP-Blog entry (for a change).  I just want to say two things; 1) if you haven't, please read yesterday's (the 3rd) entry.  It is long enough to count as today's entry as well.  2) also please take a second to check out my new Tips for Cartoonists page.  I will update it weekly with preachy little suggestions for any one of three levels of non-pro cartoonist wannabes (Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced).  Toward this goal, please e-mail if you have any questions that you would like me to address.  That's it for now, I guess.  See ya!

March 3 - So, I was asked to write out a bill for my work on the "Grand Excursion" medallion art.  At first, I had thought that I was just doing it for free, like a service that I was donating to my hometown.  Then Dave, the guy who hired me right out of the all-you-can-eat Mexican Buffet line, said "No, no...I want you to bill us.  Your time is valuable and this is your livelihood, so send us a bill" (oh, and, on a related side-note, he also showed me his backyard workshop where he was carving huge wooden blocks into wonderful Native American faces!  That was a neat surprise!).  So, anyway, I decided that he was right.  I should charge.  In fact, the medallion is being produced by The Rotary Club, not the city itself.  Thus began yet another exciting installment of the popular TV series, Everybody Loves Money!  The show stars John Mundt as the small-time cartoonist who always starts with the best intentions, but pride and greed cause him to pratfall through one crazy misadventure after another, learning valuable life lessons along the way.  As this episode continued, John is seen sitting alone in his "office," contemplating how much to charge.  "How will I ever figure this out?  Basically, what I did didn't really take all that long."  Suddenly, a tiny little red devil appears on his shoulder, saying "Didn't take long?!  How about the 30 years of your life spent learning how to draw?"  "Well, I guess that's a good point.."  "Not so fast!" says another voice.  Suddenly, another tiny being appears on John's other shoulder, this one a green devil.  "Uh, aren't you supposed to be an angel?"  "An angel?  Nah, that kind of fantasy stuff only happens in the movies.  I'm the guy who reminds you of all the cool stuff you saw on Amazon.com last night.  Wow!  Now they're selling rare Japanese action figures!"  "Oh...OK...that stuff was pretty neat, but I can't afford any of it.  I only look at it to get ideas for how to market Monkey and my other characters.  Maybe I'll make some action figures or statuettes someday..."  "You bet you will!  Hey, maybe you can use the contacts made from drawing the medallion art (which was awesome, I might add), to have collectible bronze casts made of your characters!"  "That would be cool.  Maybe I should only submit a token bill, like five or ten bucks, so that I can get in good with people who can help me..."  "Kid, the only way they can help you is with their cash.  It's all about the moola, baby.  And these guys got it!  Do you have any idea just what the Rotary Club is?"  "Um, not really."   "Well, neither do I, but I know that it has something to do with being a millionaire, or EVERYONE would be in the Rotary Club!  Why not get some of that pie?  You did something that none of them could do."  "And you did it over-night without any advance warning!  You were just sitting there, eating your chicken fajita, and, less than 24 hours later, you delivered pure gold!"  "Yah!  I don't think anybody else could have done that, and that is a talent deserving a reward!  A BIG reward!  What do you guys think?  Fifty bucks?  A hundred?  More?"  Just then, another voice came from off-stage "Wait!  Wait!  Don't write that bill yet!  Wait for me!"  From the doorway runs a little angel, still struggling with the remnants of long strips of duct tape.  "Sorry I'm late, but SOMEBODY taped me to my little bed when I was sleeping...not that I'm accusing anyone."  "I suppose you're here to talk me out of charging the Rotary Club for the artwork, right?"  "Me?  Oh, not at all.  I like money as much as the next little manifestation of inner struggle.  Dave was right when he said that you deserve to be paid.  I'm just here to remind you that you were fully prepared to give the artwork to him, but he wanted to pay you because he appreciates you.  Not because you're some kind of genius ('cause you're not), and not because he can afford to pay you some crazy amount, but because he is really a fellow artist, and he wants you to know that he understands what it's like to work hard on your art.  That's all."  "Thanks, little angel-guy!  How does $7.00 per hour, times the 2 and a half hours I actually spent on the drawings sound?"  With the approving nods of all four tiny advisors (did I mention that a confused yellow devil wandered onto John's shoulder at the last minute?), John proceeded in drafting a bill for $17.50 as the credits began to roll...

March 2 - Hey there. What did I do today?  Well, I haven't done much...yet.  I had to go to work at the deflating "real job" today, so that took up the bulk of my waking hours so far.  I did send out some eBay stuff this morning, including two Year of the MONKEY Commemorative Stamped Envelopes, and a set of T.A.O.M. comics with some of the art I've been working on lately.  I feel like I've been on a hot streak of some sort recently.  I've been making about one or two completed drawings everyday.  I see it as getting warmed up for drawing issue #5.  If all goes well tonight, I hope to start listing them on eBay (click HERE for a link).  Well, I suppose that I should actually try to get work done now, so I'll wrap up this boring WOMP-Blog entry by reminding you to check out our new Tips for Cartoonists page tomorrow!

March 1-2 - Hooray!  It's March!  A time for new beginnings.  A time of renewed hope.  A time to officially begin to panic a little about getting the next issue of your comic done in time for the big convention in Chicago in August!  OK, maybe that last part applies mostly to me, but it is true none-the-less.  The convention, WizardWorld Chicago, begins on the 13th of August.  I want to have the comics in my possession no less than a week before the show, hopefully 2 weeks, so that means the end of July.  I don't have to worry about shipping because I pick the comics up in person, but it still takes about two to three weeks to print the books, so that means the originals should be at the printer in the first week of July, meaning I should send them out no later than the 1st of July because of the July 4th holiday.  That means that they have to be completed, proofed, and packaged by the last week of June.  It takes me about 40 to 45 days to complete the inking and lettering (starting, then, on about May 15th), and about the same amount of time to complete the front cover art (needed early for Previews and such) and draw the pencil art.  Let's see...May 15th minus 15 days would be April 30th, April 30th minus 30 more days would be March 31st.  It will probably take me about 30 days of off-and-on work the story into it's final "mini-roughs" scripted layout form, so that means that, yep, March 1st is...was my last free day!  Ack!  It's all going so fast.  Plus, I still don't know where or how I will advertise the comic, and I definitely have no idea where the funds to cover publishing are going to come from.  Oy! I've suddenly remembered why I haven't done this for a few years!  Mind you, I'm not asking for your pity, or even your sympathy.  I chose this path.  All I ask of you is your money...lots and LOTS of your money.  I don't care how much, just cram it into an envelope, send it to me here at WOMP Central, and sit back and feel the joy that can only come from giving so unselfishly.  For those who send gifts of hundreds of dollars, I may even remember to send a nice "thanks" note in the mail someday.  So, dig deep, you sophisticated patron of the arts, you benevolent benefactor from beyond, you wonderful, beautiful person!  No gift is too large, no gift is too small (except anything under a hundred bucks).  Seriously, though, you know I'm kidding, right?  Please don't send donations to me (I never know whether or not people reading this WOMP-Blog see that my tongue is in my cheek).  I'll be fine, although the basic cost of publishing a comic, at the level I'm at, is high (around $3,000.00, including some advertising and shipping costs).  I am pretty lucky, though.  Some small press comics cost a lot more money because of the many different contributors.  I do all of the artwork, etc., (with a little bit of help from my friends), and, obviously, I don't pay myself anything.  No, I am not rewarded with money, but with the joy of years of debt, boxes of aging comics, and an ever-dimmer future!  Oh, well... I'm already half way there anyway!  See ya!