Gonogo.

The litter box may have some externalities…

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Sketch for GONOGO episode 11 Season 2
Sketch for Season II Episode 11

I read a headline the other day saying that Microsoft had created a new state of matter to power quantum computers, the “topological qubit”. It is actually really big news and we should all be preparing for what this level of computing means for, well, humanity…But I draw funny cartoons, so I cant go on and on wide-eyed at pushing the limits of quantum mechanics to create computers so powerful that they could realistically create a simulation so powerful that an observer inside that simulation would have no way of distinguishing “reality” from their “reality”….instead, Foggy produces money out of thin air, with the side effect being kittens (spay and neuter your pets, please BTW). Which in a way, is my feeble attempt at pointing out that for all of these companies that are pushing the limits of the quantum realm the bottom line is ultimately the profit motive, and that whenever “externalities” (i.e. side effects, unintended consequences, pollution, etc.) get in the way of making profit, they are simply swept under the rug, or thrown over their shoulder like an unwanted kitten….

A Bridge to History

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Season II Episode 3 Pencil Sketch

I have often said that the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge is a character in GONOGO. But this month’s episode takes it a step farther by unlocking the ghost of the former President himself. I am cautious about introducing new characters too often, because it can feel like there are too many people to keep track of, but I feel that this one is worth it. The comic would suffer if Foggy and Smithson only talked to each other. Having new characters is a way for them to communicate with the outside world and react to the profound weirdness that the DC area provides. In a way Teddy is personifying a feeling that any DMV resident carries with them subconsciously all the time; the weight of history in this place. All of the monuments, the civil war, the revolutionary war, civil rights, the world wars, Vietnam, 9/11 (the rest of America may forget that the Pentagon was hit that day, but folks around here find it hard to forget) even Jan 6 is part of the history around here. So, that is part of why Teddy has popped up in GONOGO, he’s a refection of the ever-present feeling of history that we have around here, and as a bonus I get the opportunity to make another republican look ridiculous (although they don’t seem to need my help doing that lately…)

Groundhog Day Watercolor

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Scanned watercolor used in panels 3 and 5

I have said many times before that I am intentionally being a luddite when making a webcomic. That is, while I do assemble the comic in Photoshop, each panel is a painstakingly hand-crafted watercolor painting. (I buck convention with webcomics in lots of other ways, specifically the one page format, which not the “vertical infinite scroll” format which is very popular with people consuming comics on their phones) I did make a small, but significant, concession to my luddite process in Episode 2 of Season II. I made a watercolor of the background which I then inserted as the same background in 6 of the 8 panels on the page. I have heard that when contemporary webcomics do this with background characters (sometimes main characters) the term is “Sprites”. I can see the appeal of not having to draw characters over and over again (and to be fair, for the gag in this comic I have used the same watercolor of the characters in panels 3 and 5) but I think that the “wonkyness” of repainting each character is part of the, ahem, artistic point of this comic. I have always tried to play up the hand-made nature of GONOGO, but I am not so dogmatic about it that I don’t allow myself to cheat on my ideals from time to time…so there, you caught me. Happy now?

“Sprite” Elevator Background in panels 2-7

Season 2 Announcement!

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Today marks the one year anniversary of the end of Season 1 of GONOGO and we want to make an announcement. We have sharpened our pencils, raided the piggy bank and knocked the cat off the keyboard so that we can announce that GONOGO was greenlit for a second season! There will be a few changes to the format this time around. GONOGO will be posting/broadcasting/publishing (whatever you call it for a webcomic) monthly. So, mark your calendars for April 4, 2024 for the first Episode of Season Two. After that expect a new comic on the first Thursday of every month! I’ll be throwing out a blog post somewhere in the middle of each month discussing the previous episode and dispensing insider information for the whole season.

If you are still reading this you are a either a GONOGO superfan or you create comics yourself. I just wanted to address the change in format for you folks. Making a comic is hard work, especially when you think its funny to be contrarian and do full color watercolors for every panel. It is also hard to get noticed on platforms like Tapas or Webtoon because of a million factors. In short, the pace of 26 episodes a year was simply too much for virtually no reward (except for the love of you loyal fans, which is priceless!) I do still have the Season 1 book for sale, but really at this point, encouragement and likes are all that I need….who am I kidding?! SEND MONEY!

Again, thank you for reading this little webcomic about a monkey and a troll living under the Roosevelt Bridge, I couldn’t have done it without you!

Jared

MK ULTRA EXTRAVAGANZA

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Eagle eyed readers of GONOGO will be able to spot many references to earlier plot points featured this season in this weeks comic. Diving into the psychedelic horror that would exist in the minds of Foggy and Smithson, I wanted to highlight the paranoid and conspiracy theory driven world we are living in at the moment. I also added in a healthy dose of sixties era psychedelia art references because, lets face it, a little goes a long way, and the Federal Government is going to save money by using up the old stockpile. These last three episodes have been the most popular yet, which makes me wonder what that says about you, dear reader…
We are heading into the home stretch for season one. This was episode 22, and we are ending on episode 26. I am interested in collecting data from you folks about the future of this strip, but I will ask you all more about that in the coming weeks. Thanks again for reading, and as every Youtuber says, “Like and Subscribe!”

Something in the Water

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Last weeks comic highlights an aspect of DC life that is intimately known by the locals, DC water sucks. Don’t get me wrong, its a lot better than it used to be, but there is always something wrong with it. I used to live in Petworth (part of Northwest DC, East of Rock Creek) in a rowhouse built in 1912. We had a lead line that came into the house from the street, and we routinely had 280 parts per billion of lead in our water (the “safe” limit is around 20). Transgendered fish are common in the Potomac due to birth control pills. Snakeheads have taken over. A well meaning group of rowers took disadvantaged youth out on the Anacostia and, on their FIRST outing, bumped into a floating corpse. But what this weeks comic is alluding to is not these mundane aspects of urban water life, but a particularly DC issue, the secret government agencies that are doing lord-knows-what in our name, and are dumping the refuse of their experiments into the waterways willy-nilly. Have you noticed that nobody talks about fluoridation in the water anymore? Exactly…

Expired Easter Eggs

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Happy belated Easter, loyal GONOGO fans! Last weeks episode was yet another attempt to capitalize on a holiday in the publication schedule. Because of the time it takes to make this comic, it is hard to be topical. Holidays are known well enough in advance that the least I can do is try to tip my hat towards something I KNOW will be happening regardless of current developments. It doesn’t hurt that the former president (the subject of last weeks comic) is also pretty consistent…

Relaunch of the bi-weekly blog

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GONOGO has returned for the rest of the season, and with new episodes the bi-weekly blog about last weeks episode returns also.

I hope, perhaps in vain, that I could inject a little bit of character development into this “Sunday funnies” style strip. So, this week’s episode turns on the idea that there are many types of Troll, and that Foggy may have a spotty past when it comes to his troll identity. We all live in the age of the internet troll, and GONOGO has not been immune to some of the slings and arrows from the comments section (although they almost always centered around the confederate statue, Col. Magnolia Runsandhyde…I wonder if there is some connection there…) But, as they say, at least they are talking about you…

‘Tis the Season, of Reruns

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We here at GONOGO have decided to take a brief hiatus so that we may properly enjoy the Holiday season. We’re taking this opportunity to let people catch up on the first 13 episodes.

While you can always check previous episodes out on the gonogocomic.com archive, the “reruns” will be posted on Facebook every Thursday through March.

Happy Holidays!