The signs have finally gone up, and the construction barrels have been placed. The very real Roosevelt Bridge, that spans between DC and Arlington across the Potomac, is where our heroes, Foggy and Smithson live. It is also a bridge that I drive every day. The issue of maintaining infrastructure in the US is a serious one (recent bridge collapses in Baltimore and Pittsburgh are top of mind) and I, in fact, chose the Roosevelt bridge partly because it was crumbling…you know, for comedic value. Well, efforts in the Biden administration (remember “build back better”?) have now started to move forward. So, its a mixed blessing for GONOGO. On the one hand a dilapidated bridge adds to the world-building of the GONOGO multiverse, on the other hand, not having the bridge collapse is probably for the best in the real world. I suppose this is a problem that only a few other cartoonists have, that is, having the strip set in the real world. Bloom County was fictional, The Otterloops lived “just outside the beltway” and the Simpsons live in Springfield…I suppose that one of the inspirations for this comic, POGO, was set in the Okefenokee swamp, which is a real place….but it is also not in very much danger of having much infrastructure to speak of, let alone to maintain…
GONOGO goes to SPX
This past weekend I went to SPX (the Small Press Expo, just outside Washington DC). It was my first time attending, and I was simply going to get the vibes and to see if there might be a future for GONOGO in print form (and leveling up in general). Everybody was extremely lovely (except for one person, who I still bought a book from because I support their cause…but they were a bit dismissive and frankly, rude) I saw the creator of “My Dad is Dracula”, Jason Poland, who I have seen on the internet many times. I bought his self published book and we chatted a bit about the webcomic thing. What struck me was that he did not have a publisher, in fact many (if not most) of the artists in the hall did not have a publisher. I recognize that the promise of the democratizing influence of the internet (or perhaps “leveling”) means that we are all free to make and post what we want, but we are all out there on our own.
Anyway, I was able to make connections with some really interesting artists like, Maritsa Patrinos, Andrew Greenstone, Claire Connelly, John Yuskaitis Jr, Pranas T. Naujokaitis, Peter Kuper (who draws the current Spy Vs Spy) and Dale Rawlings. Specifically Dale, who I met in person for the first time, is a DCMV local and part of the DC Conspiracy, and he draws “GOP Nuts”. I was hooked into DC Conspiracy a number of years ago, and slipped off their radar, but I hope to be back and submit GONOGO to their free newsprint comics digest “Magic Bullet” for their next issue.
All in all, SPX was a great experience and it showed me that although we may be siloed away on the internet, there is a community out there in the real world selling their comics, one self published book at a time.
The litter box may have some externalities…
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….
Gilded Age Rocketry
I have always had a complicated relationship with spaceflight. I used to host a very successful, (if I do say so myself) Yuri’s Night space party, which celebrates the first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961 by cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. But nowadays celebrating billionaires playing astronaut feels a bit ooky. (and a Russian themed party also seems a bit ooky too) Part of the joke of this cartoon was to point out the desire to get away from all of BS and start fresh, which is a fantasy for all us non-billionaires. But as it turns out, this fantasy might be the thing we have in common with the Elon Musks of the world. He has said he wants to die on Mars, I wonder if he might be trying to outrun his creditors too…
Aggressively Unfunny
The image is my sketchbook sketch of Episode 7 which shows the date it was made, 1/31/24, about 10 months in advance. In fact, they are all written that far in advance so that I can keep up with the pace of physically painting the watercolors that go into each comic. So, whenever there is political commentary in the comic I have to be sure its evergreen. Well, this particular issue (Pizzagate) is an evergreen issue for me, and boy howdy does it bring out the commentors! Over 230 people liked it on Facebook (while one person called me “unhinged” and another “aggressively unfunny”) but the flame war now holds the GONOGO record for most comments on a single post. So, lets say, I struck a nerve. Nevermind that the comments seemed to center around someone trying to blame the Democrats for Pizzagate, at least people are talking about GONOGO, and that’s a win.
This is the last blog entry (and comic) before the election, and I am a bit wistful that I don’t have a comic that is election centered, but I simply couldn’t predict what this election was going to look like back in January of 2024. So, let me just say what everyone else says, “go out and vote”. You know who to vote for. I am a bit conflicted, because one candidate is way better for GONOGO that the other, but I think I can find aggressively unfunny things to say no matter who wins…
Advertising Troubles
Well, loyal GONOGO fans, Facebook and I are fighting again. It seems that I keep getting conflicting advice from Facebook about the “ads” I pay them for. That is, Facebook will not show content to my readers unless I kick them some dough. But, when I do give them money, they cant seem to tell me who they showed the comic to AND they billed me twice in the same month, which triggered a fraud alert at my bank, which shut down my business account card. Anyway, The serious question I am posing to you all today is, what is the alternative to Facebook? Webtoon and Tapas dont work for me because I can never get “word of mouth”, because like Facebook they dont show the work to anyone unless you pay. I know some people have flirted with Cara, but I want more than just other artists to see the work…What has worked for you?
Teddy’s Paradox
The whole point of this months GONOGO (with Teddy Roosevelt professing to love animals in order to shoot the bejesus out of them) is the contradiction (or paradox?) that someone would preserve wildlife in order to shoot it. I hope that it is not lost on my readers that this was the Republican stance over a hundred years ago. In a way, Teddy’s paradoxical view is light years away from where the current parties stand on these issues. It will be interesting to know how the Republican Party will react to the attempted assassination of Trump, however I doubt the answer for them will ever be “fewer guns”. It will not be lost on my readers that Teddy Roosevelt also survived an assassination attempt (and kept his speech rolling for a 50 minutes after being shot in the chest) which proves that GONOGO is once again “predicting the future”… It is my sincere hope that we, as Americans, can steer our parties away from the extremes and towards the center, even if it’s a paradox like Teddy’s.
Groundhog Day Watercolor
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?
Welcome to Season 2!
This is the promised blog post after the first episode of season 2. I am very hopeful that the new monthly comic format will be a realistic one for me. Thing is, I simply cant draw (and write and paint) them fast enough to keep up with you guys. The more leisurely pace has also given me the time to make the comics in a more considered way. That is not to say that they will be any funnier, just slightly more well drawn… 🙂
Bazooka Remex P.I. is the character I have always considered my narrator for the series. For some reason it makes me giggle when I read him in the voice of Humphrey Bogart. It has a certain gravatas that the rest of the comic lacks…Now for a little contest: The first person to respond with the correct answer (without Google!) of the significance of “#221b” gets…well…bragging rights!
Tune in the first Thursday of every month, for more of the exciting adventures of GONOGO!
Season 2 Announcement!
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