some may think I'm just a fool tilting at windmills, but maybe I'm not
i got a fourth page written in record time!
in my defense, the way i do comics does take time.
especially when i am procrastinating…erm…percolating a story in my head.
and in case you are having trouble picturing the notta in me…this is 30 years ago at age 22:
so i totally wrote a big long thing in my journal about my ending of moses jones: apocalyptic mama…but i forgot to bring my journal to the library (i do not have internet at home.)
i will, as most things in life, wing it….
i started moses jones when i was living in a 30 person cooperative house with my ex-husband & our three children (fourth on the way.) my life was in turmoil as i was about one bad behavior from being kicked out of the co-op. said bad behaviors were in reaction to my ex-husband having relations with other women in our house all while we had an on-again/off-again relationship.
i was losing my mind.
i was also pursing an art degree at uw madison where i was lucky enough to have an instructor who encouraged me to pursue my own style of art & not to worry if it was popular or not.
if you have read my book confusion perfume & other neurotic comics, you know that moses started out as a transformation of my confusion perfume heroine, berny. however, moses quickly became her own woman. a zombie fighting mama. i did not intend for her to be so bitter & humorless, but much like the portrait of dorian gray, she kinda took that on for me i suppose.
as i worked on my final project for my art class, the beginnings of moses jones, my ex-husband noticed that he was missing from the story. we must have been in an on-again stage because i did try to write him in once i started doing pages for the comic. however, like moses, he did not turn out the way i thought he would…& dusty knickers was born. the absent father.
which pissed off my ex-husband. he will now deny that character is based on him.
i have worked on this comic on and off for nine years. it has grown up with the youngest of my children. i did not get the story out the way i planned. the story took its own path. there is a lot i would do different. there is a lot of unfinished i think i should finish…
yet somehow, the story is done.
i need to let it go.
i cried after i finished this page.
moses jones has been a sort of friend for these past nine years. someone i could turn to who i knew would not hesitate to put dusty knickers in the ground.
but i need to move forward now. past this story and on to a new one.
my zen is out of whack & my mojo is worse…. page two, over a month later.
i am hoping to get back into sorts soon & be producing more comics.
fingers crossed.
so i decided to use my ink pen instead of my bamboo pen after i royally fucked up the other page when i went to finish it (posted yesterday pre fuck up)
i love the way this turned out. although future pages might be less laugh-in with less color. i feel the color might be distracting.
i love doing comics.
i know my art journal pages seem to appeal to more people–which is totally awesome…but i’m hoping you can find something to love about my comics as well.
this one is a memoir of sorts.
i was hiking today & imagined its press release a little something like this: THE ANDROGYNOUS ADVENTURES OF NOTTA NOT-A-BOY IN A GENDER-BENDING TELL ALL MEMOIR!
right?
do you feel it?
i have written out a couple of pages of text…which would amount to about 30 more pages of comic…so with a little focus i will be bringing more pages of notta not-a-boy your way.
meanwhile, i will try to not lay awake at night worrying i have offended someone.
this is my story; you don’t have to read it…but i do have to write it.
i have started writing down deep thoughts about my lifelong flirtation with androgyny…which then became an examination of my masculine & my feminine.
then i was hiking the other day, letting my mind run free, and decided it might make a good comic.
of course i have imposter’s syndrome about my history of gender non-conformation…especially since becoming a mother & growing boobs.
but!
i still think my story might be one worth telling.
so here is the beginnings of (working title) notta not-a-boy
making new comics brings to light my neglecting of my baby moses jones…so i did dig her out and am looking at where that story left off.
meanwhile, i have a list as long as my arm of other comics i want to create. i better get my ass in gear. stop moping in my daily journals & start some storytelling!
xo
another page of moses jones: apocalyptic mama.
i have been working on this comic on & off since 2013 when i was in madison, wisconsin, attending university & living in a housing co-op.
my relationship with my ex. my children. and my experiences in a housing co-op have all heavily influenced this comic.
as well as my early exposure to apocalyptic dystopian themes in movies.
one day i hope to publish a collection of these.
one day.
here is the on-going saga of a humorless zombie-fighting mama in some dystopian future.
this is the first page of a new episode of moses jones. for previous pages, check out my moses jones page.
i’m not sure what happens next, but i guess i will find out.
in accepting that i am awesome, i have to highly recommend my awesome, hand drawn, experimental comic for you to read.
Quixotic Mama 