Harumph. This is frustrating the pants off of me. And not in a sexy way. I’m trying to complete at least one more article for Chrissy’s MusesBitch contest, but the pressure to achieve has me hitting the wall. Almost literally.
My initial idea was to contribute a brief paper on easy-access comics; in particular the non-threatening kind that have no superheroes, are funny, and are free because they’re on the Internet. But, being the huge English nerd that I am, I couldn’t stop there. Oh no. I had to go and get all thematic and investigative and thesis-y. Damn brain, always interfering with my ability to achieve.
So now I want to write about the underground trend of people making comics without having any drawing ability whatsoever. It’s a trend that has started to go seriously mainstream, given David Rees’ recent conquest of Rolling Stone magazine with ‘Get Your War On’. The idea is so crystal clear in my noggin, I don’t know what the heck is blocking it from just popping out full-grown.
I’ve even come up with a title, which is usually the hardest part. It will be called, “So Flat, They Should Come With a Spatula: irony and deadpan in the second dimension”. I also have a long list of references, as a sort of supplementary reading list slash bibliography for the article. Check it out:
Comics
Max Cannon’s ‘Red Meat’; David Rees’ ‘Get Your War On’ and ‘My New Filing Technique Is Unstoppable’; M@B’s ‘Nachos for Sven’; M. Zole’s ‘Death to the Extremist’; Chad Walker’s ‘Eggpants’; and Mr. Mockery’s ‘The Guy Who Can’t Draw Comics’ and ‘Pixel Pals’ [derived from R. Stevens’ ‘Diesel Sweeties’].
Animation
Adult Swim’s ‘Space Ghost Coast to Coast’ and ‘Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law’
Shouldn’t I get part marks just for making the effort to do research for a purely whimsical and niche-market essay that will only be read by maybe eight people, if I’m lucky? Damn. Wait a minute. I’ve spent *weeks*, nay *months* writing papers that were only ever read by one lone, disinterested Professor. Maybe I should really start putting my nose to the grindstone on this one.
Encouragement, motivation and suggestions are warmly welcomed.