New Stuff Abounds!

Hey friends.

No deep thoughts today. Just got THE EROTIC ZONE comics back from Greko Printing and once again they have done a bang up job!!

No greater feeling than seeing the final product of your months and maybe years of hard work!

Im busy doing sketches and finishing up the commissions for all the orders. Some books have already gone out and I am shipping more this week. Keep your eyes peeled for them!

Life at the homestead is kind of quiet now that Thanksgiving is over and our Xmas shopping is done. We got the tree up and the cats are relaxing as usual:

Such a tough life....

Behold its majesty!!

In a more personal note, I had to say goodbye to an old friend this past week. That being the Bat Blazer:

Some of you might recall THIS OLD BLOG POST from two years ago where I drove to Illinois and got this vehicle. I got it with 104,000 miles on it and it got up to 139,000 miles. I replaced the starter last year and this year, it suddenly started acting up. Bubbling behind the dashboard (coolant issue) and serious revving and slowing (transmission). It was acting up big time. I did not dare drive it too far when I could avoid it. But driving all the way to work or out to get my kids is a 22 to 25 minute drive there and 22 to 25 minutes back. It certainly wore it down. And this last Friday when my GF attempted to head to work in it, it went south on her and pretty much gave up. And when she got it back to our parking lot, the back passenger tire popped and now its flat. She basically limped home one last time before passing out on us. My brother is going to claim the car now and use it for parts for his own Blazer.

The 1996 Chevy Bat Blazer and I have been through a lot. Two trips to Illinois, some to Detroit, all over Lansing many times, to Owosso, to Cincinnati twice, to Indianapolis Horrorhound, to a drive in outside of Indianapolis and more. Ive slept inside the car many times on trips and we bonded closely, as I do with all my cars. But this guy was special. He was older, wore out and not super pretty at times to deal with. It had all sorts of tiny problems like no cruise control, At the end the reverse did not work, radio didn't work until I replaced it, steering column was tilted, windows sometimes would not roll up, no AC in the summer, rips in the seats... but it got me where I needed to go and through some major transitions my like has taken me the last couple years, it got me through. I am honestly sad to see it go.

Luckily before Friday, I got this:

I could feel my Blazer going. I was nervous as hell about it breaking down and being stranded somewhere. I would talk myself out of doing even simple errands around town because I felt so limited and scared about the car breaking down. So I decided I needed to embrace a change and go for the best my money could take me to. Luckily my credit score has been climbing good enough that I got a car loan at a local dealer and got a new Chevy Equinox. Its a silver/gold type of color. Ive named it the PONY. (Stay gold, pony boy) Its got all the bells and whistles. Things I have taken for granted like AC, working seats, satellite radio and tons of room. Its masterfully safe and even gives me a camera to back up when I reverse. It will take us where we need to go safely and securely. We are already planning our vacation for next year with it. And I got a couple of my own I want to do. I now feel safe enough to attempt it.

I also feel strong enough to say that my hard work over the years has lead me to this point. I coulda got something cheaper, older and simpler. But this time, I wanted to go all out and get something really nice. I never get anything flashy for myself. Im pretty simple by nature. I am always talking myself out of the finer things. On this, I decided to embrace the WHY NOT and just go for it. Im happy to have done so. It feels good to step back and say YEAH, YOU EARNED THIS... and mean it. Metaphorically and financially.

But my plan is to pay this sucker off quick and really fast track my credit back to where it should be at my age. It will certainly give me a leg up with what I want to do in the future. I'm excited and now I'm literally enjoying the ride. Feels good to allow myself to enjoy something again. Ive spent way too much time feeling unworthy and beating myself up for stupid things. This time, I say FUCK IT. Enjoy it.

And I am.

Okay, lastly... I got some new pages from Andy my colorist for STARSLAM 3. I am now going to share some of these spoiler free SFW images. We are back to work on it! Enjoy:

Not much else is new with me beyond that. I bought my friends old acoustic guitar. I gotta clean and restring it but after STARSLAM 3 is done, I plan to maybe break it out and do some song writing again. I would like to anyway. I'm just chasing whimsies here, folks. Better than being depressed the fuck out all the time!!

Okay, back to work with me. I have a ton of things to do and get out the door. Thanks for reading!!

~~T

Bachelor Weekend

Hey friends.

Kitty-D has been out of town since early Friday morning and so I have been solo. I've managed to keep the house clean (I even did some sorting!), I dealt with some "Thinky Pain" alone and made it to work on time. Plus spent time with the kids! On Saturday I spent some time with myself by taking a road trip to Kalamazoo. I found a few gems and the trip was nice... except for the bad drivers and construction. I had forgotten how much I dislike driving on I-94 here in Michigan. Its a road that connects Detroit with Chicago. That road is an asshole driver magnet. I can't tell you how many times I've almost died on that road. Saturday was no exception. But I'm here and I'm okay.

However, my beloved Batblazer suffered an injury:

No, I-94 didn't do this. Kitty D backed up into a cement pole. She's okay and no one was hurt, but my baby got a bit of a black eye. We got tape over it now and a new light on its way. The rest is just cosmetic. No big deal, honestly. She's survived way worse than this. And plus it gives me something I can tease D about! She feels horrible about it, but honestly its really okay. I'm just glad no one was hurt. Now, if she did this to my Corvette... different story! Heh...

I had planned to get a bunch of stuff done this week but yeah... that didn't happen. I had a big round of thinky pain and some anger to work through. I was kinda moody, honestly. And I know it will get a bit worse. I gotta adjust my sleep starting tonight to do a week of overnights at the day job. And then next weekend, I got the kids for two overnights. No rest for the wicked. Hopefully I can keep my sanity somewhat. 

Even the girls are concerned for me!!

No worries folks. I will get back on the production train soon. I am in the home stretch with so much that I almost HAVE to at this point. Just gotta break free and shake off the shit and get going. This whole week has been recuperation. Just getting my brain back into gear. Dusting the shelves, as it were... literally and mentally. Summer cleaning? Maybe. That is what D is doing up north while camping. Spending time on the water and recharging while hanging out with her closest friend. I needed to do that a few times already this year. Now I'm staring at a few months of nose to the wall, hardcore grinding so I can set everything up I need to set up. When I emerge, I hope to have the knowledge which will lead to more money and overtime at the day job. (Which helps a few financial goals I got.) I hope to get my health somewhat under control. (So far its been a runaway train!) I hope to get my projects rolling and ready to release. (Always on my mind.)

So no, I didn't do much with my bachelor weekend other than cry into a pillow for a bit, work at the day job, took a stressful (but somewhat rewarding) trip, nap, get drunk and do a long rambling podcast and then spend time with my boys. Some bachelor weekend, eh? No strip clubs for me. No hookers and blow for this guy. Just business as usual.

Now if I can get my brain to shut up, I can take a nap and regulate my sleep to prepare for a week of night shifts. Pray for me, won't you? So much to conquer, so much to finish...

Sanity, find me.

--T

Ps- Got a couple messages asking what I thought of the announcement of a female Doctor Who: I honestly don't care who or what plays the doctor, so long as the writing is good. We got way bigger things to worry about and be mad at, don't you think? Forget the distractions, keep your eyes open to the arseholes fucking us. Stay awake. Resist the bullshit. Get registered to vote and get active! 

Keep the Train on the Tracks

Friends,

Life is full of shit sandwiches. We all gotta take a bite and swallow it down our gullet. We do this as we strive to keep ourselves distracted that we are actually eating shit. We keep the dreams carved in our heads that one day we'll get to move on to a tastier meal, or that the taste will not effect us as much. We ALL got big plates of shit we gotta scarf down. It isn't "woe is me." Its "woe is US."

I have many things tripping me up this last week. Service Engine Soon light on my Bat Blazer, the horrible election we're rolling through, work woes, worries about my dad, dreams plaguing me, motivation stops, sickness, energy levels, dieting ups and downs, depression, anger, confusion...

...but I'm keeping the train on the tracks.

Its all we can do, right? Keep chipping away at the things that hold us down. Set the goal, work your ass off and be patient. That's what it all comes down to.

I do have some things to be happy about. For instance:

In the new Horrorhound magazine, my boy Caleb got a shout out! He would have absolutely been floored at seeing his name like this in THE horror magazine of the world. It would be like as if they made a Star Trek character named after me. The last time Caleb and I were together when he was moving, we looked through a pile of Horrorhound magazines he had. He was a big fan of it. We even went to Horrorhound in March. It was immensely cool of them do that for him. Class act, that magazine is. Awesome.

BLAST FROM THE PAST! At one of the collector stores locally, I found a stack of old Mad Magazines for $1 each. I find a few I used to have including this one: My first Mad Magazine ever. Hell, this might be considered my first COMIC BOOK ever. In a year where I'm mourning the passing of the great Jack Davis as well, this was a cool find.

This week I snuck out and got some art pages done on Starslam 3! I got about six in total and have been working parts of the weekend on inking them. Here's a look: 

The only thing keeping me sane lately is my ability to express myself creatively. I have many outlets from the drawing, writing, audio and video stuff I do. The dreams in my head swirl as I continue to carve out my little corner of the world. I work hard to shut out the distractions that keep me from my ultimate goals in these things. I think by the end of 2017, we'll see them all come to light. For now its just about hunkering down and getting it all done.

Today I am going to spend some time writing and then go somewhere private to work on pages. I need this jump start to happen. My personal "check engine soon" light is on. But hey, still got some good miles left in this jalopy.

--T

GUNS N ROSES, ALICE IN CHAINS, CAR WOES, ILLINOIS TRIP and RINGO STARR!!!

Hey friends. An absolute whirlwind of a weekend. Let me try to recap:

Thursday, I go to see Guns N Roses/Alice in Chains at Ford Field in Detroit. The opening night of the Guns reunion tour! While waiting at Hockeytown Cafe for a table before the show, we notice someone coming in who looked oddly familiar. My friend said "Hey thats a pretty good Ringo Starr lookalike." I look again.

"No, THAT is Ringo Starr!" Ringo was playing a show that night at the nearby Fox Theater and decided to go to Hockeytown Cafe for some pre-show eats. Amazingly, no one was bothering him and he only came in with one person. All them young folks probably didn't recognize him. He was literally 2 feet away from me at one point! My friend followed him and stealthfully snapped a pic:

"I'm very happy to be here!" Yes, I have now seen both surviving Beatles in the flesh!!!

I settled down for a couple mixed drinks and a nice BBQ burger.

Then on to Ford Field. Alice in Chains took the stage at 8:30 sharp and man did they sound great! Duvaul sang Layne's parts extremely well. They played all the hits too. Sean Kinney had a drum cam which they showed often which was great. I'm a big fan of his drumming. They played old stuff, new stuff... all of it well worth the price of admission. 

Jerry Cantrell had the vintage "Honeycomb" guitar he used to record all those old 90s albums!

Finally Alice in Chains left the stage and GUNS N ROSES came on literally 25 minutes later. Like, ON TIME! WOW! and Man, they were fucking killer. 25 songs. Deep cuts and covers like COMA, THE SEEKER, WISH YOU WERE HERE jam and so much more. Awesome, awesome show. 

Reports of Axel Rose signing badly are greatly exaggerated. He sounded awesome!

Everyone needs some DUFF in their lives.

Grand finale pyro.

I'd highly recommend anyone check out the Guns N Roses reunion tour. I got some audio from the show that I will play on my podcast in the future, so look for that. But yeah man. They put on a great show for us. Amazing!

Friday, I get up early and head to Port Huron to get my son Cody. The day before I got an oil change and they said I had a major oil leak and the whole bottom of my Bat Blazer was wet. I'd need an overall tuneup to the amount of like $600-800! UGH. But they said if I put oil in the car every stop or so, I'd make it to Illinois for my trip I planned. So once returning with Cody after a 4 hour drive, we drove the 7 hours south to Carmi, Illinois to see my dad. He was in good spirits and happy to see us.

Saturday we spend all day looking at the car. Surprise: NO OIL LEAK AT ALL. I have no idea what that guy was telling me at all. But I did massively overfill the oil on the trip down so that had to be drained and we put new oil in. I also desperately needed new tires so we drove to Evansville and had those replaced. Car is good to go for another long while hopefully. It was good to see lots of my family on so short a visit. And much thanks to Steve at S&E Auto in Carmi for dealing with my car woes.

I was juggling a lot on Saturday. Emotionally, with being down there and seeing mom's grave and all those things to some drama up north at home. It wasn't a good day and I was even more stressed than possible. But I just chugged water and tried to stay calm and enjoy myself. I spent time with dad and we had a good talk. Finally late Saturday we headed back home. Cody and took the long drive all night and finally arrived home at 4:30am. I was simply mentally and physically exhausted. But now I'm home and taking care of business. I'm working on getting the Starslam books sketched and other things taken care of. Lots to juggle. But I'll make it happen. It's what I do.

Anyway, back to the grind. At least I got my son here this week to keep me company!

Cheers, T