Life N Death

I honestly never thought depression would play a factor in my life. Much less thoughts of suicide.

Somewhere a little over two years ago, flickers of both started to show their ugly faces. I didn't understand them then and I still don't really understand them now. After all, when they began to surface, things in my life couldn't have seemed more perfect. 

I was making money doing something I loved for a living. I had the opportunity to travel. I was married to my best friend. Had two beautiful daughters and had just found out I had a third on the way.

Life couldn't be much more perfect.

But it corroded. 

Fast forward to about 7 months ago, and I had decided to end it all. I was going to take a cruise and never come home from it. 

I even had the perfect suicide note. I called it "The Kill Myself Cruise" and it was going to star the three characters you see in the above image. 

Mister D. 

A naive Grim Reaper who is new to life.

Jack. 

An aging cartoonist dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, and life in general.

Kermeet. 

His stuffed frog toy from childhood who had always been there, and never let him down.

Luckily for me. Something changed. I won't get into all the details. But something did change. And it allowed me to walk off that boat, and continue trying to best the depression.

Things however went from bad to worse. So many details, so many stories, so much heartbreak, adventure, malarky, and memories. 

Then one day, out of the blue, I got to thinking of romance. And how much I missed it. I came up with a funny little cartoon strip idea about it. And I decided to see if I could incorporate these characters into it. So the first strip you'll read isn't even the first one I wrote. But its honestly probably the most powerful. 

I'm far from out of the woods with my depression. 

The world, is in a crazier place than, ANY of us probably could've ever imagined it would be. Viruses, rampant racism, murder, division and a crumbling society. There's so much left to deal with. 

Maybe, just maybe, this strip can be my saving grace through it all. And if it does something positive for anyone else dealing with the shit storms in their minds, then there is a reason I walked off that cruise ship and continued my fight.

Here are the first six strips of Life N Death. Be good to one another and enjoy.

That moment. I was Ready. But Mister D wasn't.

It really isn't a pretty sight.

Those FB avatars really drove me bonkers.

Need I say more? 

It's the little things right?

True Story. At least the first few weeks of lockdown.

and the latest. 

If anyone actually reads my blog, they got an early preview of today's strip before it releases to the social media masses. I hope you guys like them as much as I'm enjoying making them. Have a wonderful weekend!