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!

Under Construction

I honestly thought about waiting to post something until June 2. I figured this way I could say I made it another whole year without posting on this blog. Even though I said I was going to make more of an effort.

Truth is, between social media and laziness, I never had the desire to. 

Is there really any point to a website anymore anyway? I can post updates on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, snapchat, linked in, linked out, inside, outside, up and down. 

But you just don’t get the full Monty on those social media utopias. And here? Well, you came here for a reason. And maybe you’re willing to spend a little extra time reading. 

And then there’s that whole pesky Coronavirus.....thing. 

Life has taken quite a tumble for EVERYONE in the last couple of months. I found myself with so much extra time, I figured, why not do something productive.

After the first two weeks of growing facial hair, sitting around in my underwear, binging on Netflix, PS4 and my Nintendo switch, it was time to put down the little debbies and get to being effective.

I made myself a 20 something list of things I wanted to accomplish. 

I’ve caught up on commissions, cleaned out the garage, finished 120 Marvel cards for an upcoming set, rearranged my studio, took my vitamins, said my prayers and started training. I’ve become Hulk Hogan lite.

And of course I wanted to update my site. 

I’m nowhere near done. But I cleaned out a bunch of the older artwork I’d been hoarding. Stuff that I thought was pretty great in its own specific time, but now reminded me of primitive cave art, has all been kicked to the digital curb. 

That being said, if you fart around enough with the links, you’re bound to run into this pink haired (and also redesigned) beauty. But I promise you, I am working on it!

The lockdown/quarantine has at the very least gifted me with time. Time to create, time to de-clutter, and time to catch up. 

I’ll make another quasi empty promise to continue the updates here. Because sometimes I feel like writing more than just 140 characters. Even if no one reads them.

See you guys soon!