They Come From Mars.

I took a trip down memory lane yesterday. While rearranging the Big Closet for the hundredth time, Kim uncovered a hand made 1996 calendar I had made for her while we were courting. It featured early drawings of the characters that I now draw every day. It was a cute little concoction of cardboard and paper and glue neatly held together by some yarn I must have stolen from my Mom. The calendar grids were printed out on a dot matrix printer using what I’m guessing is Print Shop. I remember it took me a long time to finish — I had probably come up with the idea a few days before Christmas. The most striking thing about the whole work was the characters themselves. They appear to be from outer space. I’m guessing Mars, but maybe Pluto. It really is horrible. Their eyes are way too big and way too close together. And their heads, oy. To quote Mike Myers in So I Married An Axe Murderer, “They’re like an orange on a toothpick!” The only thing that comforts me when I see how poor my art skills were, is being able to see how far I’ve come. I’m amazed that anyone ever encouraged me to continue pursuing this whole “Kim & Jason” thing, because frankly, I’m not sure if I would have. Lucky for me, I assumed that everyone was completely sincere and not in the least bt patronizing, so I kept drawing. And drawing. And drawing. So here I am, with two full years of Kim & Jason comic strips under my belt and with the ability to look back at work from over six years ago and marvel at the improvement. To everyone who dutifully patted me on the head and complimented my efforts on Kim & Jason even though they looked more like Martians than children – thanks.