nowhere #44- priorities
Wherein Dan and Miranda talk about where the Awesome Boys fit into the bigger scheme of their lives.
I like the way this one looks; it’s been a long time since I’ve done something with a black gutter, which I used to way, way overdo. In moderation, it’s a cool look.
Other notes:
1. Just to be clear, not autobiographical. Although I’m guessing that everyone in a band (or dating/married to someone in a band) will have something resembling this conversation at some point. or think about this conversation.
2. For the millionth time, I wish I’d either given Miranda a different name or a different hair color, since I’m always cringing about the (extremely) unintentional Sex and the City shoutout.
3. While I’m at it, I wish I hadn’t gone for a Wilco song for 43, because “The Late Greats” is just too thematically perfect not to use here. Oh, well.
4. #45 will probably take about 2 weeks. Some stuff’s happening this week that won’t be very conducive to comic-making.
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…yeah, that conversation. Had it. Many times over.
I’ve broken up with girls over that conversation…thankfully, the woman I eventually married understands my “passion”, although at this stage in the game, I’m certain that she harbors no fears that my hobby will ever take off past the Twin Cities metro area, which I’m O.K. with.
Yikes! You need to be careful, here. The way this last installment looks…well, it’s veering toward that great-big-floating-waterski-ramp-over-a-shark-in-the-sky. Pull out, man!! Pull out!!
How so? Genuinely curious, not trying to be defensive.
It’s just that these guys are too timid. We (readers) know the boys are full of hope, and are torn between ‘lameness’ and going ‘balls out’. It’s starting to feel ’stuck’ there. When are they going to try to ‘make it or break it’?…it’s gotta happen sooner or later. I’m wanting the boys to break out (even though they don’t feel ‘ready’ for it)…book a whirwind tour of third-rate dive bars and county fairs…live out of a broken down van…eat only peanut butter…have some run-ins…offend some audiences…grapple with regret…stuff like that. They need some battle scars.
Fair enough. But the thing is (and it’s probably a failing on my part that this hasn’t been made clear), that’s not really the world I want to explore with this strip– the subculture that interests me is the thousands of bands who’re just kind of there, convinced that they deserve a shot at the big league just because they exist. Like, peanut-butter-eating van-touring bands actually have a shot of accomplishing something. The Awesome Boys don’t, at least not in any large scale.
The strip’s pacing is a little slower than I intended (I never meant for them to take 50 strips to play their first club show)but this thing was always destined to be more about guys turning 30 wondering what the fuck they’re doing playing to 6 people at midnight on Tuesday rather than being worried about if they’d be able to tour New England. Not that a strip about a working, touring band couldn’t be really cool– it’s just not really what Nowhere Band was ever meant to be.
For what it’s worth, after the first “real” show happens, I’m planning on working subsequent shows into the strip without ridiculous amounts of buildup first; so if nothing else, there’ll be more action then.
Right on. Thanks for the feedback.