Comic Genesis Forums

I hadn't heard George Harrison had died when I
drew today's doodle. Just a weird coincidence.<P>Both Lobel and Harrison died too young, though.<P>I agree, Spartacus, I don't think I'll ever
have an objective grown-up opinion about the
authors you mention. Lobel even moreso,
because I run into people who read "Frog and Toad"
a lot less frequently than any of the others.
Since "Frog and Toad" aren't universally
recognized pop-culture icons like the others
you mention, I find myself experiencing them
all the more like I did as a kid, rather than
as something I saw on PBS yesterday, or on
Toys 'R' Us merchandise the day before.<P>"Stuart Little" still holds that kind of magic
for me, the 1999 Geena Davis movie notwithstanding.<P>And the less popular Seuss books I had that
aren't everywhere - "On Beyond Zebra" was one
of my favorites.<P>I think the REM song "Seven Chinese Brothers"
is about that phenomenon - with the book in
question being "The Five Chinese Brothers."<P>Well, a lot more expository than I like to be.
I hope people can enjoy today's doodle without
all this backstory.<P>------------------
<A HREF="http://www.boxjamsdoodle.com/" TARGET=_blank>BoxJam's Doodle</A> - the ballast
that keeps <A HREF="http://www.altbrand.com/" TARGET=_blank>Alt Brand</A> down.

Today's Doodle reminded me of how I felt when I discovered, around 1996, that Richard Scarry of Busytown fame had died in 1994. I loved those books. While this may not have been the intention, today's strip seemed to be an amusingly poignant commentary on the temporality of existence, the brevity of our lives, and the fear that when one passes away, it will be for naught, and one will be swiftly forgotten. Yet the final panel also reminds one that often a person's life or work may affect others beyond what one expects, and even more than a decade after one has passed on. Probably reading too much into this (and a cold may be making me unduly morbid), but either way, I liked today's Doodle.<P>And having neglected to say anything about the recent color splashes, personally, I've been enjoying it. Nice to still have the more traditional all blue doodles, mind but when used for specific purposes or to catch the eye, they can be quite effective (the brown table yesterday somehow seemed to underscore the "horses" punchline, for example.) Overall, keep it up, Mr. Jam (though I *do* recall being mildly disturbed when I first went through the archives, and saw one strip with the BoxJams in pastel muu-muus.) <P>

Lord Emsworth -<P>Great to hear from you - it's been a while.<P>I'm glad you liked today's doodle.<P>Yeah, the pastel muumuu's was an early attempt
before I even had the technical stuff necessary
to truly color correctly - for instance, I was
scanning in at 72 dpi because scanning at higher
resolutions was making my old machine crash.
Coloring at 72 dpi causes horrible pixelation
unless one uses really pastel colors (close
enough to white that the gray-scaling done
when it *was* black and white still works).<P>The only other thing I could have done, which
I did for the <a href=http://www.boxjamsdoodle.com/d/20000331.html>March 31, 2000 strip</a>, was to fix
each gray-scaled pixel by hand.<P>That doodle set a record for time spent in
execution - I think I spent about 12 hours
total, over half of it fixing individual pixels.<P>------------------
<A HREF="http://www.boxjamsdoodle.com/" TARGET=_blank>BoxJam's Doodle</A> - the ballast
that keeps <A HREF="http://www.altbrand.com/" TARGET=_blank>Alt Brand</A> down.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Lord Emsworth:
<B>Today's Doodle reminded me of how I felt when I discovered, around 1996, that Richard Scarry of Busytown fame had died in 1994. I loved those books. </B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Richard Scarry is dead!! AAAAAAAAGHH!!!!<P>I loved Lowly the Worm...<P>
<P>------------------
r s tanner
<A HREF="http://www.burntdogradio.com" TARGET=_blank>http://www.burntdogradio.com</A>
<A HREF="http://www.altbrand.com" TARGET=_blank>The Pete Best of AltBrand</A>

george harrison died last night. frodo is sad. very sad.<P>------------------
----Frodo
<A HREF="http://www.thenecronomicon.net" TARGET=_blank>The Necronomicon</A><P>"It changes color when it dries! It never stays! I HAVE TO KEEP THE WALL WET!!!"

if you're going to weep, do it gently<P>------------------
GRIMBLES
<A HREF="http://grimbles.keenspace.com" TARGET=_blank>grimbles.keenspace.com</A>

odd coincidence...<P>i had just finished reading today's CoTC, which had a little blurb on George Harrison, and I started to think about how people die every day, yet it's only the celebrities that get noticed...<P>then i read YOUR comic for today, with this still in mind.<P>i'm not sure exactly what's going through my mind now, but let's just say that your doodle struck a GOOD chord within me today. <P>yeah. good stuff, for sure.

The Frog and Toad books will always remain within me as part of that magic feeling you have when you're a kid. Along with Babar, Dr. Seuss, Curious George and the Richard Scary books I still have, Lobel's stuff will haunt me just like Harrison's chords do everytime I here Something. Growing up and getting older sucks.<P>------------------
I was <A HREF="http://zapjones.keenspace.com" TARGET=_blank>Zap Jones</A> But now, I am <A HREF="http://highfalutin.keenspace.com" TARGET=_blank>Highfalutin!</A> Spartacus!!!

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BoxJam:
<B>I hope people can enjoy today's doodle without
all this backstory.
</B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>
We can and do. Thanks.