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February 12, 2009 -- I want to be an inventor, too.

Yeah, that didn't end well.

This page was a lot of fun to draw, and I think it turned out pretty well. It's got my first attempt at speed lines and "swear words", and I think both were reasonably successful. So, yay.

Since there really isn't much trivia on this page, I'll move straight on to this week's comics link:

Earlier this week, I realized that I'd never gotten around to giving Rich Watson's new webcomic its proper talking-up. This is especially rotten of me, considering that Rich has been one of my earliest and most fervent supporters -- he even gave me a very nice nod in his most recent year-end wrap-up.

For those of you unfamiliar with Rich's earlier work as a comics creator, you may recognize him from his more recent and prominent contribution to the field -- he's the guy who founded the Glyph Awards. I've long admired Rich on many levels -- he's an outstanding human being, a talented artist, a thorough and respectful journalist, and perhaps most important of all, he's out there every week putting his time and energy into making comics a more open, wide-ranging and diverse medium. He's a proud champion of underdog and indie books, and without his coverage, many great small-press books would go unnoticed. (And did I mention he created the Glyph Awards?) He's also been promising to start up a new webcomic for literal years now, and the rest of us midwestern small-pressers have all been egging him on to get going already.

So you can imagine my pleasure and excitement when he announced his return to comics with City Mouse Goes West. It's part autobiography, part slice-of-life, and part local political commentary: a pleasant mix of storytelling topics that cover Rich's move from New York City, where he was born and raised, to his new home in Columbus, Ohio, and all the changes and transitions that await him there. Like: a distinct lack of public transportation. The Columbus Dispatch ran a nice story on him a few months ago, and you can read the whole thing here.

So yes, everyone take a second and go check out Rich's work if you haven't seen it yet. Rich is one of those folks in comics whose work passes too often unnoticed. So go notice him already! He's worth it. Plus, if more people notice, he'll keep making more comics, and that'll make the world a better place.