Through the marvel of Twitter I have met a fellow comic creator named Karl Kleese.  Based on our 140 character conversations, I say I’ve gotten to know Karl as well as one can via tiny text messages.  Regardless if he’s a fine gentleman or a roaming lunatic, he creates a grand webcomic called “Willow’s Grove”.

Karl’s comic is essentially a story of two friends, Max, a cigar smoking dog. and Bob, a friendly and not too sharp lizard,  who accidentally happen aboard a starship parked in the forest and are swooped up to travel to a distance galaxy.  In their place left behind on Earth are two robot replicates who are filling in for the hapless duo.  Thus starts off the story of  “Willow’s Grove” (which is the name of the city the lead characters originate from).

Along the way they discover the many wonders of their new ride, simply named Ship (but picks up a slick name after a bit) and eventually try to make their way back home to Earth.  Thus, the adventures of Bob and Max take on many a creative storyline as “Willow’s Grove” continues to evolve and get better week after week.

Karl updates his comic three times a week, a daunting task as we comic creators all know, and he’s consistently wry and witty and careful not to drag any single portion of his storyline out too long.  Good advice for any webcomic!  I would compare Karl’s comic to that jacket you pull out of the closet in the Fall only to find $5 bucks left in the pocket… you’ll feel comfortable in the jacket and you’re much happier you found it now instead of later!  (Oh, Karl won’t send you $5 for reading his comic, it kinda works the other way around).

Check out “Willow’s Grove” and the great commic antics of Max and Bob. I give it a rating of two bongs up!  Anyone can give something a thumbs up, but when you raise BOTH your bongs to something, not that’s worth checking out!

Willow's Grove Sample

Click Banner to Visit Willow's Grove

Yes, I am off this week, but I produced these guest strips recently and they are now publishing on the ol’ internet!

First up is “Anomaly” a webcomic based on “If God had a God…” and I did the latest installment.  The main character, Anomaly, is a God and apparently semi-transparent, so this B&W comic was a bit fo a challenge to draw.  Thankfully, I do my comics digitally and I’m able to separate characters or scenes onto their own layer.  Click here to visit my comic at “Anomaly” Thanks!

Second, I did a guest strip for a photo-webcomic called “Union of Heroes” and essentially it is a story based on a parallel Earth where superheroes (and villians) exist.  There is a main character in Union of Heroes called “The One Who Knows” and he is a powerful person with a handy wristband that can do just about anything.  I make fun of this element in my guest comic!  Check it out here at “Union of Heroes” Thanks again!

1977 the Comic will return in full force on Sunday, the 31st as we prepare to Rock and Roll a bit!  Please do check out the new store and if you can, help out so I can keep the comic at 5 days a week!  Rock on, man…

The past couple months have been interesting for me, and most of it not in a good way.  I know the world is full of all types of nasty stuff going on, and my life could be a LOT worse, so I normally don’t complain… and I’m not now.  But, I felt I needed to pass some information along to you, my readers.

First, I have decided to work on 1977 as nearly full time as I can. Basically it is a second job, and I’m trying to make it my full-time gig.  I have been a freelance video producer for a LONG time and am actually very tired and frankly, out of touch, with today’s video styles.  (If I saw one more hand held shot with light glare in the new Star Trek movie, I was gonna scream right there in the theatre…)  My freelance business  is nearly non existant at the moment, but I think that could change… but…

If 1977 can produce some income for me, then I can produce more product (comics, books, desktops, etc.) for you the reader.  Plus I really need to get out to the Comic Cons and start spreading the joy there, but that all takes some capital.  I can get people to back me if I have a  solid base going of readers, and I think we’re there.  So, if you can, pitch in and help with anything you can.  Subscritions are the best thing right now, but any item purchased helps.

Second, the damn book.  Okay. I started off looking at on-line sources and they seemed just fine.  But I was “recommended” to a local source which looked very promising indeed.  Long story short, they took forever to produce the product and it was HORRIBLE.  I am terribly sorry for this delay.  I am in the middle of a small argument which they will loose, but I have to play the game.  I am now getting some help from a fellow webcomic creator who’s pointing me toward the light at the end of the tunnel.  This time it promises NOT to be a train wreck.  I am very frustrated by the delay and know I will get this done ASAP.  With that in mind…

Third.  I am going to take this next week off from the comic.  I have been under a fair amount of stress of late (not from the comic) and I’m worn a bit thin.  I need to re-energize and get my game back on.  Summer is coming and a HUGE storyline that involves a major road trip to Jeff’s parent’s home in California, and all hell is going to break loose… in a fun way!  Sneek peek: Lorraine buys a car and wrecks it in the most imaginitive way ever.   So, I need some time to get this written out completely.

See you on the other side! And… THANK YOU for  your support! I want everyone to be a part of 1977 and without you readers, there would be nothing here except an old guy and his silly stories.  Rock on, man…

I have an adage I go by, and it is quite simply “Professionals Steal, Amateurs Copy” Which by that I mean nothing is new or original.  All you have to do is look at the Hollywood system and realize that the biggest films are merely “rebooting” old ideas.

My point to this tiny bit of brain farting is to point out that nothing, and I do mean nothing, is “new” these days.  And really, how can it be?  My Exhibit A in this little post are the comics below.  The top one is my comic from April 29th where Jeff gets dumped at a bar.  The one below is from a great webcomic called “Savage Chickens” from May 14th.  Now, I have never met the creator Doug Savage, but his comic was one of the very first webcomics I ever found and have read for years.  It is my opinion Doug would not openly “copy” an idea.  Also, I seriously doubt he reads my comic.  So, in NO WAY am I saying he copied or stole my idea.  It is not Doug’s style.  But the fact that we produced two similar comics within a couple weeks might lead an uninformed person to think “Hey, he ripped off 1977.”  No, he did not.  If he did, he stoled it, which is even better!

Again, I’m not saying Doug took my idea, but if he did, he did a wonderful job of making it his own.  And that my friends is what professionals do.  We take something and make it our own.  As in, nothing is new.  A great friend of mine who is a champion fiction writer tells me that most big movie or book ideas are sold on the basis of a description that goes like this: “It’s ‘Friends’ meets ‘Godzilla’.”  And some idiot producer goes “Love it! Here’s a 100 million bucks, go make it.”

I do not openly look for ideas to copy or “steal” but I have over 50 years of TV/radio/magazine/comic book images and stories shoved up into this tiny brain of mine and how can it NOT spit something out that’s been done before?  I just try to make sure if I do, then I make it my own.

Click to Enlarge!

J N Horsley III is his real name. Yes, letters are his name and it causes computers all over the world total shit fits. And just like his moniker, his comic creation, called simply y2cl, will give first time readers the same reaction. “WTF” will part your lips on your first glance, and this is a GOOD thing as J pushes boundaries with y2cl.

As a 52 year old genuine old fart, I was at first taken aback by y2cl on my initial arrival. “This guy is a total genius or a freak,” I said as I pushed back another beer. Comes to find out, he’s a little of both, and, again, this is a good thing!

Being the lazy ass that I am, I decided to do so some research on this comic to see what others thought. I did this to either confirm or refute my initial reactions to y2cl. The best thing I found was his interview over at TGT Webcomics. You can check it out with the link at the bottom of this post, and I heartily suggest you do. Not only will it give you a totally needed insight to y2cl, it will also show you what a great guy Mr. Horsley is. It converted me to a reader for sure!

Once at y2cl, you will find an HUGE storyline about vampires sprinkled with random comics featuring really pissed off plastic Army men who are frustrated by their inability to move, plus some photo-manipulation and, my personal favorite, a pot leaf having a nice tête-à-tête with a kettle who refuses to accept his black ancestry, or even his wife’s cleavage (yes, it is in there, and very nice indeed, thank you!).

Which leads me to my nit picks with the comic, or more precisely, the comic’s website. I know we are all struggling artists, but the site is full of incomplete pages. With a truly complex concept as y2cl, a thorough “About” page is not only needed, but I think totally necessary so that new readers can get on board with what y2cl really is. This is a good webcomic full of sarcasm, goofy shit and some great comments on our society as a whole. But, without a much needed introduction, I’m afraid a lot of new readers will be turned off by their first visit as I was. If it were not for J and y2cl being part of the Webcomic Planet’s Collective, I would not have returned. And that’s bad for J and the comic’s growth, as this comic artist and his creation deserve your attention.

Now, y2cl is NOT something to read at work while your supervisor is looking over your shoulder as the F-bomb is dropped as well as other verbal assaults. So, wait until you get home, or the library, and drop by y2cl and start your journey into J’s world. You will not regret it at all.

http://www.y2clcomic.com/

http://tgtwebcomics.com/archive/2009/ep36-y2cl/

"WTF!! This is y2cl?"