Now Is Not The Time To Panic

A full-page cartoon in this Sunday's New York Times

In this update

• Now Is Not The Time To Panic

• The Almost-Monthly ‘Zine Club

• Upcoming Classes, Workshops, and Appearances

Now Is Not The Time To Panic

I’m thrilled to share this new cartoon essay, “Now Is Not The Time To Panic”, a graphic response to the excellent novel by Kevin Wilson, published this weekend in this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. Keep an eye out for it in tomorrow’s paper.

There was a slightly longer than usual wait between me completing this piece and it running in the paper, as the NYT had to determine what their standards would be as it came to crediting A.I. generated artwork. It’s an all new world in many ways.

I feel like the A.I. works in this context, when I am making artificially generated imagery the subject of my work. A.I. may certainly impact my career in the future, there’s no doubt, but for me, creatively, it leaves me wanting. All cartoonists I am sure have their own ideas about what’s important about the form, but I feel strongly that controlling a reader’s eye as it moves across a page is probably the number one job of a person making comics. This is the place where I see sometimes the most skilled artists and draftspersons falling down in terms of cartooning. You can draw like a master, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you can make effective comics.

Not only is it necessary to ensure that the information reads in the right order, it’s necessary to control rhythm and pacing. No matter how many times I typed different prompts into MidJourney, I could only control so much about what images were produced. Yes, there’s always a place in art for “happy accidents”, but this could never be the kind of cartooning I could regularly practice. And, as I state in the piece, the sensation of using an A.I. generator didn’t take long to morph from magical to frustrating. Once I got over the initial fun of pumping out something that looked kind of “cool”, the process took on the sensation of struggling to install some buggy software on my machine. I enjoy the act of drawing and creating, it’s very satisfying to me, and this was the opposite.

The Almost-Monthly ‘Zine Club

I may not publicize enough that I have an almost-monthly ‘Zine Club that you can become a member of by either joining via my Patreon or by becoming a paid subscriber to this Substack.

My flagship series is entitled FUN TIME, and so far I’ve produced five issues. Each one runs twenty pages long, and is stuffed with short cartoon essays, gag comics, or occasional longer pieces.

The Summer 2023 issue (pictured above) was a full-length cartoon essay focused on the much maligned Queen studio album Hot Space, my lifelong relationship to the band’s music, and an Amazon Prime commercial I’d seen that triggered all kinds of thoughts and feelings. It was not what might be described as a commercially viable comic-book story, but it was one I wanted to tell, and self-publishing allowed me to do so. Not every story has to attract the most number of readers, sometimes it’s OK to write something knowing it’s only going to mean something to a handful of people, but that is absolutely valid.

In addition to the FUN TIME ‘zines, I regularly produce additional one-off mini-comics and ashcans, all of which I will mail to you as a ‘Zine Club member.

Upcoming Classes, Workshops, and Appearances

Beginning Tuesday September 19th at 5PM - Weekly Cartooning Classes for Kids at The Barron Arts Center

This starts next week, and I’m really looking forward to it. These six weekly classes will focus on learning how to tell our stories using comics, as well as teaching the kids how to self-publish their work. There are still some spaces left, so if you have a young cartoonist at home who might enjoy a class like this, by all means reach out.

Thursday September 28th from 7-8:30PM - Cartooning Workshop for Teens and Adults with Project Write Now

I will post more about this in my next update, but if you are anywhere local to the Red Bank/Middletown area, and would be interested in working me and experiencing my comics making classes, I am offering a rare opportunity for older teens and grown-ups to experience my Cartooning Lessons workshop. This will be a 90-minute evening session. I will be walking participants through a series of exercises and activities designed to help aspiring cartoonists improve as comics-making storytellers. We will focus on clarity and the above-mentioned controlling the reader’s eye. It’s also very fun and engaging.

Saturday October 7th, from 1-4PM - Local Author/Illustrator Book Expo at The Monmouth County Library

In addition to being present at this event for the afternoon, I will be delivering a talk and presentation to attendees. More information on this to come.

Saturday October 14th, from 10AM-3PM - The Philly Comics Expo

I haven’t done a straightforward comics-convention in quite some time. This event is free and open to the public, and has an awesome casual vibe that I really appreciate. It takes place at the Headhouse Shambles in Philadelphia, and features a great many small press and alternative comics artists and makers.

Thanks as always for reading along!
Mike