Wednesday, April 7, 2010

YDN_zlm.WhereToBegin

He's got it all.

Zero Like Me #99:
Where to Begin (The Dan Song)
<- Previous Comic...Next Comic->
-First Comic-

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. "Dan's Got It All" or "Isn't Times Square Beautiful" scored to the best of my ability...Yale's very own master of pathos as I saw him at Yale-a-Palooza. Ref "The Future Freaks Me Out" and "DB" in panel 2.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is Branford, where the squirrels roam. I got a copy of "Dan's Got It All," one of his best unreleased tracks. I heard him play it live once. Incredible. Why doesn't he put this stuff online? Even if it's his version of doodles, it's still absolutely killer.

Baa: I sketched him as he played at Yale-A-Palooza and I was an instant fan, but I could barely remember what he looked like after he left the stage, oddly enough. So a bit later it was the Fall Show (starring Dat Phony) and I noticed the guy a few seats to my right had a mouth that looked just like the mouth I had been trying to draw back at Yale-A-Palooza. So I mustered my courage and went up to him and asked him about his music. I was so ridiculously nervous I was shaking and everything.

There are a few Yalies I get "star"struck around. One is obvious--I'm a huge fan. Another is more of a silly sort of starstruck, not so much a fan as an imagine-that sort of thing. A third is like I-can't-believe-he-knows-who-I-am. There's a fourth, but I haven't had an opportunity to draw her (plus I feel that might kill the aura).

Sometimes it weirds me out that I'm on a first name basis with certain megatalents. I was also a big fan of hers even before we became colleagues (her work got me into comics, really), and I remember being thrilled when she responded to my email four years ago inquiring about how to start a comic. I was so nervous when I met her at Comics Club, and now it's like she's just another human. Funny how celebrity and humanization quarrel.

Ok, Zero Like Me Number One Hundred is coming Friday! I can't believe it. It's sinking in that this is all going to end soon. I almost fell apart earlier today thinking about it. It's bittersweet. Maybe just bitter. But to celebrate 100 (and 1 with the Herald) trips into the abyss I'm going to hold another Rootbeeraganza. I'll dump a bunch of rootbeerios outside the JE Dining Hall, I guess, in time for dinner.

Reuxben

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