Herald_zlm.SamuOldStory

The finger trick only works when Nyao does it.

Zero Like Me #38
Zero Romance #5:
Samu Old Story
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Easter Eggs: Romance 5 in panel number 5. Zero's shirt reads さむっ, which I randomly learned means "that’s not funny; it leaves you so cold you shiver."

Fun Facts: I was planning on running a totally different comic for Parents' Weekend, but at the last minute I went with this idea, which I had like the night before deadline, so I'm not so sure if it hits the mark. The original idea could exist outside of Parents' Weekend, so I've slated it for later. Today's setting is the OC, around Lanman-Wright, or "L-Dub" as the kids call it.

Baa: This has been the most successful Parents' Weekend ever so far! It's gone incredibly smoothly, and I'm currently enjoying the use of some new headphones my mom got me after my old ones' packing tape clearly wasn't keeping them from crumbling apart anymore.

I hate spending money on stuff that can be salvaged, but gotta admit these are pretty cool. And they were cheap too.

In other Zero Like Me news, next Wednesday is the big day! One year to the day I made my first friends at Yale.

We don't have Law School swipes anymore, but fortunately Uncommon has some excellent Root Beer I've been stockpiling for a giveaway event akin to the old Monster giveaways from last year. I discovered something pretty neat I want to try, too. Pretty excited, man, a whole year...

At right is the "skeleton" draft, where it's pure outlines so I can get an idea of where everything goes. I'm swapping the "MO" tag for the full "Making Of," so that tag, as always, just means the post contains different phases of production. I always find it neat to open them in different tabs, and the flip between them fast to see the linework come to life.

Other things I'm excited for: new MCRMCS coming soon! I think I may be more eager to see what JP 'n' more gone done over my official favorite band, but we'll see. Both bands are undefeated in my eyes, so I'm scared a dud is due!

Speaking of duds...jack kelly's back for some reason.

That was "bicyle," which looks like it as drawn while riding one. That black and yellow ogre also presents "finaid" for you, and it looks like this:

So...yeah. Wednesday is when it all goes down. It's like there's a party in my mouth and nobody's invited.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.WarmAndFuzzy

Why doesn't Nyao just fly them back to Yale?

Zero Like Me #37
Bulldog Tales Pt.4 - Warm and Fuzzy
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Fair Haven Elementary as Winsor McCay Magnet Academy. Grinch refs in panel 4. Costumes inspired by Buster Keaton and Kate Spade.

Fun Facts: This is my first comic under the new administration and I really miss my old editors; it's finally sunk in they're gone. Since I didn't count on Monday being a holiday for the YDN's joke issue, I had planned on having this be the 5th of 5 episodes, but Monday's lost episode will pop up later. Nice that it all works out, though.

Baa: This comic is dedicated to little DeSean, who was brilliant but loved pretending he wasn't. His dad and brother are both in combat, and I'm not sure he knows what that means.

I think I have encountered a solution to the censorship issues at the YDN, but we'll see what happens.

Reuxben

Herald_zlm.HowGarryGotOver

Kids these days with their hippity hop and their mind games.

Zero Like Me #36
Zero Romance #4:
Bulldog Tales Pt.3 - How Garry Got Over
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Easter Eggs: Romance 4 in notebook. Garry's wardrobe inspired by Black Thought, Z's by Buster Keaton. New Haven's own Fair Haven Elementary as Winsor McCay Magnet Academy. The Legendary Roots Crew in panel 3.

Fun Facts: This week's comics have been inspired by the Trudeau's Bull Tales, where first "Megaphone" Mark Slackmeyer gets all 60s-Yale and revolts against Yale President King, and also by when Mike "The Man" Doonesbury tutors a local New Haven kid. My kid is named in honor of the Trudeau and the McGruder.

Baa: I have passed the point of denial--I have a cold (I hope it's just a cold)...

Also: I'm mildly amused, actually, by how quite poorly my last suicide went over. I usually think something is wrong with the reader if they don't get one of my comics (the post-Lighter Light ones), but in this case I know it isn't just me: people really misread it. So that's too bad for them. I'll update that post with responses, because some stuff is just ridiculously off.

I'm more interested at how gung-ho anti-censorship Yale and the Why Dee Enn are re: the Mohammad comics people coming to town, the very week the OCD's been getting on me about my material. I feel like I'm out of my mind: is it not crystal clear to anyone but me that only stuff like our guests' material even merits discussing censorship? My stuff is nowhere near that level of pernicious, which makes it even more evident that the restrictions I'm facing on such trivial material as our football team and the race of one of my characters is way overkill. I'm not even making any charges about race. If anything, I'm simply saying that race exists. Really. That's it.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.Dissent

It isn't the 60s anymore, is it Mr. T?

[Update: Uncensored, final art at top]

Zero Like Me #35: Bulldog Tales Pt.2 - Dissent
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2, my favorite Colbert pose in panel 1, GC.

Fun Facts: Original script was to help establish that Z's Mexican, when he complains about Yale police brutality, when in fact they just give him this piece of paper. Original ending of present script was reference making it onto the YDN website, which I thought was a harmless inside joke, but hilarity did not ensue, desafortunadamente. It's all worked out though, and that's what matters.

Baa: This week's the last one under the current YDN board and it has been one of the most hectic and trying I've ever experienced as a comicser (let the record show that I believe R.S.R. and P.F.M. to be some of the finest Yalies I've encountered). I hope I won't forget this past week or so cuz it looks like I have to take down the censored material and descriptions of the editing processes, although I believe, like Michael Jackson and his trials, I am allowed to express my reactions, just not detail what went down. Anyway, I must now write a paper. In Spanish.

Let's meet Garry on Friday, shall we?

Final artwork coming soon,

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.HangInThereBaby

Sometimes you just gotta bust some squeedlyspooches.

[Update: Final art at top.]
Zero Like Me #34: Bulldog Tales Pt.1 - Hang In There Baby
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Squeedlyspooch. Shout out to the 'Stache. GC.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is a weak Woodbridge Hall. There was a slight issue about using the Prez and Provost, and whether or not to use their real names. I was totally against using their real names because this is the first episode in a story arc that is an homage to the Trudeau, and he called President Kingman Brewster "King" back then, so I wanted to keep the tradition alive of giving our men silly pseudonyms. A dude in the YDN office, sounded like his name was Borges(!), suggested "McLevin" and I started cracking up! Perfect!

Baa: Trudeau started at the YDN 40 years ago, junior year, like me. Our comics editors have the same name. We both also draw at the Record. We're both in Scroll and--dang.

Anyway, this tribute to the Trudeau will carry over throughout the week and into the Herald, so I hope you check it out. Or for our Canadian visitors, please check it oot. This one is just set up, so do hang in there...baby.

Final art coming soon,

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.BelongHere

I think Zero and Harvard rejection is like Marty McFly and chickens.

Zero Like Me #31: Belong Here
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 3, "sux" in panel 4. Subtle humor hidden in being gung-ho about watching a Cantab on TV.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is my favorite accident slash warzone, 'Nam.

Baa: I've had this motto for a while called "zero ethos," which I believe is one of the worst things you can have. To have zero ethos is to have no leg to stand on, to not be worth anything. To be a windbag; to be useless, futile, inept, irrelevant, etc. One of my greatest anxieties is having zero ethos.

I wrote this comic in June after one of my, what, three Yale Late Night Conversations inspired me to wonder about FroCos even more than I already had. I've been trying to squeeze this into the production schedule since week two, and it was a hassle to make, but most of the extra efforts were fruitless anyway. So it goes.

Anyway, I wish I would have known that my FroCos weren't superhuman. I kinda see it now, but wish I knew it then. Or maybe I don't. I don't know. If a freshman must question something, the least they can do is question their superheroes. I don't want to say mine lied to me, but they sure coulda helped more.

To B.H.--I now have an opinion on "Bright College Years," just in case you were still wondering.

Reuxben

Herald_zlm.OldCampus

Tee hee...she said "But"!

Zero Like Me #30
Zero Romance #2:
Old Campus
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Easter Eggs: Romance 2 in panel-ish 3; "Yale" in panel-ish 4; Dracht and Ben's costumes merged; a scroll, key, skull, bone, Guffinium, and 'stache.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is the OC corner between McClellan (JE's annex) and LC. Tried channeling Eisner's insane style.

Baa: I used to be painfully jealous of freshmen (2011) who got to experience Freshman Year meanwhile I was cursed at having to move on, then I became more wistfully envious ('12) knowing that they will soon lose that status, and now ('13) I've finally gotten to the point where I don't feel like they are robbing or displacing me, but that they are just there. I kind of pity them.

This came out hecka pixelated in the Herald, but as always: this site displays the most crisp and updated versions of all my artwork (which is why I guess I don't even feel upset about the bad printing, something that used to really fingernail-blackboard me).

I put a lot of effort into this comic, and yet I'm oddly placid knowing it got insanely pixelated. That is what frustrates me. Same thing like how I hate that I can't bring myself to hate my old--I've said too much.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.Cancer

Be a man, Zero, bottle it all up!

[Update: See Top for Final Art]
Zero Like Me #29: Cancer
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Easter Eggs: Memorial to Mrs. Lang (plus two flowers for each year she was my teacher), and "Yale" in panel 1.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is the JE swing. I saw an interview on Youtube where Gerard Way talked about his song, "Cancer," and how it is about how anything can be a cancer--mental, physical illness, smoking, etc. So that also played a part in this comic, which is about how lives are important and it sucks that they are taken for granted so easily and often.

Baa: Although this comic is closely tied to the loss of my own real-life physics teacher to cancer, this comic is a response to the unfortunate Annie Le case. Death is so outrageously sudden and shattering, and there's no way to know what this means unless you've actually lived through someone's death, especially someone you thought would have so much more time.

Since the news was so immense, I had to postpone today's scheduled comic, but we'll get back on schedule now. And I'm really excited for an upcoming storyline I've been working on--we're introducing a new character! Her design finally clicked last night.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.SafetySchool

You get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!

Zero Like Me #28: Safety School
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Easter Eggs: "Eliot" in panel 1, "Yale" in panel 2.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is LC, or as the Japanese probably call it, erre shiiii!

Baa: Everyone at my high school was impressed when I was serious about applying to Stanford. And then once I got in everyone thought that's where I was going. And then I had to explain that there's this place called Yale, it's like Harvard, but more Luigi--that's where I'm going. They still think I'm going to Stanford.

It didn't occur to set this comic in the rain until it finally rained last Friday. I love the rain, but it was even more perfect symbolically for this comic. And I really like the symbolism in this one--the obscured "lux et," Nyao's shifting, the insecurity of the umbrella, panel 3's ambiguous rain drops--everything really clicked!

This one goes out to B.R., who is probably the only one who could have read this comic correctly.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.DannyGlover

"Hemmerling for Mitchell" would make a great band name, and that's before you even add in "The" and throw in some numbers!

Zero Like Me #26: Danny Glover
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1, that dude's costume, #52 is George Knox.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is the Yale Rep. I love Angels in the Outfield, I was and still am a bit like JP (not the whole reticent-to-speak-thing; I mean I was and still am a bit of a little black boy looking up to an older white boy as my surrogate brother. Oh, wait, no...it is the whole reticent-to-speak thing, never mind).

Baa: I saw Ranch Wilder perform the role of Mr. Doolittle in Pygmalion at Culture Draw sophomore year, but I totally forgot to go to last Tuesday's draw...dangit.

Ok, I'm excited to start getting into some continued narrative next week, so even though each comic will be self contained, there is more to glean between comics.

Also, this comic is dedicated to and inspired by Professor R. Stepto, one of Yale's greatest, who I wish I could have studied poetry with (after an incredible semester learning about AfAm literature sophomore year), but I ended up going with another poetry teacher. Hence the Hemmerling/Mitchell connection.

Also-also...Herald debut later today! Trying something newish.

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.GitDough

Originally printed in Yale Summer Session's newsletter, Hot Blue, June 29, 2009.

Because minstrelsy is cool, y'nawmean?

Zero Like Me #22: Git Dough
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2, RADWIMPS logo in panel 3, Busta Rhymes and T-Pain's duds.

Fun Facts: Set at the Saybrook Common Room. Rappers love to "git," count, and hustle money.

Baa: Busta Rhymes is one of the very few rappers I enjoy!

I've always wanted to test out tones for print, and today we're about to find out what happens...

Anyway this comi makes Busta Rhymes and T-Pain the latest rappers to inspire a comic. Isn't that special?

Received an interesting email yesterday...not really what I thought would happen. Also had to give up on Japanese, unfortunately; that dream died, but how much of it was due to the unusual volume of shopping I've been doing? Maybe with my seminar-heavy schedule, I would be able to handle Japanese no problem, but I found it a bit too cumbersome to deal with daily on top of everything else, but again, how much of that was due to shopping period? Cutting that unicorn of a class from my list was tough, and I regret it. As a consolation prize, I remember a guy sitting next to me on day two was wearing my shirt!

Keep hustlin',

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.Nar

Oh, Morse and Stiles, if you didn't want to be picked last, you should'na been born ugly. Which explains why I'm always picked last, actually...

[Update: Final art up top]
Zero Like Me #25: Nar
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 3, Munch's "The Scream" in panel 4, The Rollover Motive.

Fun Facts: I was checking my schedule for Monday when I realized I had this class slated for shopping and then BAM! comics idea!

Baa: I hate politics...reeks of the real world. Also, I'm going to see if he will autograph this...is that tacky? Haha. I hope he's cool with it...! I'm in I'll-never-see-him-again mode, which makes me execute bold, stupid interactions with people, nawmean?

All right, hold on to your hats, we're going for three ZLMs this week.

Let's dance,

Reuxben

UPDATE: Peep GAME, suckas! --->

He was very nice, insanely charismatic, and quite funny! He laughed a bit nervously, "Is this for the Daily News?" as he studied what he was about to sign. Really cool of him!

Reuxben

YDN_zlm.SorrySaying

Originally printed in Yale Summer Session's newsletter, Hot Blue, June 22, 2009.

If Residential Colleges are like races, I'm kinda like Michael Jackson.

Zero Like Me #21: Sorry Saying
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 3; "Card" in panel 4; also, haha.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is Saybrook entryway P.

Baa: I myself am reading Ender's Game for my Writing Sci-Fi/Fantasy class. Update: I really enjoyed it.

So if you're new here (hi...): among other things, I do a series called "Zero Like Me," which is about a guy depressed out of his skull, and his alien pal, who may very well be a figment of his imagination which he may have created after a near-death experience. Enjoy.

Reuxben

Fun_Death_MO

To celebrate turning in my Record art for the summer, here is the making of the Death piece I did for the Record last year.

Speaking of which, tonight was my first time driving in a long, long time; I was terrified the whole way. I'm a fictionalist and am easily struck on flights of fancy, so I kept imagining the car behind me was one of those guys who flickers his lights brighter, and then after he gets bored, he drives up beside me in perfect sync with my speed, and as I turn to look at the car, I see the barrel of a pistol a split second before my skull splatters apart.

...man, I really hate driving.


And besides, driving around my town depresses the heck out of me, it really does.

Anyway, the following posts' art have been updated, finally: zlm.Vanilla, zlm.Taboo (renamed Taboocco), mc.MonstaCrasher as well as jack kelly's comics for that week, and finally, sls.Lullaby has also been updated slightly.

Also, my deviantART has been updated, too, which exists to display my more polished artwork plainly and with as little of my stupid lip as possible.

Neat,

Reuxben