YDN_zlm.LarryBrantley

Stop making excuses, you has-been.
And Borges, you need to back the crack off of every literature syllabus.

Zero Like Me #63:
Larry Brantley
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2. Larry Brantley spoke dog.

Fun Facts: I still don't know street names yet, but today's setting is the one with the second Hull's, the DocuPrint, and the original Willoughby's. Zero likes to go on top of rooftop ledges and test his balance. He tells Nyao he's trying to fly, when really he's trying to fall when she's not looking--Oh, wait! It's Church Street, right? Because there's only a church right in the comic! Yeah...Pretty sure it's Church Street.

Baa, which is to say, People of Earth: To recap, I stepped away for the most part from the Herald as an artist so that I can focus on YDN comics this semester, with the understanding that we were finally going to get YDN online support, but that support has arrived like how an evil genie grants a wish: finding the sneakiest way to technically fulfill the request without following the spirit of the wish. If they do put comics online, they get ninja'd into existence in the "recent multimedia section," which I can't even link to, but is located for a limited time in the bottom right of any photo you click, otherwise you have to hunt for my typo/error-ridden YDN online profile, which they also promised to clean up, but haven't. As far as I know, they are not even discussing their promises to get the online comics section up, to be in step with pretty much every other Ivy (and common sense expectations for a college paper's website). What is particularly jarring is how I have heard multiple YDN editors tell me how the YDN tries to downplay the existence of "Scene," seeing it as a semi-separate entity from the "real" YDN, but even this phantom section gets an entire chunk of the website, even getting top billing over the more official Cross Campus sub-site. Comics aside--how is that arrangement even possible? What deathgrip does Scene have over the YDN that the paper's "proper" editors have to submit to these editor-proclaimed outsiders?

So as much as I hate speaking seriously in the second-person, if you feel inclined, I encourage you to please email the YDN EIC:
paul.needham@yale.edu telling him to honor his and his predecessor's long-unfulfilled promise to put comics online in a reasonable fashion, meaning that they put comics on the front page just like any other part of the paper, traditionally placed under the blue "week" box, just like how the previous (08-09, 09-10) boards used to before the 2010 board developed amnesia about how they used to do their own jobs. There is a double standard at the YDN/everywhere between prose and comics and of course comics get treated like dirt. It is frustrating, it is tiring, and it is insulting. Say an artist wants to draw for a living--he would benefit those career aims in having a share of the audience the YDN site has, obviously. But why are even the most mundane or niche prose pieces, written on a whim or for personal amusement, or general recreation, getting put online properly meanwhile staff comics get the absolute minimal support possible, assuming they get any support at all?

Comics are literally a discriminated minority and the man is keeping us down. I can't play a race card, but I will play the medium card--the YDN is mediumist against comics and the world is just fine with that, which is sick. To be fair, I am a mediumist myself and I gladly spit on any prose columnists I see whenever they make eye contact with me. And no, I do not support heteromedium marriages. Because then what's next--marrying box turtles? I don't think so.

And to assure that this post gets viewed, I will now mention the one thing that always brings all the boys to the yard: Yale Ex!t Players. Ex!t Player. Ex!t. Yale Exit Players. Exit Players. Exit.

Okay?

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YDN_zlm.DissContent

Now is the winter of our...

Zero Like Me #62:
Diss Content
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Easter Eggs: Unappetizing me in panel 1, "Yale" in panel 2, Satori on sweater, loathsome threesome on shirt, Professor Oak's haircut, callback to Nyao's first helpful explanation.

Fun Facts: This comic had to be churned out fast, after another script got the axe, but especially so that I could respond to this story in a timely fashion. Also, those three shirt things will rip you off like it's going out of style.

Baa: I cannot understand why people are going nuts for this comedian (I was pulling for Bill Burr). On stand up merits, where is all this hype coming from? Nevertheless, I'll go for the same reasons I went to see Dat Phan: to see if the guy can deliver contrary to my expectations and because it's not every day you get to see stand up at Yale. It's win-win, though: either he bombs and I'm right, or he kills and I have a good time.

But betcher bottom buck I'm banking on him bombing, buddy boy. (Not really, but I love alliteration, and hope for a great show).

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YDN_zlm.CarpeDino

Maybe next time you'll think twice about being optimistic.

Zero Like Me #61:
Carpe Dino
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is ye olde 202 York; the gang is back home, and yet we feel like strangers. Also, this comic is not based on any actual happening, just my lovely imagination; my dean is wonderful. The truth of my comics usually resides in the first couple of panels, and normally the last couple are where fiction thrives.

The YDN versions tend to be less polished than the versions on this site, yo.

Panel 2 was supposed to be panel 1 but the pencils were coming out well, so I swapped dialogue and then flipped the panels via computer magick.

Baa: This comic goes out to the three that started it all yet are never named. Pretty sneaky, sis.

Seize the Dino!

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Fun_WeirdFight

Final round...
Ready?



FIGHT!!





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Fun_BigKappa_MO

I just learned that I might be able
to return to Japan
as early as
this summer.

So here's the Making Of
that Big Kappa piece,
which I drew
in the land of the rising fun
in 2008.

And with any luck...

if I do return to Japan...

it will last a couple years

...

or so

!

And speaking of returns...

it's finally time to go

back to Yale.

Yes!

The only downside

being

of course...

this is my very last

"back to Yale."

No!

...

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Fun_BitterWork

Almost time,

(Most all time)

It's almost time:

The final round--

Dress two the nines,

Four dancing six feet under,

It is almost time, all/most time!

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Fun_SappyNewYear

That dreaded 2010 has finally come...only 5 months left.

But from the Tokyo Werewolf, a song guaranteed to get you pumped for the new year, it's Ukifune by GO!GO!7188.

Anyway, I wrote a bunch of comics I'm really excited about, can't wait to get back to comicsing and abusing Zero. Although I gotta be honest, I don't quite care for the curricular part of "back to school," you know? New Years resolution's the same as last year: Try and do, open and socialize.

Let's go.

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Design_catalyst.Sun

We started design work over at Catalyst for this French band called Namaste, but I guess the project got canceled, so I'll be posting some of the sketches.

We had a few designs, this is one of them.

It has to do with their song "Sweet Sunshine," but I can't remember exactly why...!

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fun_ntstas.urmom

Hey, have you ever wanted to see jack kelly's note to self comics acted out? Me neither.

So here's "ur mom," in three dee and everything, the first in a series we're going to call note to self: the animated series.

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Fun_MerryMerryChristmas

I don't have any Christmas art stored up, so I might update with something else, but for now, have a Merry Christmas.

Hope you had a good time. I realized that having a fuzzy kitty laying on and warming my feet as I watch my favorite DVR'd musical performances from various talk shows while I nibble a bar of chocolate is pretty great as far as Christmases go.

Presents--are they even necessary at this point? Nah.

God bless,

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Fun_Oldboy

I saw this movie called "Oldboy" (main character at left) in the JE Theater after finals. I arrived an hour into it, so I had no idea what was going on; I could only kinda piece it together (yikes). Our pal Spoogleberg is making an adaptation of the comic, starring Wiiru Smissu, I heard.

Usually, I just watch the Iron Giant after finals, but I ran out of time this semester and I forgot my DVD at the dorm, so this was definitely a change up from my routine, boy.

In conclusion: December is for Cynics.

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Fun_NyaoAndLater

Such adventures we've had, Nyao! After a reassuring chat with a footballista on the unusually punctual CT Limo, CT's snowstorm delayed us, stranding us in the Vegas after a missed connexn. So we watched and listened to podcasts all night in the airport and then flew back to rest our bones, bound for Diego, where we'd deal with misplaced luggage for the first time ever!

And with some help from 3 songs for 2 dollars, we oneirically rocked this spit, smug in the knowledge that others would prefer you blow $2.

When I got home, I learned we have a new cat! I still miss Mr. Feeny, don't you?

In conclusion: Christmas Is Awesome.

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Fun_YaleDailyChews

Aight, homies, here da dill. Next semester I'm going to draw comics for the Yale Daily News every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I will no longer contribute regularly to the Herald. And just to spite those groans of indifference, I'm putting a gun to jack kelly's head if he so much as reaches for anything resembling a post-it note. Et tu, Gerardo? I feel like we just met...

It was all a difficult, heartbreaking decision. I've been with the Herald since Freshman Year, it's hands down the best place for comics, and they're even improving comics' treatment next semester to boot. The reality is that simply not enough people read the Herald for it to be worthwhile. I'm basically dumping my Yale experience down the toilet in the meager hope that I can get good enough at this all to draw for a living. The Herald has been a great training ground, but the readership just isn't there, and I need feedback in order to figure out how I'm doing and what works.

The YDN, assuming it gets its ridiculously inadequate online comics-hosting act together (at least to the serviceable standing it was last board), is much more reliable for feedback. But with the Herald, I'd maybe get an occasional IRL comment, which was nice and everything, but from my editors, I would literally get feedback on things as trivial as how cleverly I hid my signature in the week's comic! There's at least the scent that the YDN actually takes comics considerably more seriously, despite being such a comics-unfriendly environment.

But anyway, I can't bring myself to completely abandon the Herald, as that would feel not only disloyal, but also artistically unwise, so I will submit a comic now and then, but perhaps this semi-retirement will allow me to have some time to actually experience Yale in my upcoming final semester. Among many other taxes, Herald Comics has taken a physical strain on me too, so I am hoping this all adds up to more time for other projects (if not more time for Removal standard comics in print (spot the difference) as well as a less physically-demanding schedule.

So Friday's especially important and controversial since it's not only my old Herald day, but it's also the day I suspect is the slowest at the YDN, despite expert advice indicating otherwise. I hope they know what they're talking about. And I hope you stop by on Fridays. I so enjoy our time together.

Oh...and the top drawing is a group photo I took of me and my "new" editors. Don't we look succulent? I often wonder, if I were to meet myself, would I befriend me? I would probably seem weird and foreign, so no. However, I have actually tasted myself, and I've discovered that I'm disgusting. The others have much tastier names. They serve me up in Commons sometimes, though, if you'd ever like a piece of me.

Also, this is post 400,

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Fun_Feeni-Feeni

Someone once asked about Nyao, so here's this:

When I was developing Zero Like Me, I knew I wanted it to star a depressed guy and his peppy, loyal sidekick who would constantly be trying to cheer him up. The opposite of a sad boy is a happy girl, so I was leaning towards that arrangement. But I was taking a course called Stories of the Strange, full of tales about downtrodden characters meeting fantastic people and creatures. Well, at the time we were studying "Puss in Boots," and that story was basically what I was looking for thematically: the loser main character is nothing without his loyal sidekick to rescue him from his pathetic life, the only one who will stick up for him, help him, and support him to the death, even at personal risk and cost. I thought it was pretty cool how that cat was literally willing to kill people just to make sure his master's fortune went well.

So I thought of my cat, Mr. Feeny, and the way he's always smiling his little cat smile no matter what, but is also always just a little off in his own world, too, and I knew a cat was the perfect symbol but thought it would be difficult to sustain a non-humanoid sidekick. So to keep the feline element, I fused the two by making the sidekick an alien cat being.

Originally she was just nominally an alien, but looked perfectly human; just her costuming bore the cat motifs, which severely restricted her wardrobe to stripes and hoods with ears. So I went for broke and just attached the ears, but decided stripes would be her signature fashion trope, so she can basically wear anything now. I modeled her optimism/apathy after my cats', Oliver and Mr. Feeny, and her costuming just follows two rules: stripes must be somewhere in the outfit, and she always (cough) wears her bell. And she, unlike Zero, can even wear JE gear, too.

Her first name comes from a tweak on a rock singer's name (Nao) as well as the Japanese counterpart of meow (Nya), and Feeni-Feeni is from Mr. Feeny. So there you go.

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Fun_zeRock

How many life decisions did you make this weekend? I believe I made two. More on that this Friday.

What's more important right now is that tomorrow's the big launch! Of what? Of The Rollover Motive's debut EP, presumably located here! Aren't they called "Stray Balloon" now? And wasn't the more recent name simply "Rollover Motive," sans "the"? Yes and yes! But I greatly prefer the first version. So to get pumped for that, here's some rock themed artwork, wherein everything digests my dinosaur life.

Also, I've decided to start a rock band. It's like Arctic Monkeys meets The Roots. Basically Gorillaz type action. Only da bess join dis croo.

So besides the two big decisions, I had a pretty eventful weekend in general, actually: I lunched at the Friars' Club in New York and met the author whose book I used in my comedy history paper (he interviewed both old time Yalie Dick Cavett and '94 Yalie/Ex!t Player Allison Silverman). Comics Club launched Escape! and it sold out within 48 hours. I submitted a paper via email just before deadline, but discovered an hour later that I had attached the wrong file (the annotated outline, not the final draft). I learned I missed "Stray Balloon"'s likely final performance of the year. My boss dropped some Bull Tales on me that I'd never seen before (thank you). I bounced between ecstasy and depression and landed in neutral. Two separate young men in an hour's span asked me for input on their aspirations for naked escapades. I wrote a bunch of new comics, some of which could make certain people really uncomfortable, myself included.

All that in one weekend. What did you do? Write a paper? Loser. Study for a test? Loser. Consort with friends? Loser...

In conclusion: order lies within disaster.

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Fun_Escape!Arrives

Just to update what we're looking at here, Escape! is now out in print! You can find some incredible original comics, and a beautiful cover, but we've also collected a bunch of great reprints from the Herald and the YDN.

Free bookmark not included with purchase of free Escape!. Only available while supplies last. Void where prohibited. Please drink responsibly.

All my reprinted comics that were posted on this site with "updated art coming soon" have been touched up so they now look better than originally printed, and are in line with their Removal versions.

But what I'm most excited about is that you may now view certain comics "uncensored." I don't like that sensationalist word, but it's technically true, and it's hecka funny saying that I've been censored. Multiple times.

Imagine that.

The YDN's Zero Like Me gets a section.

So if you're a Rumpus person and you think you're clever second guessing me, guess what, you're not. Yeah, I said it. Just kidding. But seriously, now you can see the original for yourself. Isn't that neat how the depth you're looking for in a comic actually did/does exist?

The Herald's Zero Like Me: Zero Romance also gets a section.

No censorship issues there, just updated aesthetics, but that fool jack kelly does get to print some cut material, too. Might want to drink that all in, it'll have to last for a while.

So take a look at me now,

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Fun_Headshout2

The following is a Headshout. I repeat, it is only a Headshout.

Yale Comics Club's Magazine, Escape!, is OUT NOW!
Featuring original comics plus excellent reprints of:
Dead Squirrel Shenanigans
Quiet Glen Mind Police
Confused AKDMKS
Zero Like Me*
note to self*
*The uncensored, updated artwork now in print.
The preceding has been a Headshout. Had this been an actual comic, it would have been accompanied with backgrounds, bodies, and bubbles.

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Penny_dm.BigRisky

So, the last Deal of Doggie Mojo is out in the latest issue of the Penny Dreadful.

In "Big Risky," the volume finale, Lillis confronts the Galaxy Police's mighty Admiral Megan Megan.

As I understand it, the story's getting massive edits, so even I don't know how this one's turning up. It may also be changed into a more finite ending, but it was written to continue on, so who knows how this'll shake out.

Ridiculously busy. Full update and pencils coming soon.

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YDN_zlm.SoArbitrary

That's right, walk away.

Zero Like Me #60:
So Arbitrary
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in Panel 2.

Fun Facts: Silliman master's house.

Baa: Quite busy right now.

End of semester thank yous--

Thanks: Reed, Pete, Harrison, Sarah N.

Special thanks: Richard, Sarah M., those people that found me in the JE computer lab, Mr. C.

Updated artwork on this and the semester's backlog coming soon.

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Fun_FinalExit

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am no Ex!t fan. Their only real attraction is Jeopardy!, but beyond that I just can't get into it no matter how many times I try; I'd take the Crayon over Ex!t any day. I'm doing a paper for my comedy history class, and I came across an interview with big time Ex!t alumna, Allison Silverman '94, (Late Night Conan, Daily Show, and Colbert), and even she gave the Crayon a vague thumbs up over her own troupe.

Asked how the Ex!t Players differed from Yale's other groups, she responded, "I thought they were the flat-out funniest. There was another group that performed long-form material, but I didn't really understand that method until after I graduated. In retrospect, I prefer long form. But, at the time, short form was my preference." (Mike Sacks, And Here's the Kicker, 234)

But to stay positive, here's a sketch from a meeting about college seminars. I was just in it to push JE to get first dibs on a comedy writing seminar, but it looks like that class didn't even get picked up at all! Anyway, I think it's hilarious that this guy is so JE, and yet he's actually quite agreeable. I'm a big fan of voices, and he's got one of my favorites: it makes me think of Napoleon Dynamite mixed with peanut butter. Haha.

I just wonder why he and this guy do not have accents. I'm from California, so I'm pretty ignorant, but aren't Southerners supposed to have accents? I've only heard one legit "Y'all come back now, hear?" sorta Southern accent at Yale ever. It was so ridiculous, I thought someone was making fun of Southerners, but that was how the person actually spoke! Hilarious! Okay. Better stop talking about Southerners before I get into trouble.

Finally, here's a Zero sketch for the kids, also drawn during the Ex!t show, which brings me to my main point--this time it's for real: never will I ever attend another Ex!t show. No more $2 entrance fees. No more sitting patiently for Jeopardy!, that's it.

It's no real loss, since no one in the gang is particularly fun to draw anymore, although there's that Yugoni (pictured above), who looks just like Genchaka. And that guy was seriously fun to draw. It's got to be the shnauz. Intense.

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Herald_zlm.UpInSmoke

It's like there's a nuke in my mouth and everybody's invited.

Zero Like Me #59
Zero Romance #12:
Up In Smoke
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Easter Eggs: Romance 12 on fallout sign. Mr. K refs two people. The first is one of my elementary school teachers who really did get arrested, but for something entirely different from drug use. The second is one of, if not the first Yale people I met beyond my FroCo(s) and my suitemates Freshman Year. Pretty much since my second week at Yale, he's been so welcoming and supportive personally, even before the comics, and especially this year, but it is a horrid fact that he is weeks from graduation. Also, ref'd a freakishly stylish lad; 98% of the time during class, I couldn't understand a word he was saying, although he seems to like comics, so beyond his killer style, he's all aces.

Fun Facts: I'm considering quitting the Herald, and I was just about convinced to stay on until I met a fan in the JE lab while scanning this, who says that although he rarely reads the YDN even he knows my comics, but only from there, meaning (all jokes aside), people really don't read the Herald. So it seems like a wise business move to blitz the YDN, but the Herald is finally becoming the haven for comics I always knew it was and could be again, so aside from pure loyalty, I feel I should stick around since it is more comics-friendly. I hate to be so upfront, but if you have any input, please give me some advice on what to do and where you read my comics, either by voting in the poll in the top right, or by emailing or something.

Obviously there's the bias that since you've found this site, that means you know I'm at both papers, but I'm interested in that majority who only read me in print. The YDN and the Herald do not put comics online competently if at all, so the only real way to gauge my comics is through my site(s), which I do not actively promote. And way more people read me in print than online, so this site only offers me a sliver of the picture, so I cannot know how valuable the Herald is. I suspect a significant amount only know/read my YDN stuff and I'm wasting my time at the Herald, but I do know there are people who really like the Herald so I'm at a stalemate and I need to make a decision soon.

Baa: It weirds me out when aesthetically powerful people talk to me, and it also weirds me out when people I've never formally been introduced to address me by name, so imagine my panic attack when the smoker chap from today's comic started a quick conversation with me in the YDN office.

Okay, it's time for my semesterly thank-yous.

Thanks: Rachel, Joe and the nice Heralders, Claire, Takeshi Obata, Kim Young-Oh, Garry Trudeau, Aaron McGruder.

Special Thanks: Kirk, Mr. Kanter.

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YDN_zlm.TechNoLogic

Because all that typing really is furious note-taking.

Zero Like Me #58:
Tech No Logic
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Easter Eggs: Professor Garcia Marquez lecturing about Borges (a double whammy of torture). Sigh, Myahaha, and Pfft. My horrific Spanish essay translated back into English is today's lecture.

Fun Facts: The time on the computer is when the class is supposed to end, and yet it keeps on going, doesn't it? Also, this is the second of my two mandatory technology-themed comics, so like Spanish, I am now done with them forever as far as I can tell.

Baa: I most definitely want to go back to Japan.

By lunch time: No more Spoonglish ever! Take that, Mom!

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