Record_BioethicsCover

This is the cover to the Yale Record's Bioethics Issue.

Easter Eggs: My birthday is the machine's serial number and the Record's founding year, 1872, is on the center sticker.

Fun Facts: This setting is based on the Timothy Dwight library's computer cluster because our EIC was TD I guess (beautiful library, btw). It's my first major full color effort.

Baa: I kinda hate TD. It's so ridiculously beautiful, but it seems to be the most legitimately cocky college, despite it being the most marginally "Yale" (before the 13th and 14th arrive, that is). Saying you are living the Yale experience when you live in TD is like saying you're living the American experience when you live in Alaska. Technically true, but come on, who's kidding who? You didn't live on Old Campus, and you are surrounded by bagel shops and coffee huts rather than Yale buildings. At least they're close to Willoughby's. Oh wait, so is JE.

Boola boola.

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Fun_AlexisTheCrew

Alexis
Blight.

Proud
Nigerian.

Proud
New Jerseyan.

Proud
Cantab.

Reluctant
Bulldog.

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Record_KangasTran

These are drawings for the Yale Record, the nation's oldest college humor magazine.

So this first piece, from the Women's Issue is captioned:

Cheap
Surrogate
Motherhood.

Easter Eggs: Old Owl soaring in Lion King-inspired background.

Fun Facts: Originally slated for the preceding Biochemical Issue.

This Women's Issue original's caption reads:

The Difficulties of Becoming a Women Novelist.

Easter Eggs: ...I can't remember where I hid the Old Owl reference, but I'm pretty sure it's ee'd as "owl" in text. But Crying Game on parchment.

Fun Facts: This was drawn on the way to the last Culture Draw of my life.

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Fun_LindaLindaLinda

The Tokyo Werewolf recommended this movie and with Spring Break finally comes a chance to see it, so earlier today I went to the Film Center and checked out Linda Linda Linda, a title that evoked a chuckle from the clerk lady.

So this is a drawing of Kei, the cool girl in the band. I loved the scene when they go to StudioQ for the first time to practice and the Ex-Boyfriend helps out and they are still kinda fussy around each other in a charming way.

But I have to agree with the Werewolf that Son (the Whit's Viz-translated version of her name) kinda steals the show. Seeing Son struggle with the language and yet still kinda instinctually communicate was pretty endearing, plus there's the irony of her being the lead vocalist of the band despite being the weakest in the language, which was a cool sort of underdog-becomes-cool thing. The kokuhaku scene where she doesn't quite understand that the boy is confessing his love to her at first and then has to figure out how to gently tell him she's not interested was hilarious, precious, uncomfortable, and wonderful.

The Film Center closes for the rest of break on Wednesday, so I only get two more movie days...

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MAY_WeirdRomance

I did some work for MAY.

This story was about weird classes at Yale. I drew it on the train ride to and from the very last Culture Draw of my life.

Easter Eggs: Harley Quinn's costume.

This one was about Yale girls losing Yale guys.

I just get the story ideas in advance to draw off of, not the actual articles, but had I received the full article beforehand there's no way I'd ever associate myself with this unfortunate article.

I thought it was going to be a cutesy sort of anti-romance story, but it's just...ugh. I'm embarrassed.

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YDN_zlm.BreakingOut

~17 hours until my thesis is due.
Zero Like Me #89:
Breaking Out
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Thesis's about comics but I couldn't care less because
I'D RATHER BE DRAWING COMICS THAN WRITING ABOUT THEM.

 

BREAK IT DOWN!

[Update]
Easter Eggs: Iron Giant and Bull tales.

Fun Facts: Z never goes home for break unless dorms are closed.

Baa: I decided junior year never to leave Yale unless dorms close. I decided Freshman Year never to leave Yale until the very last day dorms are open and always to return the very first day dorms open.

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Herald_zlm.ShirtShow

What kind of idiotic name is "football" for this "sport," anyway?
Zero Like Me #88
Zero Romance #17:
Shirt Show
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Easter Eggs: Romance 17 on building, curious Post-It note on wall. Some city elements inspired by the profile photo of The Ivy League, a great band that broke up.

Fun Facts: They were talking about soccer jerseys in my Icons and Material Culture class Tuesday, coincidentally, but this comic was inspired when I saw someone wearing an AIG United outfit on Beinecke Plaza and I just started laughing when I thought of Z's lines.

I often break out laughing based on hypothetical conversations and adventures I have with people I see on the street (before I turn those hypos into comics) so needless to say, I have difficulty remaining serious around certain people.

Baa: I got a little excited about soccer when I caught a couple games on TV during the last Global Glass, but it's just too much Oh! So close! moments with hardly anything actually happening. And there's hardly any drama: you know a team's not making a miraculous comeback at a certain point.

My favorite memory is when this Chilean dude who lived across from me Freshman Year was in our suite one day raving about a game he saw where one team "slaughtered" the other. Unimpressed, I asked, "Really? What was the score?" His spirits dropped in defeat, "1-0." Pwnd.

Soccer sucks. It's all about baseball, what what?

USA! USA! USA!

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YDN_zlm.RINASFS

Who's cuisine reigns supreme?

Zero Like Me #87:
R.I.N.A.S.F.S.
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Easter Eggs: x_jk and "Yale" in panel 1.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is just outside of Bass slash "The CCL," where many a smoker takes a toke despite a tiny sign I just discovered while drawing this comic that dice "no fumar." Also, this comic got killed by my old editor last year, actually!

Baa: I don't get how people can sleep at night after they use that slur...how can they not feel horrific after uttering it?

Some nights it gets so bad,

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YDN_zlm.Shenanigans

And now for something completely different.
Zero Like Me #86:
Suicidal Squirrel Shenanigans
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2.

Fun Facts: This comic is inspired by a song by Yale's master of pathos. I feel like he is severely underrated at Yale; but I guess that makes him cooler, right? Like a secret underground kinda thing? Anyway, this guy rocks; you can keep your Michael Jackson cover artists, thank you very much (not that I don't like a fine cover). Today's title is inspired by the original comic of Yale's master of surprises. She is easily my choice for MVP of everything.

Baa: I saw the Crayon this Saturday, solid fun. Total buzzkill, though, cuz sitting right behind me was a gang of Ex!ts in matching little jackets, and as I was getting up to leave, I heard one nearly spit, "That was pretty funny," like he was appraising them, throwing them a bone. He said it like how the Nonchalant Super Cool Kid in the teeny-bopper movie reluctantly pays the Loser Main Character Kid a compliment (being careful to direct the comment towards his Henchman Kid, rather than the Loser Main Character Kid himself) after the Loser Main Character Kid just finished undeniably amazing the gymnasium full of hooting and hollering Extra Kids.

I'm telling you, the Crayon and Ex!t need to throw down in a series of one-on-one knife fights while non-combatant members snap their fingers rhythmically. I hated having to miss the two groups go head to head last year, but I heard the Crayon won, so all's well. I see Ex!t/Crayon as the Harvard/Yale of Yale improv; I guess I don't like Ex!t cuz they're sorta just...Harvard. The Crayon's totally Yale, though: scrappier and underdoggier, but awesomer. I guess that means JAW is Princeton! Haha. Sorry, Princeton!

I also gave sketch comedy a shot this weekend after someone requested I check out their group, Fifth Humor...wasn't that crazy about it, but they certainly nuked Red Hot Poker as advertized. I think I'll stick with crayons, though...they're the safe bet.

UPDATE: Ah! I completely forgot--Thanks Mr. Anonymous--yes, this song inspired the comic: how would I handle the subject matter?, but I decided to go all out and actually make them squirrels in homage to the "Sword in the Stone," because that was the first animated movie to make me want to cry. I couldn't understand why, but when I was little I always got really, really sad when Arthur rejected that squirrel girl. So yes, brilliant eye, dude. I can't believe I forgot--I wrote a little note to myself right there on the comic, too...

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YDN_zlm.WiiruSmissu

If you see Will Smith around, please do thank him.

Zero Like Me #85:
Wiiru Smissu
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" and dice silhouette in panel 1.

Fun Facts: Will Smith is pretty cool for reasons I hope you will be able to see soon enough!! I started then shelved this comic a while ago but thought it was relevant to run today because first: I'm absolutely exhausted this week after running the Master's Tea goings-on, so it was helpful to work on a comic that I'd already started drawing. But it was also pretty relevant because of how Will Smith has intervened into recent events! Take notes, Yale Herald: There do exist helpful, monied people.

Baa: I am really having difficulty with the Herald right now; it's becoming an environment I am ideologically opposed to, you know? After a lifetime of never having real financial security, I really can't stand when people trivialize money. I feel like the Herald is playing games with money, large sums of money, and I find this absolutely detestable.

Anyway, I'll be comicsing at Calhoun tonight throughout the dinner shift, and I'll be at Silliman Saturday. So...yeah.

And huge thanks (and congratulations!) to Kazu Kibuishi for flying out from California for the Tea. In four years of Master's Teas, this was the greatest I've ever experienced, no contest. And the Yale Bookstore just got in its shipment of Amulet 1, and there are still a few 2's left, so you'll want to pick those up so you can feel snooty and elitist when the movie comes out!

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YDN_zlm.OrangeGroove

It's like it rhymes with orange.

Zero Like Me #84:
The Orange Groove
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 3, bunny sweater, courier costume, shameless ad for the Tea in panel 1, refs to The Orange Grove in panels 1 and 3 and Copper in 4.

Fun Facts: I really feel like a part of the team at the YDN now cuz there's a ridiculously bad factual error in this piece! As I learned from my esteemed guest, the Kazu Kibuishi (who will be speaking at a Record/JE Master's Tea today at 4:30pm) over some bowls of noodley-Chinese(?) food*, the Amulet movie, along with several other Will Smith-related projects is being shelved...!

*Yeah, I ate non-comfort-zone food.

Baa: I also learned how to pay for a meal with a credit card at dinner last night! I have actually never had to pay a check at a restaurant so this was my first time using that little credit card pamphlet thing and all that. I don't know how I will survive after Yale. In a related item, ordering at drive-throughs freaks me out.

Ok, Tea time is 4:30 at JE! It's going to be neat! Kazu Kibuishi knows all kinds of industry stuff and his artwork is jaw dropping, his comics are hilarious, poignant, and moving! Plus there's huge Flight, Amulet, and artists-of-Flight news afoot. Some copies of Amulet 2 remain at the Yale Bookstore; Amulet 1 is sold out, but they may have restocked by now.

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YDN_zlm.SnowyLocks

I prefer mustard, myself...

[Update: Final art up top.]

Zero Like Me #83:
Snowy Locks
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Easter Eggs: Decomposer crow, Karate Kid ref, and "Yale" in panel 1. Riff on my favorite Shaggspeere quote in panel 3 (Big Macbeff to "Dolla Dolla" Bank-qwo). What looks like egomania (panel 1) is actually fun-filled self-destruction (panel 4)!

Fun Facts: Snow's melting now, but these Yale snowmancers know what's up. Also, this comic was begun a while ago when it was a bit colder, but who knows if snow will return, so I gotta use it now or perhaps never cuz of that whole graduation thing. That's the worst part--gotta rush stuff out because any missed exits are gone for good on this hideous temporal freeway.

Baa: On Saturday night after dinner, I received what may be the greatest gift I've ever received for anything. If you dropped that note off for me, please...who are you? It's murder not knowing who you (any of you) are, I hope you realize that. Not to blow any upcoming comics, but in the spirit of my impending graduation could you please stop lurking...? I try to make myself as accessible as possible online and in person, and if you really do follow what I do, then you know I'm more scared of you than you are of me. If it helps, I've been randomly encountering fans quite regularly this year, but I always get timidly tongue-tied so no one is ever more un-at-ease than me, guaranteed.

I really do want to meet people who enjoy my comics, as you are the only people who matter to me. And you know who and where I be, Note-homie, so help me out, aight? Peace.

Ahem. Speaking of last Saturday night, my rootbeeraganza at Branford went great, with all 12+ rootbeerios flying off the shelf. More free stuff here, by a Yale artist well worth paying for. I ponied up the 2 dollars last December, but he's giving them away for free now!

And, well, in the spirit of this do-or-die openness, I'm secretly comicsing at each dining hall 5-7pm according to this schedule, and you're free to stop by since those are not deadline days, so I'm under less pressure. The headphones are on cuz I can't draw in silence; I'm not trying to shut people out.

All ye, all ye, come home free,

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Herald_zlm.Warebitland

Can I get some help now?
Zero Like Me #82
Zero Romance #16:
Little Zero in Warebitland
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Easter Eggs: Romance XVI in trees. The whole thing's a tribute to Chris Ware and Windsor "Silas" McCay. Actual dialogue from Nemo and Rarebit in the final panel, plus a Shakespeare ref, even!

Fun Facts: This was a lot of fun to research--I happened to have the complete Nemo and Rarebit Fiend laying around my room cuz I'm supposedly using them for my senior thesis, and I also had a Chris Ware Quimby the Mouse book sitting on deck, too, so I finally figured out how to unite 'em all. I've been wanting to do a McCay tribute since I started Zero Romance, and a Chris Ware tribute since even earlier, so I can now scratch two things off my bucket list.

I love how Chris Ware just goes for the throat, so I tried to go there, too, drawing from some nice little memories I store up for just such occasions.

Baa: I took a course on graphic novels, where I discovered Chris Ware. It blew my mind when I realized you can actually read his comics in multiple ways depending on which panel order you choose, so in my attempt to mimic him, I tried to make this comic as interactive as possible, so you can play around with it--you can read the comic in three or four different ways.

I've mentioned Chris Ware in every paragraph it seems...well he's really that amazing. Ugh, I got so close to getting him for a Master's Tea, but like a wild Suicune, he fled just when I got my hopes up!

Anyway, this comic goes out to you-know-who...

Hey Chris, Final Art Coming Soon,

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YDN_zlm.Promise

Birthday parties are for chumps and suckas.

Zero Like Me #81
Promise
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Easter Eggs: My kicks and "Yale" in panel 1, My Favorite Accident, callback to last year's cake, (Ono) Misty's shirt in panel 4.

Fun Facts: I wear the same brand shoes as Gerard Way! Yes!

Baa: I'm gonna dump my supply of root beer this Saturday @ the staircase leading up to the Branford dining hall in time for dinner just for you. And then I will draw/eat there until closing time. That is how you party.

Betty won't stop listening to modern rock, oh...Final Art Coming Soon,

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YDN_zlm.SellOut

Oh, Zero, you sold out a long, long time ago.

[Update: Final art at top.]
Zero Like Me #80
Sell Out
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Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1, "Y?" means question Yale.

Fun Facts: I wanted to spend a couple comics on the merits of Senior Class Gifting, but turns out the deadline is Wednesday, so we have to cut to the chase today. Go Go Gadget Snowstorm.

Baa: A part of me is really disgusted by the idea of the Senior Class Gift, especially the part where they turn it into a competition and people dare ask you for money slash dare apply any sort of pressure whatsoever to give more money. But a part of me would feel honored to give Yale anything it wanted in a heartbeat, regardless of what it's done to me. If only I had more comics to explore the topic. I'm pretty sure one of the comics would have contained the sentiment, "If you are loaded but you have the gall to ask a financially-aided cockroach for money, you need to step off, you inconsiderate piece of garbage, because some of us have to jump through firey, poop-crafted hoops to do things you can do at your daddy's whim and it's freaking insulting that you are asking me for any amount of money, let alone an increase in anything I already opted to give you." Or something like that, y'know?

I am all right if they ask for money once, but it starts getting irksome on principle when they ask for more money and then announce how much they are giving. How tacky can you get? Get out of my toilet and go back to your gold-laced castles.

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YDN_zlm.UnCertainRomance

Comma turn your head and.

Zero Like Me #79
Un Certain Romance
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Easter Eggs: "Yale," Jenny, ST3 aight?, and WOTC in panel 2.

Fun Facts: This comic, which started as an ill-fated Suicide, is based on some posters found around campus last week. The particular one I used as my reference had some huge footballista-looking dude on it, his neck was ridiculous! Like, HULK SMASH! ridiculous!

Baa: When I was walking down the street in Tokyo one night, this Japanese guy pulled me aside and tried to sell me something. "Socks? Socks?" he offered in a thick accent. He pointed to the placard in his hand, which had headshots of a dozen young, Japanese women, all smiling invitingly. I thought it might be fun to play with him, so I lifted my pant leg and pointed to my socks, and tried to communicate "Thanks, but I already have socks." He was flustered about the dire miscommunication and tried repeating the offer while pointing to his own pants, but decidedly farther up from his ankles. He corrected me, "Not 'socks,' "SOCKS!" I pretended like I still didn't understand what he meant as he began gesticulating towards his...ahem...and graciously declined this man's vehement socks salesmanship. Fun!

I really think romance is almost non-existent at this point. O RLY? YA RLY!

Final Art Coming Soon.

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Herald_zlm.PrettySneakySis

Never let the walls down, never let them in.
Zero Like Me #78
Zero Romance #15:
Pretty. Sneaky. Sis.
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Easter Eggs: Romance 15 in panel 1 of row 2. Sorta J. H. Williams III style (the center of the comic roughly forms a giant outline of Nyao) Jada Pinkett Smith's Oscar gowns plus Anastasia Romanov (animated) inspired Alexis Blight's evening wear. Callback to that tape recorder.

Fun Facts: Scarletto's is based on where I had the greatest meal of my life.

Baa: I don't know what people wear on dates, so I just went for Oscar wear. It sucks that male fashion doesn't really exist. Isn't that weird?

They apparently scheduled Rise and Return on the same night as the Yale-Harvard basketball game again, but I was totally out of the loop so I missed the mini-Game (the only interesting Yale sport, actually) and it was close too, dangit, down to the wire.

Go back to FB01 and chant "do you remember?" to get your fix of depression. Works like a harm.

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YDN_zlm.ASBOValentine

Lonely hearts are lovely longing.
Zero Like Me #77:
ASBO Valentine
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Easter Eggs:"ASBO" and "Yale" in panel 1.

Fun Facts: Zero's selectively uncomfortable about sharing, but Nyao can get him to open up.

Baa: I hate eye contact, but there was this one girl once that when you looked in her eyes, it really did feel like you were sitting in the most comfortable chair imaginable; it was weird.

Can't wait for the Miron show tonight! AND tonight's the final JE BAR Pizza night of my life...bittersweet (as is everything good this year).

Some Valentine's tunes to help the hurt: Nobody Loves You, Lovefool, Sunny Day.

Stay thirsty, my fiends,

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