ZLM_Chaser

Don't do school, stay in drugs.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #120: Buiikikaesu Pt.9: Chaser
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-First Comic-

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Are we breaking the fourth wall in panel 1? Tough to say...

Fun Facts: Today's setting is JE.

Baa: Had some technical difficulties earlier, so scanning inks and all that had to be delayed... How unprofessional. It breaks my heart, actually.

Ok, and with that, the introductory Buiikikaesu arc is over. And now we can all move on and rock on but you keep on singing that same song; let bygones be bygones, and you can go on and get the [hey] on. You and yo mama.

Reuxben

ZLM_TheCatReturns

With every breath....

Zero Like Me [Alive] #119:
Buiikikaesu Pt.8: The Cat Returns
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Callback to this comic...

Fun Facts: Today's setting is JE. And it's probably worth repeating that today's guest star, Alexis Blight, is not based on a real person per se; her name comes from one of the rockin'est professors at Yale plus one of my old classmates, both being incredibly neat people of course, it just so happens they have cool, villainous-sounding names that I like. Coincidentally, it turns out this exact combination of names happens to be shared with a real person, apparently a college athlete, so...yeah. Sorry if you googled the real Alexis Blight and got stranded here.

Baa: I had to take a ballroom dance unit as a part of my high school's janky PE program (the highlight being bowling as the last unit of the year for students with A's) and I remember I had to waltz with a really, really stinky girl. And on top of that, she insisted on singing along to whatever annoying song was blasting in the gym. Why can't we be just like movies? Sigh...anything for an A in highschool, rite?

Zero romance, indeed.

Reuxben

ZLM_HelgaGPataki

Beware the law firm of Bwoing, Whap, and Klonk, trust me.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #118:
Buiikikaesu Pt.7: Helga G. Pataki
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Hey, Arnold! and Plain White T's refs.

Fun Facts: AH! While drawing this, I played THIS on loop! YEAH!! What eerily perfect timing!

Baa: Hugs really throw me off. I dunno. The great Miron once wrote a song that perfectly captured how I feel about hugs, but alas, it's no longer up anymore--basically, hugs have sadly become severely underrated as a social interaction.

Don't just spring it on a body unless he's ready, is what I'm saying. Someone was kind enough to warn me before hugging me, which at least gave me a split second to think, Ok, how do I politely get out of this situa--*hugged*--ok, I guess we're hugging, then.

But I generally don't hug back because I'm still busy mentally bracing myself for the hug, even while it's occurring, which I'm sure freaks out the hugger, when the hug-ee is just standing there motionless, looking uncomfortable, nervous, and perhaps even constipated.

Hugs must not be such big deals. -- Miron
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na,

Reuxben

ZLM_Kokuhaku

Somebody failed sensitivity training.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #117:
Buiikikaesu Pt.6: Kokuhaku
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-First Comic-

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Linkin Park logo in panel 2 bushes.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is in JE. Today's guest star is Alexis Blight. If I could make a kokuhaku myself, I think I kinda like coloring...

Baa: A music review today. I listened to Linkin Park's new album A Thousand Suns on loop while working on this, and you know what? I really like it. It's radically different from any of their prior albums, especially their first two (defining) albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora, but it actually still does feel Linkin Parky, believe it or not. Despite their efforts, there are actually still some rather strong traces of their old selves in this latest album, particularly from their previous album. "Faint," "Forgotten," "The Little Things Give You Away," (and especially) "What I've Done,"and more all feel subliminally echoed in Suns underneath their yet incredibly new sound.

Their last album, Minutes to Midnight was also a huge stylistic change-up, but I really didn't take to the album (and it blew my mind when I heard it was on various best-of lists). I've only listened to Minutes a few times and then only out of guilt for letting a long-playing gift gather dust. This latest change-up redefines Linkin Park in a refreshing and reinvigorating way. It makes all their old stuff sound a touch odd and even more dated than had been apparent after I revisited their first two albums after a long break from the band.

Listening to the new album and then listening to their first two is like returning to see your grandparents as an adult only to realize that the quaint, folksy mannerisms you remember of them from childhood visits were in fact actually racist diatribes. Ok, not really, but you get the idea. The old stuff is whack. A Thousand Suns has permanently changed my perspective on Linkin Park as well as its old, once-endearing work.

My Chemical Romance, my favorite band (ok, maybe a hair behind Motion City Soundtrack?), has been explicitly making the very band-redefining promises that Linkin Park did about Minutes and most notably Suns, but I couldn't fathom what that promise meant. Now I have seen radical change twice-over via Linkin Park (their latest twist being for the better), so now I can grasp MCR's promise to make their old, classic material feel obsolete. If they can similarly innovate, I cannot wait to hear their fourth album. My only trepidation lies in losing my present love for Three Cheers and Bullets.

Through Linkin Park, I've seen that positive redefinition can be done by a band I enjoy and am already quite familiar with, so now all eyes (well...mine) are on MCR to see what they do and how they do.

Fingers crossed for a little more A Thousand Suns, a little less Minutes to Midnight -styled innovation,

Reuxben

ZLM_Interlude

Note to self, draw faster.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #116:
Buiikikaesu Pt.5: Interlude (Say What?)
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1.

Fun Facts: Today's setting is between Branford and JE. This is my first time digitally inking ZLM because my pens are just about dead, and so now was as good a time as any to give it a try. Today's guest star is Alexis Blight...no relation to the athlete.

Baa: The YDN asked me if I'd be up for contributing more comics, so I think I'm back in the print edition on Tuesdays. I started ZLM on Tuesdays nearly two years ago, actually, so we've come full circle now, isn't that neat? Since I'm submitting as an alumnus, does that mean I'm technically syndicated my first year out of college? Take that, actual-syndicate-editor-who-I-unwittingly-met-at-Comic-Con. Ok, fine, not really.

Burying the lede: If you're a Yalie visiting for the first time, hello. This comic started in the YDN in October 2008 and continues online as a personal project after I graduated in May 2010. Whatever runs in the YDN is likely to be lagging a bit behind what's currently posted here on this site, and there's always the Zero Like Me archives, so there you go. Happy to be your study break. Neat.

Reuxben

ZLM_ArtisIvey

Aww, here it goes.
Zero Like Me [Alive] #115:
Buiikikaesu Pt.4: Artis Ivey
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 1. Throbbing slap damage from last time.

Fun Facts: You can be a method actor by actually being what you intend to portray in a role in preparation for that role, but is there method comicsing? I've got a cold, so my nose is streaming boogers right now and my eyes get super watery after I sneeze, making for some solid first-hand experience with all this boogery, teary stuff. So maybe that's method, man.

Baa: I used to be so crazily not into rap, but ever since college, my appreciation for rap has grown. But rock's still number one, though.

Ahhhhchoo.

Gazoontite.

Reuxben

ZLM_Complexion

Clap your hand, say Wah.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #114:
Buiikikaesu Pt.3: Complexion
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-First Comic-

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 2. Four of the five things I never left my dorm without, plus my drawing lamp and a jack kelly post-it, in panel 1. Also in panel 1, that little Batman keychain trinket thing I got with my ticket when I saw Dark Knight in a theater in Japan.

Fun Facts: I usually only break exterior panels for Herald April Fools' specials, but it's a webcomic, so we're getting wacky...and hey, color. I think we're gonna do more spot coloring.

Baa: One junior year afternoon, I needed to get into Farnam so I asked some obviously fresh man to swipe me in. The blonde/blue dude hesitated upon seeing my positively Amadou-Diallo-like visage, "Uh, I'm a professor and I don't think our swipes work on freshman dorms." I gave the baby-faced youngster an unamused look. "Ok, I'll try," he said, and -surprise- swiped right in to the [read: his] dorm. Now, am I racist for assuming he profiled me? Maybe. But whatever. Thanks for helping out a beaner in need, sir, I salute you.

Look alive, sunshine.

Reuxben

ZLM_Reichenbach

What Emily Dickinson did for dashes, I will do for ellipses.

Zero Like Me [Alive] #113:
Buiikikaesu Pt.2: Reichenbach
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-First Comic-

Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 3. Going all Sherlock Holmes on you, homes. Wrist check, just to be safe...

Fun Facts: Today's setting is right outside of Branford College. The note they're talking about is featured here.

Baa: One night I slipped on some black ice and slashed up my wrist and knee in the fall. The damaged areas hurt for weeks on end and I even had some light scarring, so all the while it looked like I tried to slit my wrist and failed horribly. Hilarious.

Oh, and hey, thanks for tuning in so heartily to the premiere over the weekend, by the way--you all rock. I will do my best to keep you entertained. I'm grateful to be your study break, or to distract you from your cubicle, and/or senate seat (yeah, US Senate computer, I see you wasting time here). Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Removies have to stick together.

All right, let's see how we get ourselves out of this one...

Reuxben

ZLM_Friendship

Hey there, you look familiar...
Zero Like Me [Alive] #112:
Buiikikaesu Pt.1: Friendship
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-First Comic-
Easter Eggs: "Yale" in panel 9. Dedication to Professor Maxwell (my thesis advisor, and many times my professor) in panel 5, to Mrs. Lang (my AP physics teacher) in 7, to Mrs. Suarez (my very first teacher) in 10. Callback to my very first ZLM punchline. Guest starring Harkness Tower!

Fun Facts: Today's setting is right between JE and Branford. To help differentiate between the college period of ZLM and this new era, I'm nicknaming the new one "Zero Like Me [Alive]." Also, the last ZLM from college helps set the stage for this new run.

Baa: Man, my new editor rocks--no more pestering about getting comics turned in at arbitrarily earlier and earlier hours! But seriously, it's pretty weird and pretty neat not having a boss.

All right, let's grow some beards, my fellow has-beens!

Reuxben

Com_OCD

 

So my crack team of Bolivian lawyers and Canadian phrenologists advised me against premiering on a Wednesday, so please enjoy this commission instead.

This is actually a special favor for some d00ds in New Haven. But in any case, if you would like to help me out of a rough spot and commi$$ion a drawing, please let me know via email. Ask about the Yale Discount*!
*Bones pay double. Keys quadruple. Teehee.

Okay, Friday's when spit gets real. See you then for an extra-packed comic.

By the way, hope you had a happy ODC, Yalies. Remember: only chumps and socially well-adjusted people eat at colleges on weekdays!

Reuxben

SLS_LGFUAD

Bathe with your TV, it's Sick Little Suicide #20, "LGFUAD" in which I talk about what's been on my mind lately and hope it isn't taken too seriously. It's like something you can't wait for, yet could just as easily do without!

Easter Eggs: Headlines and mini bios for Lil' Conan and Zero. Not so much ego-maniacal as it is just goofing around with Manny, Mo, and Jack from the "first" Sick Little Suicide [/inside joke]. Costumes inspired by the wonderful Sartorialist.

Fun Facts: We're officially back from hiatus and to commemorate this mo-mental occasion, I've done my first real digital inking effort. Pretty relaxing even though I hate inking...

Baa: This comic goes out to Puerto Rico, Georgia, and Connecticut.

All right, here we go!

Reuxben

Fun_Smokin

Four years ago, man.

Almost to the day.

That's where it was at.

Oh, Yale 2014,
you lucky little rats,
you have no idea.

Good luck and happy trails.

Summer's officially over.

So it goes.

If you've stuck around,
(thanks)
new adventures start next week.

If you're new around,
(thanks)
new adventures start now.

We'll hecka be playing this season by ear.

Let it drop.

Reuxben

Fun_FloatAway

Honey, look at us now.

It's the nature of the experiment.

Taking me in increments.

We could be killers.

People, people, people!

Places, people, places!!

The show must go on!

Call your boyfriend.

Reuxben

Fun_LaRopa

An experimental dealio based on that fashion artist style.

You know the one.

Also, we have a new banner up top.

Ojala' que te gusten.

Reuxben

Fun_BatterUp

Been feeling like there's glass grinding in my stomach for the past couple of days, and like there's a loaf of suffocating cotton stuffed in the back of my neck, and like my skull's in a vice, and like my ears have been permanently plugged.

Relentless, this state I'm in.

But as far as I can tell, I don't have a cold or anything...just extreme soreness in my neck and a bad headache that won't go away.

I guess it's just been one of those days...all in a row.

Maybe it's my lousy work station set up plus the weird hours I work...Better take it easy next week.

But hey, ZLM writer's meeting tomorrow.

Aren't we excitement?

Yeah.

Can't wait to get back in there.

Reuxben

Fun_G-Unit

I'm on the Internet
looking up cures
for extreme doofusness.
No luck yet,
but don't lose hope, Ben.
--Gwen, Ben10

You never seem
to run out
of things
to say.

I met Alex Soto
this past Comic-Con
and we were talking
and I totally forgot
to ask him
for a job.

Dang.

Reuxben

Fun_BLAM

What if
I can't
forget you?

Sometimes I miss Yale so much
I want to throw up.

I feel like a ghost
with unfinished business.

What's so good
about picking up
the pieces
?

Zero Like Me [Alive]
Season Premiere
T-Minus Two Weeks

You'll be excited
just to see me
some day.

Are you out there?

Reuxben

Fun_Danny

Before he was king of the elves.
Before he had ousted the goblins.
Before he was even an elfman...
He was just Danny.

Introducing...
Danny Elfboy

Coming this fall...

Reuxben

Fun_Plaza

 

Testing out my new sketch pad...kinda don't like it...
Testing out our ancient printer's scan function...kinda don't like it...

The paper's so rough, it's hard to shade, erase, and sketch comfortably. And the scanner is so randomly uncooperative. So weird to work traditionally now...kept wanting to just click undo, but now ctrl+Z takes forever cuz it's a bunch of little erasing gestures...so bizarre that crazy paper and pencil idea is to me now.

I need a jabba. Fingers crossed. For now, commissions will have to do.

You too can have a drawing, just a$k.

Reuxben

Fun_ThisIsInsane_WIP

Speaking of animals, here's another Work In Progress from my mysterious little series of fan arts.

I sorta exist nocturnally now. I hate (and am horrible at) going to bed, so I only go to bed when I know I am exhausted enough to collapse after a couple chapters. So while I was drawing the other night, a skittering shadow hopped near my leg outta nowhere. It was like 4am, so I thought the tiny specter in my peripheral vision was some kind of baby rat. Turns out it was a random little frog that got in the house and made his way to me somehow. Freaked me out.

They ever morph frogs? No...right?

Reuxben

Fun_DigiDigiDigi

For a detour from the regular work (so close to completing it...), I finished the shading job on my very first digital drawing.

And with that, it's time to party the only way I know how.

Pursuits in creativity.

Or emails.

Reuxben

Fun_Let'sDoIt_WIP

Today's art is based on a property near and dear to my heart, but more on all that later, as this is a work in progress while I finish up a commission I dare say has been my most challenging piece yet. Yale related, to boot. Least I'm gettin' paid, son. Oh wait...

So I never wanted to leave Yale, but my subconscious keeps jabbing me with memories (real or imagined) of the good old days. And then today, I finally got the dreaded bump from "student" to "alumni" classification here. Which reminds me, I likewise have to tweak this site, too...

I guess on the bright side, I'm now listed right next to my old boss and they updated the student section to include one of my old colleagues. Now if they could just do something about out-dated sites clogging up the directory, or at least have some sort of search enabled.

Runteldat,

Reuxben

Fun_Tower

Woke Saturday with my left arm randomly cramped up in agony. I'm right handed, but I use my left to stay balanced while drawing (I often even rest my head on my left hand to get extra steady).

Woke Sunday with the right side of my body aching. Maybe it's from prolonged drawing on the dining table in a dining chair (I don't have a proper desk or chair).

Well, despite the delays on commissions, we should be back to the beat now-ish. In the meantime, here's pastel coloring practice, with no smudge tool. Gonna try cel shades again. Pretty excited. The lines turned out pretty neat...

Reuxben