It always trips me out how the colors on my iPad vary so much when I transfer it over to my color calibrated Macbook. Makes me so curious to think what it looks like to everyone else on their different devices. At least when everything was print nobody had to worry too much about the colors after it went out into the world.
Wormwood
I figured it was time to go back to the beginning, the day when the comet Wormwood crashed into the earth leaving a huge crater in Siberia, poisoning the Lena river and affecting millions. The very handsome, very rich Nick Voland, who quickly jumped on the land grab, built a revolutionary petroleum and natural gas mine once the "shaft of the abyss" revealed its many treasures previously buried deep within the permafrost. The sulfuric acid rising from the pits causing acid rain to fall for miles around the facility. It does nothing to help the indigenous people who have depended on the Lena river for thousands of years.
I thought what could be more devilish in nature than using your power and influence to grow both at the cost of the welfare of the nature that surrounds you? Abaddon Industries sounds innocuous enough, who would think a handsome, wealthy guy like that could hurt anyone? I think our trio of heroes knows nothing of these events and think that today is a day just like any other except for a few strange internet broadcasts that flickered on for a second on while they were trying to play video games.
Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) is a bitter plant known for its healing abilities and toxic nature which induces hallucinations and seizures. In traditional herbal medicine is it used from anything from de-worming patients (hence the name) to helping women induce menstruation. It is not a plant for the faint of heart and it is specifically referenced to as a star of apocalyptic proportions in biblical mythology.
Counting Crows
I had to keep counting in panel 1 because I wanted to make sure I got the right number.
House of the Rising Sun
This "prelude" is going to be a three-page spread giving some context to the world of Jojo Barnes before the comic starts on the rooftops of Queen City. Here we see another city view where Adrien Iglesias plays a seemingly innocent looking trumpet. The narration I imagine in Jo's voice reading from her family's old bible where the passages are highlighted in the book of revelations.
The House of the Rising Sun keeps getting stuck in my head as I plan the scenes for this as they go through each verse. There are so many interesting theories I hear from my relatives in bible belt central kentucky about how we are in the end times, which vague imagery can you connect the dots to create a constellation that could be anything from a dog to a jackalope and suddently determines the fate of our universe in real time. So when I created my own conspiracy theory I wanted to get the facts straight so I went straight to the horse's mouth myself.
So this may not be New Orleans, but I think a city like the one I created is just as good as any to start the end times. These dumb teenagers might as well herald the end of all things. And the end of all things might as well come from a climate change nightmare in the guise of an ever so lucrative open fire and brimstone pit to the infernal.
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT <3
I got a few new supporters this last month which is really awesome, thank you I hope you are getting these emails, feel free to comment on things and let me know how I can best reach you. I am relying almost entirely on you, this incredibly tiny network of friends and family to share this work in its infant stages with for any sort of support. The sheer amount of time this sort of endeavor takes--I spent 31.5 hours on this last panel alone. With the contributions I have received so far through this platform I would be able to pay myself enough money to make one of these pages if I was paying myself the Denver minimum wage. I work on this part-time right now and my goal is to be able to work on this full-time so if you can share this page with people who are into this kind of weird art! Please do!
I also have stickers you can buy a ton of (pay what you can) to stick on stuff! Please put them on the bathroom stalls of the grossest bar you know of (for me!) I will even give them to you for free! Comment on this post, reply to this email or share my post linking to this page and I will send you 8 free stickers! Wow! What a deal!
We are literally giving these things away.
If we can get 80 people to pay me $5 a month to make art, and half of those hours I can spend on the comic I might actually get this done by the time I'm 40. So you know, you're basically my boss now. Tell me to draw things. I am willing spend half my free time working on requests, making videos, making merch whatever you guys want (I draw the line at feet pics unless you want feet pics of one of my characters in which case I am willing to negotiate). So let me know in the comments what you want.
Thanks for hanging in there with me <3 By the way if you are looking for a new cool t-shirt, hat, tote-bag, notebook, what have you consider buying one that I designed at my shop here:
https://guttypumpkin.threadless.com/
If you want to see something specific, let me know!
Thanks friends!
Bonus Comic
