Oh if only it were easy to come up with a comment that fits every page. Hmmm.

So okay, if you haven’t figured it out by now. Actually it took me awhile to figure it out myself. But Pitch Girl is in a way, just a grown up version of the Powerpuff Girls.

With Bianca as Blossom, Corbin as Buttercup and Tiara as Bubbles. Now, let’s watch one of the cleverest episodes they ever did.

You wouldn’t know it, but I used to do a GREAT Mojo Jojo impression.

So, me being clever warning. I’m using a repeat structure to make a point about the differences between the girl’s evenings. That line of course being “That’s what I like to hear.” So yeah, look for that again.

You may also recognize this balcony as Becky Vice’s balcony from a previous scene.

Man I sure wish Bianca’s feet didn’t look so much like hands here. Hmm. Well I promise I will get way better at feet as time goes on. This is actually part of a larger issue. I rarely ever draw the full figure. It’s mostly all medium shots. I think for the sort of comics this is, its not to awful. But I wonder. Maybe I should watch “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way”

Man, John Buscema’s hatred for Stan Lee just comes through the screen

So this joke is in reference to a story I read about the Dead Milkmen. I remember reading a quote in one of their liner notes. Something to the effect of,

“Some people seem to think we had a rock and roll life style. That’s not true at all. The best we ever did, was one night after we really killed it on stage, I bought the guys a Fudgie the Whale cake.”

That’s one of the best “realities of being in a band” quotes I’ve ever heard. Hey, let’s watch a classic video from The Dead MIlkmen… one that’s not Punk Rock Girl

And then of course there is this classic Carvel ice cream cake moment from The Critic

One of the number one things I love about living in NYC. Bodegas. Being able to buy a coke and M&Ms and 3 a.m. is something I will never take for granted. Okay, so the 24-hour gas station buy my house. I call it the “Gas Station of Shame” because at some point I am going to have to buy beer / condoms / coffee / onion rings at 3 in the morning from that place. None of these reflect a healthy life style.

Of course, its not the place I call “The Best Bodega Ever”. Check it out

Can anyone tell me the artist who did these decorations? I know they also did the artwork for 5.99 DVD Funhouse.

So yeah, this joke is almost word for word a gag from the English dub of the Dominion Tank Police anime. Seriously, you know how there are things you see as a kid and they stick with you for like forever? That anime is definitely one of those things for me.

Here lets watch the video shall we:

I dunno. Am I ripping off to much here? I honestly mean it as an homage to something I love.

I am making a pretty abstract reference here. But its to a friend, so I feel its justified. This is based on a scene from Karl Christian’s old Angst Boy comics.

Karl has gone on to do a ton of awesome work.

Including his Byron series which I did some pin up art for.

Not only is Karl an amazing artist. But he was one of the first people to be super cool to MK and I at comics conventions. Something I am eternally grateful for.

A return of the hand breaking the 2 dimensional plane here. Done much better this time I believe.

So lets get into my mind set. That girl in the background for one panel here. I probably spent like and hour on her design. WHY? Ha ha! I don’t even know. In most cases I just use the non-descript shadow people. But here I felt the need to fully render a character.

Oh so the shadow people. That I totally got the idea for that from Kare Kano. Whenever they would have to draw a crowd of people, they would just draw a mass of non-people. Let’s take a look.

That’s right. I was the geek who was in Anime Club in college. I mean I grew out of that. You know, cause I’m a bastard who can’t enjoy anything nice. But still. I obviously got like, half my artistic ideas from that stuff.

There are few things finer than sitting at a shitty bar and spending the evening chatting up a girl you’ll most likely be making out with that evening.

Still, it’s funny for me tor write about these pages a few years later when my drinking and smoking has gone way down. Even if went home alone, I loved to ride the subway back to my apartment with double vision and pass out in the tub. Only to have my roommates banging on the bathroom door hours later. Waking me out of my drunken slumber.

This is all the more ridiculous considering I was inadvertently straight edge until I was 21. Shoot, I even lived on the “No drinking, no drugs” floor in college. You know, if you ever want a reason to not drink; get raised by an alcoholic. Still one must have a sense of humor about these things. And so, one of the best sketches by the Kids in the Hall

A level of story telling hardly ever seen by me. I actually taught a college course on The Graphic Narrative last semester. It pleases me to know that I can actually tell a story without overloading the page with dialogue. I know most people point to Jason as the master of the wordless comic. But for me, the best wordless comics I have ever seen are Ron Rege’s stuff in Skibber Bee-Bye

So yeah, I am sure you can guess. HUGE influence on me.

This rampant sexuality. I am reminded of a story John Waters told about how when he and Divine would be out at a party and one of them would spot someone they wanted to take home that night. Their code word to each other would be “Get it!” Let’s spend some time with the man himself.

On the last page I was talking about how I was doing my best to capture the way in which women speak to each other. Do I get it right here? From my experience with women, I think so. Its kind of something I have always tried to include in my writing. This idea that women can be sexually aggressive. I know, its sounds ridiculous to say it. But in the conservative environment in which I grew up in, that sort of thing was totally unheard of.