Portrait of a DJ as a (first time) Comic Book Artist.

I didn't collect comic books as a kid. Any birthday or paper route money I could scrounge up growing up would go to buying records or, things like a battery-powered microscope so that I could look at insect wings up close. 

But I do remember one day in grade school, my friend Denis, who sang the bass part on our 1986 cover of Twist & Shout, brought in a copy of Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles issue one. It was like no other comic book I'd ever seen before. I was fascinated with that comic. Everything from the intriguing tone of the writing to the super textured black and white drawings. There were turtles (obviously), martial arts, evil villains, action, adventure, martial arts, turtles and martial arts!! what's not to like? But really, they had me at ninjas. My mom never let me take any martial arts lessons growing up because she didn't want me to get into fights. But I remember my friends and I would make katana, bo staffs, sai and nunchakus (nunchuks) out of cardboard. We even made shuriken (throwing stars) out of tin foil which I got pretty good at throwing acurately (not at my friends but at a target on the wall). Anyhow, I always asked Denis if I could borrow the Ninja Turtle comic to read at home but he said no (the comic actually belonged to his older brother). So instead, he would just bring it to school everyday so I could read it at recess and lunchtime. 

Another early random but possibly related comic book experience from my childhood was Ted Knight's character, Henry Rush, from the 1980's sitcom Too Close For Comfort. I think the show took place in San Francisco. He was a cartoonist and had a drafting table and would draw his comics by wearing a cow puppet on his hand holding a pencil (?). Now I don't draw with a puppet on my hand holding a pencil. Who does that??? but there is a drafting table and puppets sitting around our workshop so who knows, maybe certain synapses were wiring in my young brain after seeing this show?!  For those of you unfamiliar with the series, I found the intro for it on Youtube here where you'll be able to see said cartoonist and the cow puppet. I can't for the life of me remember any of the plots from the episodes. But I do remember thinking, "Oh, being a professional cartoonist looks like it could be kind of fun."

Fast forward 15 years or so. While in the midst of my recordist's block during the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome production, I decided to start drawing. It was kind of a therapeutic exercise that got me some much needed time away from the studio headphones. (FYI I didn't have monitor speakers when I recorded Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I wouldn't get actual studio speakers until my second album).

So I started to draw this character. I named him "Skid". He was the main character in the semi-autobiographical story that would eventually become the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome comic book. He goes on an adventure involving, music, ninjas, and live shows in front of mean audiences. Here, he is looking quite shell-shocked. Trying to find some comfort/safety behind the turntables.

I decided to draw the originals on large(r) drawing sheets. I had no idea why or what I was doing. I had seen an original comic book page in a gallery once and was shocked at how oversized the original artwork was. But I didn't know what size of paper to buy, and wouldn't realize until later that it probably wasn't so necessary to work at this scale. Ninja Tune would package the first pressing of the CTS vinyl and CDs with these books and the vinyl included an 8" version of the book while the CD included a 5" version but these original drawings were wayyyyy larger. So, in order for me to test out how the book would "read" at the smaller scale, I needed to go to the photocopy shop and shrink them to the CD booklet size.  

I would need to go to the photocopy shop 2 or 3 times a week while I was working on the book. The photocopy shop was called Duplicatech and it was on St. Denis Street near my apartment. If there ever was a "regular" at a photocopy shop, that would be me. If I wasn't there working on the book, I was making posters for Bullfrog shows, or J-cards for tapes like Scratchcratchratchatch. It is at Duplicatech that I would befriend Louisa Schabas, one of my dearest friends, who worked there, and would eventually change the course of my life and work forever.  (Another story for a future post, but you've probably already seen her work on some of the other projects Nufonia Must Fall, The Storyville Mosquito, Some of My Best Friends Are DJs, 12 bit Blues)

Below, I was testing some light and fill techniques, I tried fine-lines, wiggles, dots and cross-hatches, and sometimes I would use sharpie. I never really decided on a consistent style for that book because I was just trying most of it out for the first time. The final comic book has a mix of different shading techniques depending on the panel.

This sequence of panels acts as inspiration for the track A Night at The Nufonia.  It encapsulates in one page how I was feeling those years leading up to the release of the album.

row 1)  "5 minutes til curtain, Skid!"

row 2)  Feeling unprepared and being shoved out on stage before you're ready! 

row 3)  and realizing everyone in the audience is mean! and doesn't get what you're doing.

This was the doom-y fictionalized nightmare version of what I thought was going to happen when the record was released.  All my artistic anxieties inked into a cartoon.

These weren't ungrounded fears, since I was well aware that the album didn't fit into any of the music trends at the time. 

But fortunately, the record release didn't roll out quite as horribly.

People were either really excited about it, or really confused, but at no time did I have to deal with playing to an audience full of super angry people.  Welllllllll... there was that one time I had to open for a rock show at The Metro in Chicago on New Years Eve. And the whole audience just started booing the turntables as the stage hands rolled my setup out onto the stage prior to my set. (Funny story, I'll write it down for you another time)

Here is another page from the comic. It starts off in the meeting room of some imaginary record label/multi-conglomerate.  Now, I've not visited many massive corporate music offices (I've happily worked with independent labels my whole career), but the big, corporate offices I have seen always have some strange meeting room. So I had to make this part up for the story. Here's the CEO presenting a plot to distribute their new record-shaped cereal called DISCO FLAKES in order to capitalize on the uptick in public interest in DJs and Electronic music. 

Below is a page where Skid does a "turntable serenade" by setting up a PA system on the lawn. It's inspired by the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet with a dash of the boombox from Say Anything but with turntables and a full PA system. 

In this sequence of panels, Skid chops up 2 copies of Whitney Houston's hit "I Will Always Love You" from the OST to The Bodyguard. 

Those of you who were paying attention at the October Pizza Break will now be able to imagine how that second row of panels will sound in your mind's ear.  Meaning he switches from 33rpm "will always love yoooooooooooo" to 45rpm (up a perfect 4th "eeeeeeeeeeeee" back down to 33rpm "oooooooooou".  

I've always thought it would be a fun to cut up 2 copies of that wax. I have yet to find 2 copies of it on vinyl though. Plus, for context, it will probably have to wait until I do a Valentine's Day show, or a Slow Dance Tour or deejay a Prom or something.  

Those of you who know the comic book, know this isn't the end of Skid's story.  

It's probably not even the end of this post.  But I feel I've taken enough of your time for today.

Suffice it to say the story in the comic book is a story of unrequited love, but it is a love story nonetheless. 

To be continued!

E

PS:  I just read somewhere that the Balcony Scene in Romeo & Juliet isn't real?  What is going on?? First Brontosaurus didn't exist and now this?!  I don't know what to believe anymore?!!!