Haulin' Ass to Lollapalooza

 -- Here we go again!!

After April's 30 Days of OC's event over at Comicfury (which I didn't finish, unfortunately) my art mojo kinda fizzled out a bit. For the last 2 weeks or so, I have been dry as far as new ideas or even ideas for (and the will to) moving forward with the comics I have going... so, I've decided to stop. Temporarily. Sorta.

So, about a year or so ago, before I went into the hospital, the external harddrive which housed about 8 and a half solid years of my drawings, ideas, storylines, world-building and personal pictures and writings malfunctioned. It may be salvageable, but I am not one for blind optimism. That said, I have been working on consolidating whatever I have left and can find strewn all over the internet from the last 3 decades into a personal Discord Server.

I have made a LOT of comics, posters, pin-ups, T-shirt designs, and icons, apparently. Like, A LOT. Anyway, that said, it really hasn't helped me buckle down on my comics any. If anything, it has made things worse, considering how much output I've put out and have really gotten nowhere. Due to this - and the semiannual seasonal depression - I have been slowly taking my comics down from ComicFury as I collect them. I may have to buckle down and do the same with The Duck at some point. At least until I can come up with an idea that I can stick with.

One of my main malfunctions is that I almost never completely ditch an idea - or even a character - once they are cemented in my head a certain way. That's one of the reasons that I created Tiamat 2 or three years ago.

Yes, THAT Tiamat - the 5 headed dragon goddess of destruction and creation.

I made her specifically for the purpose of destroying any comics I was DONE with, from the ijnside and ON PANEL so that I could trick my own broken brain into letting them lie permanently.

So far, she has eaten destroyed a fair few of my old projects.

But, of course - me being ME - I still left a back door or two for cherry-picked favorites from the comics because I am BROKEN.

Anyway, once I am done taking down MOST if not all of my comics from ComicFury and The Duck, it's a matter of choosing and/or creating a NEW project to concentrate on, which has always been my problem. An embarrassment of riches when it comes to ideas and characters but dwindling energy and focus, no help and all-but-non-existent outside interest, engagement and feedback to keep me going.

Not do be cynical, but it seems these days that if One's comics aren't all about zeppelin-tits and free-flowing bodily fluids, no one seems to care.

Mind you, I draw my share of big boobs and the occasional naked cock, but I've never been much of a "Porn" guy.

In the last 2 or 3 years, I have made it a POINT to draw a bit more gratuitous nudity in my works, mainly out of spite that of all the 'Questionable Content' in comics - hell, MOST every kind of media content - nudity seems to be considered the worst sin by the gatekeepers, critics and even a lot of the creators. Hyperviolence, profanity, gore, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, deliberately incendiary social politics, general EdgeLordery? All that is good wholesome family fun to some of these maniacs, but God Forbid there be nipples! I don't understand or agree with that philosophy, but still I am not the "gallons of jizz"/"bimbofication"/Insert raunchy fetish for raunchyness' sake here" type of guy.

At best, sex is funny to me and I portray it thusly in my works. But, if it's not some bizarre fetish/borderline assault/abuse thing, I guess it's too "boring" for the masses.

I'll think of something, but until I do, I think that this site MAY be the only place I'll be posting comics and such for a while until I can cull all my old stuff from the hosting sites.

The Merry Go Round Broke Down.

 I don't know what it is - past trauma, the weather, my own broken brain, a combo thereof... whatever it is, at least once a year I get into that headspace that says "STOP MAKING COMICS".

I assume that the weather may have something to do with it, as spring has sprung here in the Pacific Northwest and the tree jizz, cold winds, hot sun and Mother Nature's inability to make up her damned mind whether to be warm and sunny, cold and rainy or dry, yet grey is really weighing on me. AGAIN.

Zed summed it up for me a couple of years back:

Well, after "The Incident" last week on the ComicFury forums (My suspension has been lifted, btw, yet I can hardly muster the excitement to really give a damn) and the ongoing 30 Days of Characters 2025 event where participants make up new characters or update old ones every day for the month of April - which, this year isn't garnering much feedback and/or engagement for me - I m getting a bit downhearted about my participation in ComicFury and in online comics in general. Unfortunately for me, it is my life.

Like, literally, it's prettymuch all I do and 88% of my engagement with the world, these days.

Comicking is as close to smoking, drinking or drugs as I have ever gotten. (Thank God)  'Cept maybe ages 27 to 29 when I was boozin' it up, but that stopped cold turkey without much fanfare or even effort.

Comicking? It IS my addiction.

This is part of the problem, as I have WAY too many comic projects and characters and worlds and universes inside my head that I feel I HAVE to get out - but I have relatively little focus, older, diminishing art supplies, no real grasp of modern art tech, no help and as stated, my..."GUSTO" waxes and wanes like the moon! Hell, for all I know, The Moon itself may be having an effect on me. I dunno!

What I DO know is that while SOME things have been going positively lately - Getting an iPad from friends. Procreate being very cheap. Finally reinitializing the bank account that I lost when I was in the hospital last year... On the other side of the coin, I find myself way too scattered to concentrate on one property.

It's been going this way for YEARS. I don't know what to do.

My PLAN, however, is to re-connect my new bank account to my lingering paywall-type accounts like Patreon and Ko-Fi, make most if not all of my newer stuff going forward adult-oriented. Not just in the tits and ass way, either. I'm a 'comedy guy', but no one seems to care about 'funny' anymore. They all want violence, body horror, drug use and, yes, good ol' tits and ass. Maybe I should finally break down and oblige them. 

We'll see what's what down the line, but one way or another, I may just have to ditch ComicFury, The Duck and any other Comics Platform I may still be a part of and post any new works for public consumption to THIS page or - UGH - Social Media Accounts.

My Ego 2: Electric Boogaloo

 *sigh*... and I was having such a good day, too.

Long story short - I expressed an opinion regarding the phenomenon of "adoptables". I was apparently a bit 'aggressive and argumentative'. I got banned from the ComicFury forums for a week. I'm not very upset about it. The mod who banned me was professional and (mostly) gracious about it, despite the comment about my "non-apology" regarding the matter. I'm not mad at them because they're right. It WAS a non-apology. 

Mind you, I did apologize for my tone, but not what I said. I stand by that. I won't elaborate on what I said here but yes, it was a negative opinion regarding something that I personally find nonsensical and I'll even admit that it was delivered in an angry, ranting tone. I don't back-pedal and I don't apologize for simply FEELING a certain way. However, the trouble started when I apparently hurt some little zoomer's Pwecious Wittle Feewings regarding an aspect of graphic arts that they hold so very dear, so they figured they had to 'fire back' in defense of their precious adoptables.

Fine. If anyone understands "strong feelings regarding pop culture", it's me. I proffered an explanation as to why I felt that way and sited my experiences, but I guess that just wasn't enough. I've been on the internet for over 28 years, and I have learned that many many folks, particularly those who have no lives outside the internet, want to feel like the Wronged Party in any given argum-- er, "discussion" and Demand Satisfaction. Particularly some of the younger generation. Being the Victim is their seat of strength. This 'Generation War' that they've manufactured never really works in their favor, however, when it comes to MY generation.

I won't break into the "Generation X is feral and we don't give a fuck" shpiel that's been making the rounds across the internet for the last 2 years or so. That goes without saying. I will say that I personally DO give the occasional fuck when some jackass tries to tell me that I'm not allowed to feel the way I feel and gets all sassy at me. As stated, I offered a sincere, neutral explanation for my philosophy to 'Deimosphoibus', the initial person who replied to my rant. 

"Good to know.

Despite my penchant for Nerd-Ragey ranting, my attitude is more borne of sheer confusion than rage.
I admit that I am coming from the outside of this thing and I see it as it was explained to me by others.
I'm also glad to hear that someone is actually USING the OCs that they purchase as that has not seemed to be the case in the many various instances that I've witnessed."

Then someone else (Damatris - whose art and comics I actually LIKE) decided that they were going to 'defend' their precious Adoptables with a snarky, holier-than-thou TONE:

"Why are you so hostile towards people who enjoy adoptables and the concept itself? This is a genuine question since I really don't understand why you apparently hate a totally benign thing you don't have to participate in. People enjoying adoptables doesn't affect you in any way."

I responded in kind. I reiterated the explanation for my opinion and offered an apology for my tone to Damatris, the first person to try to "call me out" or whatever. I did my best to remain at least somewhat stoic in my answer and I offered an admittedly half-assed apology and a genuine reason for my ire to that person as it seems that they just needed to hear one - then, yet another fuck-nut started in with their 2 cents:

Harrie:Very bafflingly aggressive there Proteus. Do you feel this way about every hobby you don't understand..?

That time, I'll admit that I felt attacked and I rarely stand for such bullshit, so I made my feelings plain with a bit of snark and bile of my own.

"Yes. Yes I do.

You should hear the evil, bile-dripping and inflammatory things I have to say about those MONSTERS that are into Pickle-ball.


*sigh* let me try and head this off at the pass before it becomes any more of a "thing".

I said what I said.
My "strong feelings" against a thing are no more or less valid than anyone else's 'strong feelings' FOR it.
I have given an explanation for my position and my tone and have given as close to an apology for said tone as I am going to, but as previously stated, I said what I said and I stand by it.
I am not asking anyone to try and convince me otherwise and to be honest, no one is GOING to no matter how hard they may try.
Endeavoring desperately to 'call me out' or 'shame me' or whatever for an opinion differing from someone else's will bear no real fruit, I assure you.
So, once again and for the LAST time - if anyone took my TONE as rude or inflammatory, I am sorry that it came off that way. I apologize for THAT and that alone.
I do not and will not apologize for the opinion I have formed regarding the issue as it is based on experiences expressed to me by people deeper into the experience itself than I, as well as events that I have personally witnessed with my own eyes, over time. If these experiences are differing from your own, then fine. More power to you. I'm glad these things were more positive and logical experiences that made sense to you.
Such has not been the case for me.

Curiosity sated, yielding negative results and/or a lack of logic that multiple members of any certain populace simply go along with because its popular opinion, tradition or "just the way things are DONE" (Do I even have to drag politics, religion, the internet and 'society at large' in as examples or will that spark another "discussion' where I'm the "bad guy"?) tend to engender a level of anger and disgust within me, due to more negative past experiences with such a mindstate than I can express here without fingercramps and typing blisters.
That's why i was and still AM angry about the phenomenon of adoptables.
That, as well as the previously posted explanation (which I am guessing few have even read), is an explanation for my 'baffling aggressiveness', as I don't give excuses.
While I do hope this makes the aforementioned aggressiveness less "baffling", feel free to take it or leave it.

In the words of Gump - "That's all I have to say about that".

Next topic, please."

Next thing I know, about an hour or two later, I receive a PM from the mod, Andy G. saying that I am suspended from posting to the forums for a week.

"Hey,

I appreciate you apologizing, but unfortunately this really just comes across as a non-apology to me. In fact, the tone is just as, if not more, argumentative and aggressive than your initial post. Tone is a tricky thing over the internet, but we do have a "don't be an asshole" rule for the forums, and the wording of your posts in this thread is unequivocally abrasive and confrontational—you admit as much yourself. You are more than entitled to ask questions or express confusion over something, but this is a shared space, and angrily ranting about something members of the community are likely to enjoy and engage in is obviously going to make people feel bad and start an argument.

For this reason, I am giving you a week long temporary ban from the forums.

Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions."

I have no problems with mods dropping the hammer on me if I'm out of line, and maybe I was out of line at first regarding TONE, but my opinions, however "aggressive" are my own and I am damn well entitled TO them. However, EVERYTHING after my initial apology and explanation of the origin of my feelings was someone  ELSE trying to play White Knight and jumping down MY throat over the expression of an OPINION! I simply defended myself and my position. TWICE. I'll ride out the ban with grace. That's not that big a deal, but I would honestly like to know if  Damatris and Harrie also got a week's grounding. Not to sound TOO stereotypically childish, but They Started It. Each of them could have dismissed me as some grumpy crank who "doesn't get it" and kept their OPINIONS to themselves, but they had to crusade! Does their baiting me get them any punishment? The thread was closed, but it's easy to find out whether or not someone has been posting on CF.

Everyone is so incensed about how angry and aggro I can be? They should have been concentrating on how petty and passive aggressive I can be when I'm pissed off. And, as previously stated, nothing pisses me off like being condescended to, talked down to and told how I'm allowed or not allowed to FEEL, particularly by people that I would bet dollars to donuts are young enough to be my fucking children.

Tales From the Spiffee Burger 006: Bingo!

 

Who else did stuff like this at their jobs in orde to make that asshole customers more tolerable?

Tales From the Spiffee Burger 005: Regular Customers

 

Cookie doesn't like CLOWNS. Someone in my original comments sectio pointed out that those two should really be eating at Krusty Burger, which mafe me remember that there IS a 'Springfield' in Missouri! Perhaps it's a neighboring town to St. Murphy?

Herakles

 A little fanart for a delightful webcomic called Leon x Lykos on ComicFury.

It's Herakles, the hero of yore, wearing the head of the Nemean Lion as a chestplate! I realize that I've spelled the name wrong, according to the comic and for that, I apologize!

Mond you, this comic is very "Greek". So, if youi've n issue with cute guys running around in net-to-nothing, you may want to zip on by, sans comment.

Out of Order

 I've been on, ast least, a little roll, lately, when it comes to Tales From the Spiffee Burger. The first chapter - "Cookie's First Day" is still in full swing. I realize that with that last post being about Cookie, I've skipped ahead in reposting the comics to this site, so I have to remedy that... sorta.

Firstly, let's post the next strip in the rotation. Spiffee Burger #5: Regular Customers

Yes, Cookie has a mild case of Coulrophobia. Someone in the comments section of the original post mentioned that this couple should really be eating at Krusty Burger. Hey, there's a "Springfield" in Missouri, right? Maybe St. Murphy, Missouri, where this comic takes place is a neighboring city - or dimension?

Now. After the last post, it's only fair that I post part 3 of the "Szechuan Sauce" saga.

Good riddance to that guy! And, we find a bit more about Cookie! Psych major! Plus, a little cameo in the bottom panel from Raylin of WynautWarrior's "Hopebringer" comic!

Now, the Szechuan thing was comics numbers 8, 9 and 10. The next time I post a Spiffee comic, it will be number 6 and I will move forward from there. Confused yet?

One last bit of goodness:

Digging through my files, I found the first 2 bits of fanart for Cookie/Spiffee Burger.

One from ComicFury user Casscade of Cookie looking non-plussed:

Going full-circle with the above, every time I look at this bit of art, I can hear Marge Simpson's exasperated groan in my mind's ear.

Also from ComicFury comes this piece by Microraptor, of Cookie before the Spiffee Burger job, where she worked at a Star Trek themed coffeehouse native to Micro's comic, Cryptida.

Quite nice!

Cookie Bellingham

 I've been getting a good bit of mileage out of Cookie Bellingham this last week.

Tales From the Spiffee Burger's current chapter is all about her first day on the job, and the last two pages have her dealing with a "problem" customer.

Y'all know the SZECHUAN SAUCE story, yeah?

5 Nerd Points to the first one who can tell me where Cookie's Pop Culture Reference comes from!

Over on ComicFury, I've done scribbles in certain forums for ol' Cookie as well.

First, there was the "Draw your character in an overly cute style" prompt, in which I made a chibi Cookie.

I probably should have made her eyes bigger.

Then, there's the "Doing Nasughty Art of your Comic Characters" thread in which I posted Cookie's glow in the dark earrings and bioluminescent tattoo.

In the end, I'm glad I put Cookie in the Spiffee Burger comic. The original slice-of-lifwe idea I had for her probably wouldn't have gone too far.

[Bitter] Also, as a footnote, "Happy" 50th birthday to She Who Will Not Be Named. (the FIRST one.)

Here's hoping that getting old didn't agree with you. [/bitter]

Tales From the Spiffee Burger #2: Marshmallows

 Another page of Tales From the Spiffee Burger carted over from ComicFury:

As stuffy as Barbara can be, she does this sorta thing to her sister (and any newbie that she judges to not be a creep) all the time.
Cookie really doesn't mind, but somebody oughtta get the poor girl outta there before she suffocates.

ComicFury Supers

 Here's a random little piece I did some time ago. I think I drew this 3 years ago, maybe and didn't color it until last summer sometime.

It's a shot of various protagonist (and in one case, a selfish jerk) superheroes from some of my favorite webcomics, all hosted on ComicFury Dot Com.

From Lower Left to Upper Right:

Hero Man from my favorite webcomic, Tangentville!

Victory (from Earth 981a) from the comic called Victory!

Mega Maiden from Mega Maiden!

My own Zed Hudson from Zed vs. The World!

Ignition, the titular heroine from that comic!

Jess the Inferno with her mighty sword!

Mr. Mighty, protagonist of Everyday Heroes!

and

Goldstar from Goldstar: of Wishes and Miracles!

Hit up ComicFury and check out some of these sweet superhero comics. I think you'll dig 'em!

Haulin' Ass to Lollapalooza!

 Here We Go Again!!

It's been a while since I gave Blogspot a try, but I'll be honest - I hate modern "Social Media".

Like, ALL of it! Even the ones I LIKE (BlueSky and Instagram... and that second one is really just for the overwhelming number of chubby girls whose entire 'Instagram Persona & Presence' consists of bouncing their ridiculously oversized breasts into their cameras while the worst music in the world plays for the sake of some snarky-ass 'meme'. Don't get me wrong. I'm a red-blooded American pervert cartoonist with an almost stereotypical obsession with gigantic (natural) breasts, but seriously! When did this become a 'thing'? And why wasn't I notified on Day One?!) - Even the ones I like have become tedious.

Being the Old Fart that I am, I miss the heyday of LiveJournal. I miss blogs and journals in general because I am a journaler. A writer. I enjoy expressing my thoughts in full sentences instead of truncated 300-character (or less) text-soup full of abbreviations, L33t5p3ak, 'modern slang' and sheer illiteracy for the sake of manufactured brevity that's supposed to appeal to those short on both brains and attention spans. That's a self-fulfilling prophecy, "BTW".

Also, I miss the days when one could post as many pictures and photos as a rudimentary knowledge of HTML would allow instead of a maximum of four - or worse, ONE - per post! I'm a CARTOONIST, for fuck sakes! So, I have created this page in order to post said thoughts and cartoons, mostly unfiltered, just in order to have a place to do so that isn't DEVIANTART (don't get me started), FURAFFINITY, as I outgrew my 'furry phase' over a decade and a half ago, or out-of-the-way, niche-y spaces like NEWGROUNDS, MASTODON or PILLOWFORT.

So, that being said, here's a smattering of the stuff I'm doing these days. Most of my sequential comics are already being hosted on ComicFury and The Duck Webcomics - both of which I am still enjoying, but I, for some dumb reason, feel weird about posting Nonsequential Arts and One-shot Comics there.

On January 1st, I launched the newest version of my old autobio comic, Shrimp Fried Riot - and took out MOST of the autobio elements. Perhaps this time, the whole damn thing won't come out like some kind of illustrated mid-life crisis turned suicide note.

The protagonists, Mutt & Ozzie are the replacements for 'original' Octavius (me.)

At some point in the future of this blog, I will go back and (re)post all the original Shrimp Fried Riot comics. Also, with the permission of David "ProfEtheric" Hickmon, I started an ongoing comic taking place in a 'SpiffeeBurger' restaurant, which started in his comic, Autumn Bay.

My Spiffee comic began in the pages of my comic "Never Odd or Even";

This was sort of a "back door pilot" that introduced the characters for the ensuing comic:

Things seems to be going pretty well with it, so far.

I also brought back The Honeybees From Heck after a couple years' hiatus. What better way to reintroduce my favorite Girls with Boys' Names AND cement my notion to add more gratuitous nudity into my comics in this, the New Year than with this page:

I figure - why not? Every other graphic artist on the Internet is making pics of random naked people doing random naked things. Why should I be any different?!

And, of course, there's my superhero themed - or should I say Super VILLAIN themed comic, "I Was A Teenage Super Villain", which I am STILL doing 5 years in.

I am in the middle beginning of Chapter 7. So far, only a few members of the titular team have even been seen in this chapter, as I have introduced two other teams in order to set up future storylines, but they'll be back!

And, indeed the whole point for making this blogspot:

Random pics, pin-ups, jokes, NSFW content and Nerd Rage that I really can't post too many other places without breaking the rules or offending the sensibilities of the community at large.

So, this is who I am and what I do. If you dig it, feel free to stick around.