The End of An Experiment: Comic strips present unique problems; and the more creative one wants to be, the more problems there are. Little headroom is left for captions and, hence, the development of ideas. The format is a straightjacket, although I enjoyed the few years I tinkered with the formula.
In the process of archiving my works on paper in June and July of 2021, I filed comic storyboards with photocopies made at the time of the art’s completion. Toward the end of Blender Kitty, however, I stopped making photocopies. This likely occurred because: One, I ran out of room in binders dedicated to the purposes of storing and displaying photocopies of my comic art; and two, I was soon to undertake a new mode of production for comics, where text was generated on a computer and then added to scanned drawings. This was done for both Profiles in Confusions strips and for the storyboards connected to the Blurred Vision projects. My end product was, by then, digital.
Technically, I could have computer printed copies of these late strips, but chose not to. It is obvious now, and may have been obvious then, that photocopies were superior in quality to computer-generated prints.
Reflections on Content: Humor is a young person’s game, by which I mean that piss and vinegar are required to cultivate it. As one ages, there is less need to criticize our received world since more resources must be dedicated simply to survive it. This is the best answer I can concoct to explain why I gave up drawing funny comics.
Of course, there is a second reason, which is confronted by anyone making humorous content. Social media has created hordes of puritans who, in lacking talent, nevertheless take offense from those who display it. All manner of nonconformity is targeted. In this current environment (which will not long endure if history is any predictor), it is best to reframe from having a sense of humor.
Reflections on Purpose: Blender Kitty aspired at different times to different sensibilities. The early strips possess only mild perversion, while the later strips were openly hostile to respectability. One might assume that I wanted to appeal to a wider audience in those early strips, although my condescension and graciousness were not perceived as condescendingly or as graciously as I may have wished. Blender Kitty was much like its namesake website: It was many things. If one could build a reputation patchwork from disparate parts, this might be counted as an accomplishment.
I do know Blender Kitty was held in esteem by a few. When I went on my second trip to Los Angeles, I was told of a recent visitor from New York City who was gobsmacked to discover that my LA friend (whom I was visiting) was friends with the creator of Blender Kitty. Similarly, and strangely, the day after Nine-Eleven, my same LA friend called me from New York City, having flown there the day before the tragedy. His friend (who was perhaps the same friend mentioned previously) wanted to talk to me, and only about Blender Kitty.
Comic published in the aftermath of Nine-Eleven in The New York Press.
This is the magazine cover published in the aftermath of Nine-Eleven for The New York Press. I received copies in the mail for every issue of the magazine during my time with it, but I never received a copy of this issue.
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