Michigan Web Comics

I did something a bit different from my usual Saturday routine today: I drove to the other side of the state and hung out at a Panera Bread franchise. I didn't go all that way for the cuisine (there's at least a couple Panera's here in town), but because I was invited by one of the founders of the new Michigan Web Comics group to come talk about their web-hosting needs.

It was an interesting bunch of people, and despite my chronic discomfort in unfamiliar social situations (heck, I'd never even been to a Panera before), I had a swell time.

The most golly-gee-whiz aspect of it was that I found myself sitting across the table from Matt Feazell. He's something of a fixture of the mini-comics scene, in which he's been active for over 20 years. His stick-figure cartoons featuring the Amazing Cynicalman and a host of other characters are legendary. He's also been published by "real" publishers, such as pieces in Disney Adventures. And here we sat, smiling at each other.

Matt's the kind of artist who (apparently) never stops drawing. He'd brought along a sketchbook and was filling little boxes with images as we all talked. As the people present were going around the table introducing ourselves, I was shocked to see that he was doodling a cartoon of me (with my name next to it), in his hyper-simplified style.

He wasn't the only one drawing. There were some "jam" pieces making their way around, including one single page illustration and an add-another-panel "story" that bounced in one direction after another. I nearly choked when I was handed a half-filled page of doodling (including some of Feazell's work) and was invited to add to it. I scratched my head a bit and finally came up with something.

I'm really not a very creative person. I have creative tendencies, and I bring some creativity to the things I do that other people might not, but I'm not the kind of person who can easily just produce something on the spot out of thin air. I'm better at it than I used to be, and I suppose if I did more of it I'd be even better. I'm just too easily distracted by all the other things around me.

Anyway, it was a fun time, and worth the nearly-four-hour round trip. I walked away with a fistful of minicomics (for web cartoonists, they sure do put a lot of stuff onto little folded pieces of paper). I'm going to try to stay involved in this, to see what kind of creative stimulus and motivation I can get out of it, and of course whatever (beyond plain geek services) I can contribute.