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<\/a>Joe E. Ross and Dave Starr in Teaserama<\/i>, 1955. Not comedians, but definitely a pair.<\/p><\/div>\n
Now, after a mere eighteen years on the Internet, I’ve done something I never thought possible;\u00a0run two sites at once.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I solemnly pledge not to let it drive me out of my mind.<\/p>\n Look, friends, I’ve hung up my mourner’s hood, but the fact is, Berni Wrightson passed not long after Jay Lynch. That’s two of my DNA ladders, down. When this happens, I gauge the public reaction to the passing, and their general awareness of the person’s cultural impact. I learn many things doing this.<\/p>\n For one thing;\u00a0keep going, and don’t stop.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In March of 2009, I officially started work on\u00a0The Ceaseless Fables of Beyonding.\u00a0<\/em>My goal was to remind readers of why they crave\u00a0illustrated fantasy.\u00a0<\/em>To create a living, breathing world that they\u00a0want to visit<\/em>. I drew up the initial character models, plotted the first twenty pages, and brought the strip online in September. I committed to posting a page every Sunday, to salve the loss of great newspaper comics like\u00a0Prince Valiant.\u00a0<\/em>I promised to keep the humor sparse, and character-based, in contrast to my profanity-laden material up to that point.<\/p>\n If there’s profanity in\u00a0Ceaseless Fables,\u00a0<\/em>it’s there for a reason.<\/p>\n From CFB<\/i> #24<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n I wanted to make unicorns cool for 13-year-old boys again, so unicorns\u00a0are the only ones in the Beyonding who can swear without repercussions. For everyone else, cussing causes horrible breath that drives others away, and attracts disgusting little creatures called besmurchins. Sexuality is not addressed because it’s not a relevant part of the narrative. The purpose of the strip is to invigorate your imagination, not to normalize or give voice to any sort of sexual fetish. So you never have to worry that I’ll resort to using rape as a plot device.<\/p>\n AIDS!!<\/i> (#71<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n Censoring the work would only damage it. I did this so that it could not<\/em> be censored. It’s intended for ages 13 and up, who should be able to read “fuck” or “cunt” on a page and know that it’s only a word. This is a legitimate long-form piece of “sequential art”, if you wanna get pompous. Speaking of which:<\/p>\n The obvious influences are George Lucas’\u00a0Star Wars<\/em> saga, Akira Toriyama’s\u00a0Dragonball Z<\/em>, Michael Ende’s\u00a0The Neverending Story<\/em>, Tom Laughlin’s Billy Jack,\u00a0<\/em>and James Joyce’s\u00a0Finnegans Wake<\/em>. Connections are made with pre-existing Podworks like\u00a0Invisible Inc.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0John’s Arm: Armageddon<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>There’s been a page every Sunday since 2009, except the times I was homeless or in jail.<\/p>\n Curdelbludd and Jellyback, #77<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n At this point, nearing the close of the first phase (360 pages), there are over 300 pages of character designs, hundreds of pages of notes, four 72-page digests with exclusive appendices, a custom atlas with tissue overlays, and pages of charts noting when each page was plotted, inked, and posted.<\/p>\n Familiar battle tableau, from the back cover of Ceaseless Fables<\/i> Digest Vol. 3.<\/p><\/div>\n When someone tells a lie in the Beyonding, and enough people come to believe it, it becomes truth. The teller may become a “besmurchin”, but the damage is done. Still, if someone has enough power,\u00a0they can change history.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And all it takes to enter the Beyonding is to open a book. Getting back? That’s a whole, other story.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>