musicomic.com

Baltimore Comic-Con ’15

on September 28, 2015

Hey everybody!

I kind of can’t believe you’re still here. I mean, I’m GLAD you’re here, but I just can’t believe it. With so few updates, I’m lucky any of you are still checking out the comics and showing them to your friends. So, thank you. Seriously. (I get the strange feeling I’ve said something like this before…)

I will quickly say that I am going to try and get these comics put out on a more regular basis. (that, I’ve definitely said before) It’s really important to me and I’ve just allowed some other things to get in the way. I mean, I HAVE been busy on some other stuff, which I’ll share with you soon, but musicomics are a top priority for me and I’ve just drifted away from it and been a bit intimidated by the thought of starting back up.

I’m sure, as musicians, you can all relate.

I went to the Baltimore Comic-Con this year with Shannon and Phillip and it was a blast. I loved seeing all of the passionate fans and cosplayers, but most of all there were so many hard-working creators there baring their work for all to see. Walking through Artist-Alley is actually test of fortitude because there are literally hundreds of comics creators offering you their work on a platter, and you have to ignore/avoid/pretend not to hear many of them because there are only so many hours in a day…

Uncomfortable elevator pitches aside, it was really inspiring and humbling to see the comics, books, and booths lovingly assembled by so many talented creators.

Shannon and I bought some Marinko Milosevski prints (Metal Gear Solid and Snake Eater, to be exact) and Phillip even treated us to some Mouseguard! (I later realized we picked the two most expensive books on the table after he offered to buy us each a comic… soooorry philliiiip)

Somehow, I missed Noelle Stevenson AND Kate Beaton at SPX last weekend… I wish I would have known. They are two of my biggest influences in comics. They are like big-time celebrities to me. ARGH! I need to go to more Cons! And more live concerts! And more jam sessions! And practice more saxophone! And practice more EWI! And work on arranging! And draw more comics!

…guess I’ll just keep playing The Phantom Pain instead.

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The 10 Best Musicomics of all time!

on June 23, 2015

Today marks the 100th strip here at Musicomic.com! Yay!

To celebrate, here are the 10 strips I am most proud of (in no particular order):

01 – Procrastination

While hideously ugly by my current standards (where’s his neck? why so much copy & paste? where’s the consistency in balloon margins? GOOD GOD WHAT’S WRONG WITH HIS ARM!?!?), I’m still super proud of this strip because it represents the creation of this entire project. My comic-ing skills were still in their infancy, but I made something and put it out there to be judged.

20 – vibe

My first attempt at incorporating actual musicians into the strip. Kate Beaton is a master of this. (check out her history strip comic strip, Hark a Vagrant (seriously, promise me you’ll read it)). Trane probably did little to no actual vibing on this session, but the popularity of Flanagan’s epic struggle with the tune practically demanded it.

25 – complimizzle

I’ve reenacted many conversations of this sort with my musician-friends. For some mystical comical reason, drawing Mozart and Haydn instead of a few hip jazz cats made the strip. The world may never know.

35 – WHAT

This one kind of flew under the radar in terms of critical reception and acclaim, but it’s still near and dear to my heart. It marks the start of some major improvements to my art, features an EARHORN!, and we get to “hear” Beethoven say “fuggin’”.

and “yoohoo”

39 – vat mondstuk is dat

I truly believe this happened. It HAD to. IT HAD TO.

52 – cleanup

God, it’s so damn mean. The trombonist is being shoveling away by waste management. THE TROMBONIST. IS BEING SHOVELVED AWAY. You’re sick, you really are.

38 – I Made This

(Burt Macklin voice) Miles Davis, you son of a bitch. This one launched a series of “Miles wrote all the songs” strips. Now that I think about it, I could have swapped out Miles Davis for the Marvin Gaye family to keep things topical.

71 – upper register music cards

This strip’s one of my favorite because I WANT A PHYSICAL VERSION OF THESE CARDS SO BAD SO I CAN PUT THEM INTO PLASTIC SHEETS IN A BINDER AND STORE THEM ON A FANCY SHELF AND SHOW THEM TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND THEN EVERYONE WILL LIKE ME

73 – How to construct the perfect jazz solo

This strip took about 95% less time, thought, and effort to create than basically any other strip on this site, but drew about 35,000% more views. Funny how that happens.

BAND! #05

This strip was written by Phillip. When I say “written” I mean he dictated the dialogue, the scene, and even facial expressions. For example, “PANEL 2. The employee lays on the little kid speak even thicker, leaning way down so he’s at her eye-level, and bugging his eyes out like he’s making faces at a newborn.

EMPLOYEE: You mean a euphonium? Those things get pretty heavy! It’s usually boys that play those, ‘cause they’re soooo big!”

Writing like that makes my job easy!

BAND! #23

BONUS! OK, this is technically more than ten, but today’s comic is ALWAYS my favorite. That’s, today as in “every day is today”, not literally today, as in June 23rd, 2015.

Thank you all so much for reading and I’ll see you again after the next hundred.

Dusty

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