New Year, New Chapter

Today is a culmination of events for me.

First, we have the final requirement for the successful fulfillment of New Years Resolutions 2006. That is: To watch an entire season of NFL Football. This is the one year anniversary of the beginning of actual interest in the sport, as I watched the Steelers overtake the Seahawks in last year’s game. After a life of despising the sport and its fans, this year I’ve taken another step in what is to be an eternal lifetime struggle: to understand the things I hate.

It’s a simple process that I think everyone should exercise from time to time. Take one thing you hate, and study it to find out why. Often, I’ve found that it turns out to only be an element of the thing that had me keeping it at arms length. Sometimes, it’s complete ignorance of the object of my ire. Most often, however, after any attempt to better understand such things, I come away actually enjoying it.

Second in today’s culmination is the posting of my new comic, Jetsam. This one I feel to be the most successful of the pieces I’ve assembled for others to see. The process of creation feels to fit me more naturally than the other attempts. It also remains interesting enough to have me about to attack a second set of 20 or so episodes while the first run is drip-fed onto the front page of my website once each week. With any luck, the reader will move seamlessly from one set to the next without noticing a break.

This brings us to the foundation of New Years Resolution 2007: To complete chapter 2 of Jetsam, and proceed in its posting. The next incarnation of the plot rope (rope, as in a woven bundle of threads) might differ from the first. I’ll just reserve the right to completely change style at whim if I think it would be an improvement. How much effort it receives will depend heavily on how much attention it gets from YOU. There will be a completion, on that I am determined. Whether the style develops into something that is simplified or more intricate will depend on how much anyone cares.

I can satisfy my need for self expression with hieroglyphic stick-figures and no dialogue. You would rather see something more colorful and intelligent. If I’m the only one who ever sees this, then stick-figures it is. If you visit often, religiously, then I might be inclined to show you what I’m made of. I’m an attention whore like that.