Rare Bits

I never thought I’d enjoy running so much. In the last few weeks I’ve gone from 1 to 1 run/walk intervals to 5/1 intervals. Kristin signed us up for a 5K near Nashua NH on the 25th of July, and I am looking forward to it (more info to follow as we get closer). It’ll be our first race of what I hope will be many.

During these weeks I weighed the choice to buy a very unique set of shoes, read on below for the full scoop. I’ve also included my training schedule for the next month and a half.

More comics to come next week!

A little under a month ago I decided to start hurting myself to see if I could help regain control of my body. For the first time since high school I’ve begun to run. It hurts. At first.

What I’m coming to understand is the physical activity of running has hidden benefits and revelations. Being the journal comic prone cartoonist I am, I think keeping a cartoon runner’s journal would be an interesting thing for me to do and for you to read. While I don’t plan on doing them on post-it notes and poor-quality iPhone pics every week, I will try to keep it loose yet legible.

I know of one other comic in the world where a running journal has been employed: the masterful “Haunted”! If anyone else has suggestions of running comics I could read and…uh…”draw” inspiration from I’d love to hear about ‘em!

Hey, Rare Bits is back! This is a rather busy time of life for us Rarebiters – being a part of the Center for Cartoon Studies senior class (along with mistress Vaughn), I’ll be graduating (hopefully) this Saturday. But, thesis is DONE — therefore I have time again. What do I choose to spend that precious time on? Why, drawing wall-eyed superheroes, of course.

See? Funny as shit. Completely takes the piss out of the Bat. I’d give this guy a hearty kick in the jewels if he came up to me all “I’m batman” in his throat cancer voice, wanting to start something.

See that? Now her crazy-ass eyes completely distracts from her massive anti-feminist boobies. Power-Girl problem solved!

Oh wait…this one doesn’t work so well…hang on…

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There you go. Takes a little suspension of disbelief — but would you care what this guy has to say about you as you rob a bank? All those quips at your expense are merely an attempt to preserve his own, non-existant dignity. Stupid Spidey.

DONE!

Jason

It’s a busy, busy week for Jen and I, what with having to complete our theses for the Center for Cartoon Studies and all…but I’ll lay this one on ya, real quick:

This is part of my thesis package. Cartooning school is awesome.

A soon-to-be college graduate scours the streets of Austin, Texas, looking for a deal. A deal on shoes. The recent trend of kitten-heeled or wedge shoes made it possible for the said graduate (me) to drink a bit and still dance the fuck outta the night. These shoes fit the bill-too uncomfortable to wear for a full day but fantastic enough for the poorly-lit dance  floor. They cost me four whole dollars, that is two dollars a foot! How could something so complicated be worth so little and what could that mean for our society? Did the person who created these shoes get more for them, beautiful wonders that they are? I can only hope so.

Time in Austin was key in development but one thing I hadn’t truly learned during my university experience was to create. At a liberal arts college with a ginormous fine arts program I learned so much about process, history and analysis of art. My eyes keener, hands sharper and brains addled after four years, I still knew nothing about creating or what that meant in daily life. My goal was to consume and be consumed. So my work suffered; pithy lines on insincere parchment. 

Four years later, I know the value of a day and hours, even minutes key in its foundation. Maybe the concentration of this new town I live in, White River Junction, breeds a creative fervor in its inhabitants. Without the call of a mall or movie theater in walking distance, we often resort to making our own fun (as the saying goes). All I know is my friends and loved ones are all driven to do more, be more than a paycheck or a smear on the wall after the rolled up paper of life smacks them. That need to consume is still beaten into our skulls by advertisements and even psychologists. Buying a new outfit can temporarily provide the body with endorphins and simulate happiness!

To hell with that I say. Create something instead. Take clothes you already have and staple ‘em, stitch ‘em together, bleach ‘em, color ‘em, anything! Mod something you sorta like and make it yours forever. Tired of the restaurants? Find a recipe on the internet or better yet, a friend and make it! We forget how much joy there is in using our own hands unless it is exchanging money for something tagged or eating off of dishes that are not our own.You need not spend an exorbitant amount on shoes or food or even make your own yet consider your daily choices and live fully. Go from ‘had’ an interesting life to ‘having’ one now because you only get worn out on that dance floor so many times before you’re pitched.

-Jen