OMNIPOTENT ME
The last comic I released was Why? for the The Velvet Goat in October 2005. And while I had been working on comics since that publication, I’d never released any of the work… for reasons I won’t bore anyone with. I’d put Max Hades on hold, since I’d decided to revamp the story, and began work on a separate short graphic novel.
I didn’t really want to publish monthly comics and had my heart set on doing graphic novel work. Of course, graphic novels can take a long time to complete, no matter how “short” it is. I needed some regular output, and needed it soon. I needed to make sure I was actively creating on a deadline to keep me “in shape,” and I definitely wanted some work published while I worked on my graphic novel.
I opted for instant-gratification in the form of a twice-weekly strip called Omnipotent Me.
Omnipotent Me is my chance to indulge in some good, old-fashioned strip-cartooning. I grew up wanting to do newspaper strips until I’d discovered comic books. I’ve spent my entire life so far, thanks to a childhood fascination with strips, studying strip-cartooning (in conjunction with comic books), so to finally draw a regular strip is exciting.
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MORE THAN YOU WANTED TO KNOW…
Why a strip? Why not a full comic page, or some format that takes advantage of the Web’s “Infinite Canvas” (complete with annoying navigation)? Without going into a tirade on webcomics and the “limitations” of the strip format, I’ll just say that the comic strip is a beautiful artform, and its mechanics are wonderful tools. An artform’s boundaries are what make each artform unique, and the strip is an exercise in simplicity, timing, and use of space.
Omnipotent Me also serves as art therapy; it’s easy to get bogged down by everything I hate about my own work. Doing a scheduled strips requires that I do the work, let all the imperfections go, and move on. The strip also serves as a “bulletpoint list” of thoughts. It’s not meant to be pretty, it’s not meant to be slick; I consider it to be a notebook for thoughts and ideas that I can jot down in abstract form and have the result be entertaining and, hopefully, thought-provoking.
-Phillip Ginn