It’s the American Dream!
Not every American is like this, or even most Americans. But it’s a type of person I’ve met, and probably you’ve met them as well – people who just believe that someday they’ll be rich, as if it’s part of a natural life course. It’s an expectation that underlies all of their life plans, and – I think – can make it harder for people to appreciate what they do have. (Or to realize that we need social support systems for the vast majority of us who will never be billionaires.)
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I love strips where I get to draw the same character at different ages. (One of my favorite strips I’ve done features myself drawn at different ages.) It’s a fun challenge for me, and one that concentrates more on character drawing – my comfort zone – than on environments.
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This is a cartoon that I really think Frank Young’s colors add a lot to. Especially in the final panel – all those shadows on the ground are Frank’s work, and they make that panel much more evocative. I love it when collaborators surprise me like that.
When Frank first began doing colors on my strips (he colors about one strip a month for me), I asked him to emulate my approach to coloring (which involves fewer and less realistic colors).. But over time, I’ve come to trust Frank more and that gives him more freedom to color in his own style. (Or maybe it’s a mix of my style and his – I suspect Frank’s using flatter colors on my work, knowing that’s my preference, than he might on someone else’s work or his own.)
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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has four panels.
PANEL ONE
A teenager is sitting in a diner booth, smiling and talking directly to the reader. He has messy red hair and a brightly striped t-shirt. There’s a plate of food on the table in front of him, and a sign taped to the wall behind him says “Wanted: Background gag writer – low pay.”
REDHEAD: Someday I’ll invent something BIG! Like a cure for cancer or an app everyone uses… And then I’ll be so RICH!
PANEL TWO
A smiling adult man – somewhere in his thirties or forties, probably – stands in what looks like part of work building of some sort, probably an office, and speaks directly to the reader.
He’s an older version of the teen in panel one – he’s still got the red hair and round face, but now the hair is neatly combed in a part, and he’s got a van dyke beard and mustache. He’s wearing an izod shirt with a sedate stripe.
We can see an elevator in the background, and a water cooler next to him. (There’s a goldfish swimming in the water cooler).
REDHEAD: Or maybe I’ll win the lottery… people win every day! Or a rich relative I don’t know about will die leaving me BILLIONS!
PANEL THREE
The same red-haired man speaks to us again, but now he’s a senior citizen – he’s bald on top and his face is much more wrinkled. He’s wearing a button-up sweater open over a collared shirt, and he’s carrying a cane. He’s still smiling.
He appears to be at home – there’s a floral-patterned armchair behind him, and a decorative vase on a little table in front of a window. Outside the window is a tree and also a suspicious looking man wearing an old-fashioned hat and hiding behind a bush. (The suspicious looking man has no importance at all to this cartoon). There’s a framed photo of Albert the Alligator from “Pogo” on the wall.
REDHEAD: Lots of people get rich! Sooner or later it’s BOUND to be MY turn! And THEN the life I deserve will begin!
PANEL FOUR
We’re looking at a graveyard. A gravestone front and center says “R.I.P.” on it, and a thought balloon is coming from the grave.
THOUGHT FROM GRAVE: Any day now…
That’s the end of the comic strip, but there are some irrelevant details carved on headstones. The main headstone, under the big “R.I.P.” letters, says in much smaller letters: “Blah blah blah no one reads this.” A gravestone further in the background says “Hi There. I am past my expiration date.” Another one says “Dead Tired” and another one says “Here Lies Melvin.”
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I get the point you are trying to make, but the actual cartoon feels like it’s at odds with it – it’s very easy to read it as “this guy is just an eternal optimist”. In particular, it’s because in the second and third panel he just looks so smiley, despite being in environments – an office and a retirement home – which we don’t usually associate with happiness. So for me, it read not as “this guy doesn’t appreciate what he has”, but as “well, this guy’s values don’t quite align with mine, but at least his dreams make him happy”.
I’m going to ignore the main point of the comic and say that I laughed pretty hard at “Background gag writer. Low pay.”
Eytan: That’s a fair interpretation.
BCB: I’m glad you liked that! I’m trying to do more chicken fat.
I’m with BCB on the backgrounds. They’re excellent! I do have to ask if the alligator is anyone in particular. They look familiar.
@Dianne,
I think I recognize that gator. Isn’t he from Pogo?
Yes, the gator is Albert the Alligator, from the classic comic strip Pogo. (Which I’m a big fan of).