In an earlier post I mentioned how I have been working on putting together another graphic novel book called Home Gerb Companion for self publication from a blank book full of a series of comics I'd drawn long ago. Before I started drawing my Drawing Breath comic, directly portraying my life, I drew a comic where my three characters - Gerb, Longleg, and Wormy - would have a running dialogue about my life from the sidelines, kinda like Mystery Science Theater 3000 style.
The thing is, I never actually finished the original comic. I got up to the penultimate (second to the last) page...
...And then I paused because I had ambitious plans for the final page! I would make the last page like a pop-up book with the Phoenix, from whom Longleg had gotten the quill pen, unexpectedly flying straight out of the book at the reader in 3-D! The thing is that at the time the internet was relatively new, and it didn't have the wealth of information that it does now, plus I didn't have regular access to it. Not that I didn't have access to other information and instructions. It's just that my life was different back then and I didn't have the same resources or reservoirs of energy to draw on, so the project got set on the back burner where it has languished for almost twenty years.
Then recently, when the arrow of inspiration hit to publish this volume, I realized that one way or t'other, I had to finish that last page. Not being sure how I would self publish a book with a pop-up component, I went ahead and drew the page, reserving the right to, at some future date, make that page an actual pop-up. Until that time, here is the final page of the Home Gerb Companion graphic novel drawn 18 years, 9 months, and 12 days after the previous page...
I am really excited to get this work into book form! Stay tuned to my website, Facebook, Instagram, and this blog for updates to when it will be available for purchase. Meanwhile, if you'd like to see what other of my comics I've already published check out my Perching Wolf Studios bookstore on Blurb.
