week 10

1/7 - Okay, Rufus isn't giving me fireworks, but I like him, I think once he finds his own, he'll flesh out. So yes, I'm pretty satisfied with the cast. So I'm just gonna' try and just do strips for a while, give myself a decent sized pool to pick from for the submission package, but also to explore everyone more. Madge and Carmel have crackling interaction I think. I am very happy with them, and they are both fun and easy to write. Oh, and in case there is ANY question about it, we will NEVER see Todd.

1/8 - Okay, so I'm not really sure about this one for the submission package, but it makes me really smile for some reason. Something about it.

1/9 - too frightfully busy to create an archive page this week, the problem being that this page was designed for only a month or so worth of weeks (wasn't I optimistic), but it just keeps going on and on, so each time I add a week, i have to add links twice to every other archive page, with text and without. Plus changing the header graphic. maybe tomorrow. Anyhow, but the strip. I got kinda' hammered on the bulletin board yesterday. heh. Hm. Not only Madge but three errors in the bruno strip. :sigh: a rough day. but honestly, I really appreciate and welcome it. So rather than whining, let's deal with things. First of all, the issue of my audience, is Madge written for young girls or not? I am not a young girl, nor have I ever been one. I always gotten along better with women, ever since i was a child, so I do have a lot of knowledge, much more than likely the average guy. And my behaviors often cross over the lines drawn by stereotypes. But that said, I am not a girl, never was, and never had the experience of growing up as one. I think turning to magazines for a solution to this is bad, they're simply trying to sell clothes, and have no soul. But, well... they do market research, which i don't, so possibly this week i will try and get to the library and have a peek. but for now, I think my best bet is just to keep poetic, keep "Krazy kat" as my ideal. Basically what i mean by this is that if i treat her with respect, give her intelligence, strength, as well as weaknesses; if I deal with emotions which are somewhat universal; and if i never try to really imitate teens (which I've never seen done well in my life), that I can pull off a good strip. Which people will like. No real target. I think that teens who enjoy the type of humor i write, will enjoy it for what it is. That said, i was a bit dismayed that the young female teens on the bulletin board were a bit lukewarm, i am SOOOO open to ideas and suggestions from that group. I mean, the syndicates have told me to try that vein, since they liked Madge (from her Shep&May days) and also because Luanne is the only competition. And I like the idea because strong female strips are still a bit rare, especially where the girl has a thought in her brain aside from boys. that said i don't want to create a Luanne whatsoever, nor a Cathy, nor a Sally Forth. So, any ideas how to make it more... "correct"? And the next issue is of Madge being not hip to art. First of all, for reference, I almost became a scientist, but I had one too many teachers who was evil and turned me off from it. But even more so, i loved math. I was always a B student, except for math, in which I got an "A" every time. I scored nearly perfect on my math SAT scores. Today you see a bit of her expressing this. But at the same time, the "quadratic equation" joke. Yes, it's total nonsense, and I'm making fun of her, but in a sweet way, i think it's not only endearing, but that it was also hilarious. She's not wondering how he looks with his shirt off, or how he kisses, but instead how he emotionally feels towards ax2+bx+c=0. Me laughing here. Hm. Oh well. Anyhow.... But at the same time as I write that, I am a bit uncomfortable giving her a naiveness to art, both because I DO think the two are very much connected, but as well because i imagine her a poet or at least a diary writer. Which is a form of art. But is that just me imposing my life? but I mean, if she's the math girl AND the art girl, then everyone else are the losers who don't do art or math. Yick. In fact, one of the reasons I chose here to be mathy, was because it would have been just too stereotypical for Rufus to be the math geek and Madge the artist. That would lead to the usual protagonist making fun of how nerdy Rufus would be. But as the strip currently reads, it plays a real sympathy to a math geek, even though it is clear that she IS a geek. But, I'm not sold on anything yet really. I admit, I am kinda' a bit intrigued by the math/science adge. I think today's strip is a really good example (b.t.w., I wrote and drew this weeks strips on Sunday, so today's strip is only coincidentally relevant). I've known a decent amount of young woman who are like this, creative, smart as a whip, but yet have this peculiar practical side. Anyhow, I hope to hear more from you all. I certainly am reconsidering things a lot after today's barrage. I think creating this strip is possibly far from over. Guess it's time to give the Madge page a proper web design. And this is the New Tuesday week to do that. My best, -Christopher

1/10 - hm. As I mentioned before, i drew this week ahead-of-time. So today's strip was actually scheduled for Friday, with a Madge/Carmel strip in-between. But as this one was so on point with the current debate over Madge/Rufus science/art, it only seemed appropriate to add this one "to the fire" as it were. That said, I have mixed feelings. I think it's really quite funny, and also I LOVE Rufus's expression in panel one (if i were a girl, I'd die for that expression on a boy) (No, i did not just write that) (these are not the droids you are looking for). But at the same time, Madge seems slightly out of character. Since it is a comic-strip, sometimes I will need to push characters a bit out of bounds for humor effect, so it may be alright. In panel one, it might be pushing the boundaries of what i want the "reality" of this strip to be (which is a whole OTHER issue), which is odd, because tag-team debate doesn't phase me much at all. Hrm. Anyhow, and in panel two she's a bit snobbier than I'd like.

1/11 - Another week done. Today, again, Madge and Carmel just have nice nice nice chemistry. I like how they're both geeks. Carmel is a geek because she's simply brilliant, Madge because she enjoys her topics and enjoys studying them to no end.