Welcome to Random Acts…!

So. You’re here and you want to know what this is all about, right? Wouldn’t we all, my friend, wouldn’t we all. However, there might be a few things I can clear up from the start:

Q. What is Random Acts… ?
A. Random Acts… is what happens when I decide that I want to do a webcomic for at least a year. I futzed with several ideas and finally settled on a reality-based (that ‘based’ bit will be somewhat important for certain strips) slice-of-life comic featuring me, my friends, family, coworkers and whoever else wanders into my life. There may be things resembling story arcs in the not-too-distant future, but for the most part each update will stand on its own. I hesitate to call it actually gag-a-day since the ‘gags’ may be somewhat subjective, but there ya go.

Q. Why Tuesdays?
A. (short answer) Because Tuesdays need funny too!
A. (longer answer) Most of the comics I read update M/W/F or even daily [for which I am both awed and grateful], there’s the occasional Wednesday-only and one that does T/R but very little seems to actually update on Tuesdays alone so Tuesdays sort of get left out. Plus with my birthday falling on a Monday this year and the following day being the first of May, beginning a new year of my own existence, etc. it seemed poetically fitting. Then there was the fact that I managed to get the first month of pages actually drawn a month prior and decided it was a safe time to start.

Q. Do you mean to say there’s a buffer?
A. Sort of. The next several strips are drawn and inked, even scanned as such as backup in case I have an aneurism while painting, but they are pretty much black and white. While I could post them as just line drawings, I really do prefer color strips and I think, at least at this point, color will help keep the characters differentiated a bit more and so forth. (Yes, color is a crutch for me. I admit this freely, but at least it’s a pretty crutch.)

Q. Wouldn’t coloring them on the computer be easier?
A. Not from my point of view. Sure I could click and fill the sketches and there is always ‘undo’ but I feel more comfortable with my brushes and watercolors for now, and familiarity breeds speed so… Plus it gives me time to paint, something which I enjoy but do not do a tremendous lot, so it’s fun for me as well.

Q. Isn’t this just a bit self-serving?
A. Absolutely! I fully admit that I am an attention-whore of the first degree and that I find myself incredibly fascinating. Then again, how much more self-serving is it to have a comic about one’s own life than to have a blog? Luckily, however, I have enough feedback from friends to know that I am not the only person amused by my life, therefore I feel somewhat comforted in the knowledge that other people might find it fun, too. And hey, if I can make fun of myself and my own neuroses like this, it gives me carte blance to make fun of other people as well

Q. So you just want to make a joke about everything, is that it?
A. Nope. But in most situations in life there is some tiny shred of humor. I would much rather focus on that and ignore the rest (or at least leave it to its own devices). Mama always said you can laugh or cry; I choose to laugh.

Q. So is nothing sacred?
A. Absolutely not. Or, well, yes? What I mean is that there are things I will not make fun of or snark about. I wouldn’t dream of exploiting anyone’s situation in life if it’s one they really are helpless to change, or disabilities, social attocities (generally speaking), etc. But then again, this isn’t social commentary on a grand scale, this is humor at the life that surrounds me, the stupid things we do to ourselves, and that which we all laugh at together. I don’t like being mean, unless someone really deserves it, and even then I would probably feel way too guilty.

Q. Should your friends be on notice now, that they might show up here? Wouldn’t they be mad to see themselves on the web?
A. Yes and hopefully not. My friends (the ones that really are friends) have a similarly warped sense of humor to mine and many have a web presence of their own to begin with, so really can’t blame me too much. Again, I’m not going to mercilessly ridicule my friends here. Myself, sure. At the same time, some think it’s kind of cool that I’m doing this and actually look forward to their cameos.

Q. Have you always read comics?
A. Oh, I see it’s time for the confessional. Aside from the Sunday Comics growing up I really have never been big into comics. Ever. And the traditional print stuff still does little for me though I am working on increasing my general knowledge and appreciation thereof. To be very blunt, I was one of those snobs who thought comics were the domain of teenage boys who didn’t care about ‘real’ reading, etc. Gee, would that be egg on my face? Tasty! A couple of years ago, though, I stumbled upon Devil’s Panties and was instantly hooked. I spent days reading her webarchive and by the time I was through to the current strips I felt like I knew her in that weird way that you can know someone through a blog, etc. I think the next comic I did that with was GPF, and then on and on. Of course, in hind sight, it was almost a given I’d do something like this when I consider the fact that my aunt gave me a collection of 4 Doonesbury books for Christmas when I was 4 (yes, seriously, and I did what any 4 year old would: I used a few pages as coloring pages; I still have 3 of those books). So there you go: I’m one of the most unlikely comickers, but here I am.

Q. So what makes you think you can draw a webcomic?
A. I want to. That seems to be the majority of what it takes. I can draw (though I’m used to doing stuff with a lot more realism, finding my comic ’style’ may take a while), I have a computer, I already pay for webhosting, why not? (And, granted, those last three items are not even deal-breakers for some–no that’s not a bash, that’s just the truth, but for me they count as ‘well, why not’ reasons.) Granted, I do feel a bit like a poseur right now. Sure, I’ve done the research (Scott McCloud’s publisher at least made a few duckets off of me, Eisner’s as well), I’ve set a reasonable pace and goal for myself, but I didn’t do what I would normally do on a new venture: learn everything there is to know about it and make sure I was spot-on perfect before letting anyone know or see what I was up to. So I’m out of my usual control-freak waters and it makes me a little antsy, but I’m doing it anyway, for good or ill.