A Plan, Some Hope, and Maybe DORK #12 (Patreon)

I've known for some time that the only way I could possibly get another issue of DORK done would be as part of a Patreon. I used to be able to put most of my SLG comics together around creator-owned material done for anthologies like DEADLINE, DARK HORSE PRESENTS and ONI DOUBLE FEATURE, as well as material done for zines and the odd magazine gig for ESQUIRE or what have you. 

All three sources dried up over the years, and I hung on longer than I should have at SLG because I'm loyal, and made anxious by change. The last few issues of DORK consisted of mostly new material, for which I wasn't paid up front, as SLG only paid on the back end, if there was any money made at all. This situation was fine for me when DORK (and MILK & CHEESE) consisted of reprint material fleshed out with new comics, but became untenable when I had to generate most of the issue without a page rate. DORK #11 basically broke me, for some insane reason I decided to cram as many Fun strips and one-panel gags into one stapled comic as I could. Hundreds of panels, thousands of lines, a lot of material, a complete disaster. What I should have done was produce a small, thick paperback that would have made us all a little money. Instead, I strung out my schedule, lost money and time, and put a spike in my life and household. 

There are a lot of things I should have done differently in my career. That's another, longer post. Maybe.

DORK was pretty much dead after #11. But Dork #12 eventually came out, sort of, after Dark Horse Comics gave us a three-issue color slot in DARK HORSE PRESENTS, and collected the material in a one-shot. But it was called HOUSE OF FUN #1, because I got antsy about being an aging adult with a comic called DORK. 

I'm over that feeling now. I would be happy to see a DORK #12 happen some day. Unfortunately, DHP is no longer with us (once again), and while Dark Horse is interested in new M&C/Dork material, the single issue publishing model for some time now has been to make comics that will soon be collected, hopefully recouping the costs of that material (single issues being basically "an ad for the book", or so I've been told). I'd need to produce three or four issues at a decent clip, which isn't possible for me between my bad hand and anxious brain. 

So, I figure whatever DORK-like material I manage to get done here for you folks will get collected online as a new issue. I assume we'd make it a PDF to send out when we hit the 22-26 page count, I have a couple of new one-page strips started, some new Fun Strips underway, and we have four pages that were done for SOFT WOOD from HEAVY METAL that would be collected. It was nice to have a paying anthology spring up out of the gloom, unfortunately I don't think we're going to see a second issue, though. I'd like to do some autobio stuff to warm up for a project I hope to do someday before I drop, and I'd like to do another Devil Puppet comic. And at least one more Milk & Cheese comic. Or three, or four. I miss them all. I miss making goofball comics.

So the crawl continues. Above is the rough layout for what will hopefully be the cover for DORK #12. It'll take a while, like a Chocodile (and it might be as dated and unfunny as that reference, ha ha), but that's the long-term plan for that thing right there. Fill the box with paper, and then do the old-format cover, inside front cover and all that, even if it's not going to actually go to print. If I live long enough, we might have enough goofball material to collect in another book someday.  I dunno what's gonna happen, I'm just going to keep making stuff, and the goofball stuff will basically debut here for you folks to read. 

I hope this post finds you well, and I thank you for joining me here this year.  I hope the next year brings us all more fun in and out of comics, and I will work to make sure that what I do here helps make that happen in some small way. What an awkward sentence that was. I'm too tired to rewrite it. It stays.

I hope the holiday season has been kind to you and yours, and I really hope 2020 is kinder to us all. 

Happy New Year, House of Fun Faithful. 

See you very soon.