Strange Page: Oh, No, Naz! (1989) (Patreon)

I've been going through my art files to look for pages that people have asked about, and also to pull potential pages to add to the art list. I came across this page that was done in 1989 (and ended up in the first issue of Dork in 1993) and I think it's the oldest page of original comic art I have now. I destroyed all the Phigments pages and sold off all the Eternity Pirate Corp$! pages (largely in one big lot to one buyer a long time ago, I think the pages averaged out at $10 a pop or something like that). I think I still have the Pirate Corp$! Special cover with Renensco Blue from around the same time as this page (originally done for the fifth issue of the Eternity run, which was canceled at #4). 

Anyway, people used to ask me about this character back when I had fewer comics and characters under my belt. I didn't create the look of the character. My then-girlfriend Lazarus was drawing while I was working on something, and she made this character's head by using circle guides. I named it Naz after her and drew this goofy page. I used it to fill Dork #1 up a few years after. I liked the character but I didn't feel it was mine to exploit since my ex-girlfriend had come up with it (who am I, Paul Pope? Ha ha, no, don't ask, I won't follow up) so I left it off with the one appearance. I'm still friends with Lazarus (she is an excellent painter,  you can see her work on Instagram at lazarusnaz) and after I found the page I told her I was going to send it to her. So, it'll be leaving the fold soon. 

(Bonus fun fact: This is my ex who Elsie LeGrande from HP/PC$! was based on, although she's not adopted and doesn't live with robots in a skyscraper).

I don't think there was any point to the Naz strip, but back then I didn't think about those  things so intently. I should go back to that, maybe. At least at times. Sometimes the best thing you can do is not care or think too hard. Just do the thing and get to the next thing and not make such a big deal of it. On the other hand, I drew like a monkey with two pens in one left hand back then. So, sometimes you want to put a little thought in. Sometimes.