Going Through The Old Hectic Planet Files

Unfortunately, there aren't many roughs or sketches in there. I mostly worked up PC$!/HP material through notes, I had the characters in my head and knew what the imagery would basically look like, give or take some design work done on the page.

For similar reasons, I don't have a lot of process stuff scanned and filed away on my computer. Everything was written, the visuals largely in my head, ready for when I'd work on the pages. And then I wasn't working on the pages. But I kept making notes, and writing down fair-to-middling dialog, and sometimes a funny line. 

The notes above are all written on separate scraps of paper and a post-it note that I scanned together. There are notes written on the back of receipts, torn from junk mail, etc. A lot of the notes are scribbled so messily even I am having trouble deciphering them. Some of these notes go back to the late 80's. Some of them no longer "work" because they don't fit the later continuity or jibe with how a character developed. A few are awful and should have been torn up seconds after they were jotted down., A couple of them made me smile and wish I had been able to use them before the series stopped.

One day I want to sift through all my remaining written/sketched notes, collate the worthwhile material and toss the scraps. I have old material intended for Hectic Planet, Milk & Cheese, all the Dork segments, Kid Blastoff and that barely explored "universe" and a lot of projects that never got a first published foot in the door. There's a lot of material in my sketchbooks, as well, that I need to look over. There's at least one project in there I would like to attempt working on if things ever stabilize. 

It's weird to go through the notes after months or years and find things that actually excite me, things I want to draw and write, and that I'd completely forgotten about -- and then sulk a little because I am starting to really feel the years and wonder how many things I'll get to do before I'm canceled. Cartoonists do tend to live a good while, they're not doing a ton of dangerous stuff and fewer of them are alcoholics than the old days, it seems. We're all nerds and want to be around to read the latest things, watch the latest things, get excited about upcoming things. I like finding new old things, but there's a lot of people like that in funnybooks as well. Anyway, we don't usually die in tragic circumstances like professional wrestlers or wild animal wranglers, is what I'm saying. So I hope I can finish a few things before I'm done.

Huh. This post went places.