You're nobody 'til thumbbody loves you

I spent last week in the thumb of Michigan, visiting my mom and dad, brothers, sister, in-laws, outlaws, nieces, nephews, and assorted hangers-on. Most of my extended family lives in Bad Axe, Michigan, and I visit every summer. To say that we had a good time would be putting it mildly. It was a nonstop whirlwind of cornhole, golf, backyard whiffleball, aggrevation, euchre, scopa, and enough food to feed an army.

Midwest 101

I’ll assume you’re familiar with a few of those. For you non-midwesterners, cornhole is a game played by trying to toss bean bags into a hole in a wooden board placed about 27 feet apart.

Aggravation is a marble game, much like Trouble. Every family in Michigan seems to have a homemade aggravation board. Thanks to my brother, we now have our own in Philadelphia.

Euchre…? Woof, I’m not even gonna try to explain it. But if you live in the midwest, you learn how to play euchre along with the other necessities, like cow tipping. And how to slap your knee and say, “Well… I suppose…” when it’s time to leave a party. And how to insult someone to their face by making sound like a compliment.

Scopa is an Italian card game that my older son learned while they were doing an archeological dig outside of Rome this summer. It may have been the breakout hit of the week.

But my favorite stop during the week was the Bad Axe Retrocade ( Facebook | TikTok). It’s a classic 80s-style arcade with coin-op classics that the owners, Jason and Shar Mohr, refurbished themselves.

Jason and Shar Mohr in their workshop, courtesy The Huron Daily Tribune.

From the hometown paper, The Huron Daily Tribune:

Jason and Shar have always been interested in arcade machines and had quite a personal collection before deciding to start their own arcade. The focus and theme of the arcade is on the classic '80s arcade rooms of the past.

"We've got about 16 machines ready to go and we are currently working to getting to around 25 machines ready for us to open," Jason said.

Throughout this process, Jason has been working on restoring arcade cabinets that he has been collecting in his workshop to get them ready for the arcade. He added that he has met some other arcade owners in Michigan who have been a great help in lending their advice and expertise, and in some cases, lending out some pinball machines to help get them ready to open as they look at getting their own machines.

Not only was it a joy to see my sons playing Ms Pac Man — and winning! — but while we were hanging out there with my sister and my niece and nephew, I was recognized by the co-proprietor, Shar Mohr, who is a reader of Evil Inc!

Not only that but in full view of my sons, she told me that she got my “How To Make Webcomics” book for her son to show him that “celebrities can even come from small towns like Bad Axe.” My family’s reaction went something like this.

And yes, they had to listen to me recount the story all the way home to Philadelphia. All 650 miles.

NCS Reuben Awards

Next week, I’m flying to San Diego to do two live ComicLab shows at the National Cartoonists Society annual conference. We’re doing our show on stage at the Comic-Con International Museum on Thursday, and on Friday night, the Reuben Awards ceremony will be held. Evil Inc has been nominated for Best Online Longform Comic this year, along with the works of Evan Dahm and Jason Chatfield, so keep your fingers crossed!