I Met Real Survivors of a Real Pirate Attack?

This week: "getting older" is yet again a recurring theme as I made a guest appearance on a podcast and got my heart melted and shaken at VanCAF. Plus, a quality newsletter recommendation for avid readers.

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The Three-Point Perspective Podcast!

Recently I joined Jake Parker and Lee White on their Three-Point Perspective podcast! Jake (his exciting work here) and I know each other from the Flight Anthology days, so it was fun to get together and talk about ways in which the comics industry and our views on it have changed since… hoo boy… 2005. This is probably a discussion most relevant for people getting into comics/illustration/visual storytelling work now.

On the podcast, I once or twice referenced this other episode of their podcast about self-publishing, which was quite good. It introduced me to the notion of thinking who your audience might be and how you might reach them before you start your work. It sounds silly to me when I write it out, but that is, uh, not how I have approached it. The example in their podcast is that Will has made a comic about pickleball, has self-published it, and is selling it at pickleball tournaments. Ingenious.

I hope they made the edit but they might not have: Lee (his beautiful work here) shared some surfing stories near the end of our chat which I really enjoyed.

Their podcast is available (as they all say) on all major podcast platforms.

(Thank you, Jana, for suggesting this!)

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VanCAF recap!

Last weekend I set up my wares at the Vancouver Comics Arts Festival, which was something else. I stood behind a table for two days, saying hi to comics friends, seeing familiar attendees, and meeting strangers, some of whom tell me they love the comics I make, others who could not possibly be more indifferent. I've been out of practice for four years. I came away vibrating.

I met a grown adult who told me "I loved your books since I started reading them in middle school." Good friend Molly Muldoon, who was there at the time, rightly told me, "you're old!" We laughed. This young person said they were twenty-two; if they picked up Turkish Lieutenant when it came out, they would have been twelve.

They shared more, and I leaned in. They had grown up all over the world; they walked through Istanbul clutching a copy of The Turkish Lieutenant, spotting familiar landmarks. (My heart cracked.) They said that the books had inspired them to pursue their own creativity. (The cracks grew.) And, to bring it all full-circle, they were currently an out-of-province student studying at the Emily Carr arts university whose campus is currently located just down the hill from the place I lived when I made DD one through three. (My heart shattered.)

I'm sharing this because of course the Route One reaction is, "ha ha, old man is old! Grown adults were children when they read the book you made! Isn't it gross how we're all mortal."

Except, of course… that's the point. The book has found someone who, in turn, has made a connection with it, so much so that this book held personal significance over years and years. This… this is what I want to hear — I assume it's what every person chasing some sort of expressive pursuit wants to hear — and it's why I'm so grateful to this young person for telling me what they did. I hope I get to meet them again, I hope I can ask them more about their own life which did, really, sound like a real-life Delilah Dirk childhood.

The next day, I spoke to an older couple with British accents. They reminded me of my parents-in-law: smart-looking, tidy. So I was surprised to hear the gentleman say — upon seeing the postcards for Practical Defence Against Piracy — "a pirate once held a sword to my throat."

He held his hand up to show where, exactly, on the neck it had been held, which I imagine is not something you forget. Then he left the story hanging as if there might — somewhere — be a universe in which someone might hear that and not want at least a cursory explanation.

In the eighties, he had been the captain of a freight ship and had been boarded by legitimate pirates. His wife had been aboard, too, and the pirates tied the two of them together, back-to-back, in her cabin. He described the method the pirates had used to ensnare the ship: at night, two pirate boats string a cable between them — like a tripwire — which catches on the prow of the freighter, and then the pirates are effectively mated to the freighter. Obviously, they both survived (and seemed in good spirits about it, but of course they would if they're British). I asked if he continued sailing after the encounter. "Of course," he said.

Felt a little silly telling them about my imagined cartoon pirate story, after that.

Finally, thank you kindly to the patrons who came up to say Hi! I am grateful to have met you and been able to thank you in person. It's lovely to be able to put faces to screen names.

When I started making comics, one thing I never expected was the ways in which it would introduce me to so many fascinating people. Conventions — and VanCAF in particular, being my local con — are instrumental in that, and I'm happy to have returned to that this year.

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Let Me Recommend: Book Mail!

Book Mail is Molly Muldoon's newsletter, which I love because when the world seems to be fawning over an awful book, and I feel alone in my bewilderment, Molly's got my back. She writes concise, thoughtful reviews that make me laugh. I recommend signing up. You may know Molly from the comics that she writes! Or her voluminous Our Flag Means Death fanfic writing, which uhh I don't seem to have a link for.

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Reminder: there's still time to fill out the Chapter Three Patron Acknowledgement form! Don't remember if you've already done it? That's okay. I filter it and if there are multiple entries for one person, I use the most recent.

I think in the future, the Patron Acknowledgement Form will be a "change my acknowledgement" form, and I'll only be asking you to fill it out if you want it to appear differently from last time.

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More pictures in the next update, FOR SURE. :)

Until then,
I remain,
Your most humble and dedicated elder millenial,

TC