Writer's Block

The main thesis of this comic is, if it wasn’t clear, that I am not much of a reader, which might surprise people, given how much I write, or rather, might actually just surprise the people who read my comics, who are, by definition, comic readers, who I feel like are perhaps maybe a group not particularly known for being big readers of literature themselves, and as such my level of kinda-sorta detailed writing only seems impressive by comparison to other comic fare, and actually any normal, more literate people who read my stuff might think “well, this guy sure likes to fill a page with words, but he’s really nothing special, and we can infer that he is clearly not much of a reader”.

Being not much of a reader, I had only ever heard of David Foster Wallace for the first time about 2 or 3 years ago when my friend messaged me out of the blue to tell me that he thought I’d really enjoy Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, and he was right. Even now I am only sort of tangentially aware of the “discourse” surrounding DFW, and have zero interest in venturing further, nor in defending myself from any smarmy elitist who wants to sneer at me for having such pedestrian taste. I already know that, moron, didn’t you look at the comic? He’s a fascinating person, and a great writer, it’s basically an axiom at this point and I don’t need to waste any more time elaborating on it.

The bit near the end is of course referencing DFW’s alleged abuse towards his ex-wife. I’m not someone who believes, necessarily, that every bit of praise or eulogizing for some— for lack of a better word— “problematic” figure needs to be always accompanied with some proviso or mea culpa about how bad they are. Still, it felt right to do so, as a personal decision. He was a deeply troubled person, again, basically an axiom.

Chomsky was also a big influence, of course, though not so much in fiction, of course. I mainly included him so I could get that stellar Virgil Texas quip in there. There was also going to be some throwaway gag about how he prefers XKCD (he would, if he professed enjoyment for any modern media, of any form, ever, which he basically universally loathes, in a way that is kind of funny in how unforgiving it is. Chomsky knows what he likes and regards what he doesn't as utterly below him-- maybe this is his greatest influence one me?) but I cut it for being not that funny really.

DFW is holding twin-kusarigama as a reference to his visual similarity with Guilty Gear character Axl Low, another TV-poisoned pop-cultural reference. Sorry, David. I think there was also going to be a bit where I get mad at him and say something like "UH THE SOUL ACTUALLY IS A SMITHY" and he gets really pissed and beats the shit out of me or Axl Bombers me or something. Maybe he would have liked that part